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Difference between revisions of "The Court System for Family Matters"
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The Court System for Family Matters (view source)
Revision as of 13:33, 13 April 2013
, 13:33, 13 April 2013→Introduction
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Our court system has its origins hundreds of years ago in England. In the middle ages, people would come to the king on special days set aside for the hearing of "petitions," complaints made by someone (the ''petitioner'') against someone else (the ''respondent''). If the petition was heard, the king would make a decision and impose his judgment on the parties, putting an end to the complaint. | Our court system has its origins hundreds of years ago in England. In the middle ages, people would come to the king on special days set aside for the hearing of "petitions," complaints made by someone (the ''petitioner'') against someone else (the ''respondent''). If the petition was heard, the king would make a decision and impose his judgment on the parties, putting an end to the complaint. | ||
As the rule of law became more and more important in maintaining a civil society, kings and queens began to farm out the job of hearing petitions to people specially appointed to hear them, called judges. Eventually the monarchy got out of the business altogether, and left the hearing of petitions | As the rule of law became more and more important in maintaining a civil society and the law itself became more and more complicated, kings and queens began to farm out the job of hearing petitions to people specially appointed to hear them, called judges. Eventually the monarchy got out of the business altogether, and left the hearing of petitions to specialists called ''judges''. The English court system became more complex as time went on, and different types of courts, like the Courts of Equity and the Courts of the Exchequer, were eventually set up to deal with different kinds of problems. | ||
The English court system was brought to British Columbia when the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were founded in the middle of the nineteenth century. Our local court system was brought into the Canadian system when British Columbia entered | The English court system was brought to British Columbia when the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were founded in the middle of the nineteenth century. Our local court system was brought into the Canadian system when British Columbia entered Confederation in 1871. | ||
The fundamental purpose of the courts today is the same as it was then, to resolve disputes. We still use a lot of the same terms that were used hundreds of years ago — there's even a court form called a Petition — although we've merged the different types of courts into a single system with the authority to decide every sort of problem. | The fundamental purpose of the courts today is the same as it was then, to resolve disputes. We still use a lot of the same terms that were used hundreds of years ago — there's even a court form called a Petition — although we've merged the different types of courts into a single system with the authority to decide every sort of problem. | ||