Federal Courts Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. F-7)

Marginal note:Extraordinary remedies, federal tribunals

• 18 (1) Subject to section 28, the Federal Court has exclusive original jurisdiction

  • (a) to issue an injunction, writ of certiorari, writ of prohibition, writ of mandamus or writ of quo warranto, or grant declaratory relief, against any federal board, commission or other tribunal; and

  • (b) to hear and determine any application or other proceeding for relief in the nature of relief contemplated by paragraph (a), including any proceeding brought against the Attorney General of Canada, to obtain relief against a federal board, commission or other tribunal.

• Marginal note:Extraordinary remedies, members of Canadian Forces

  (2) The Federal Court has exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and determine every application for a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum, writ of certiorari, writ of prohibition or writ of mandamus in relation to any member of the Canadian Forces serving outside Canada.

• Marginal note:Remedies to be obtained on application

  (3) The remedies provided for in subsections (1) and (2) may be obtained only on an application for judicial review made under section 18.1.

Marginal note:Application for judicial review

• 18.1 (1) An application for judicial review may be made by the Attorney General of Canada or by anyone directly affected by the matter in respect of which relief is sought.

• Marginal note:Time limitation

  (2) An application for judicial review in respect of a decision or an order of a federal board, commission or other tribunal shall be made within 30 days after the time the decision or order was first communicated by the federal board, commission or other tribunal to the office of the Deputy Attorney General of Canada or to the party directly affected by it, or within any further time that a judge of the Federal Court may fix or allow before or after the end of those 30 days.

• Marginal note:Powers of Federal Court

  (3) On an application for judicial review, the Federal Court may

  • (a) order a federal board, commission or other tribunal to do any act or thing it has unlawfully failed or refused to do or has unreasonably delayed in doing; or

  • (b) declare invalid or unlawful, or quash, set aside or set aside and refer back for determination in accordance with such directions as it considers to be appropriate, prohibit or restrain, a decision, order, act or proceeding of a federal board, commission or other tribunal.

• Marginal note:Grounds of review

  (4) The Federal Court may grant relief under subsection (3) if it is satisfied that the federal board, commission or other tribunal

  • (a) acted without jurisdiction, acted beyond its jurisdiction or refused to exercise its jurisdiction;

  • (b) failed to observe a principle of natural justice, procedural fairness or other procedure that it was required by law to observe;

  • (c) erred in law in making a decision or an order, whether or not the error appears on the face of the record;

  • (d) based its decision or order on an erroneous finding of fact that it made in a perverse or capricious manner or without regard for the material before it;

  • (e) acted, or failed to act, by reason of fraud or perjured evidence; or

  • (f) acted in any other way that was contrary to law.

• Marginal note:Defect in form or technical irregularity

  (5) If the sole ground for relief established on an application for judicial review is a defect in form or a technical irregularity, the Federal Court may

  • (a) refuse the relief if it finds that no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice has occurred; and

  • (b) in the case of a defect in form or a technical irregularity in a decision or an order, make an order validating the decision or order, to have effect from any time and on any terms that it considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Interim orders

18.2 On an application for judicial review, the Federal Court may make any interim orders that it considers appropriate pending the final disposition of the application.

Marginal note:Reference by federal tribunal

• 18.3 (1) A federal board, commission or other tribunal may at any stage of its proceedings refer any question or issue of law, of jurisdiction or of practice and procedure to the Federal Court for hearing and determination.

• Marginal note:Reference by Attorney General of Canada

  (2) The Attorney General of Canada may, at any stage of the proceedings of a federal board, commission or other tribunal, other than a court martial and an officer conducting a summary hearing, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the National Defence Act, refer any question or issue of the constitutional validity, applicability or operability of an Act of Parliament or of regulations made under an Act of Parliament to the Federal Court for hearing and determination.

Marginal note:Hearings in summary way

• 18.4 (1) Subject to subsection (2), an application or reference to the Federal Court under any of sections 18.1 to 18.3 shall be heard and determined without delay and in a summary way.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) The Federal Court may, if it considers it appropriate, direct that an application for judicial review be treated and proceeded with as an action.

Marginal note:Exception to sections 18 and 18.1

18.5 Despite sections 18 and 18.1, if an Act of Parliament expressly provides for an appeal to the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court Martial Appeal Court, the Tax Court of Canada, the Governor in Council or the Treasury Board from a decision or an order of a federal board, commission or other tribunal made by or in the course of proceedings before that board, commission or tribunal, that decision or order is not, to the extent that it may be so appealed, subject to review or to be restrained, prohibited, removed, set aside or otherwise dealt with, except in accordance with that Act.

Marginal note:Intergovernmental disputes

19 If the legislature of a province has passed an Act agreeing that the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Canada or the Exchequer Court of Canada has jurisdiction in cases of controversies between Canada and that province, or between that province and any other province or provinces that have passed a like Act, the Federal Court has jurisdiction to determine the controversies.

Marginal note:Industrial property, exclusive jurisdiction

• 20 (1) The Federal Court has exclusive original jurisdiction, between subject and subject as well as otherwise,

  • (a) in all cases of conflicting applications for any patent of invention or for any certificate of supplementary protection under the Patent Act, or for the registration of any copyright, trademark, industrial design or topography within the meaning of the Integrated Circuit Topography Act; and

  • (b) in all cases in which it is sought to impeach or annul any patent of invention or any certificate of supplementary protection issued under the Patent Act, or to have any entry in any register of copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs or topographies referred to in paragraph (a) made, expunged, varied or rectified.

• Marginal note:Industrial property, concurrent jurisdiction

  (2) The Federal Court has concurrent jurisdiction in all cases, other than those mentioned in subsection (1), in which a remedy is sought under the authority of an Act of Parliament or at law or in equity respecting any patent of invention, certificate of supplementary protection issued under the Patent Act, copyright, trademark, industrial design or topography referred to in paragraph (1)(a).

21 [Repealed, 2014, c. 22, s. 41]

Marginal note:Navigation and shipping

• 22 (1) The Federal Court has concurrent original jurisdiction, between subject and subject as well as otherwise, in all cases in which a claim for relief is made or a remedy is sought under or by virtue of Canadian maritime law or any other law of Canada relating to any matter coming within the class of subject of navigation and shipping, except to the extent that jurisdiction has been otherwise specially assigned.

• Marginal note:Maritime jurisdiction

  (2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), for greater certainty, the Federal Court has jurisdiction with respect to all of the following:

  • (a) any claim with respect to title, possession or ownership of a ship or any part interest therein or with respect to the proceeds of sale of a ship or any part interest therein;

  • (b) any question arising between co-owners of a ship with respect to possession, employment or earnings of a ship;

  • (c) any claim in respect of a mortgage or hypothecation of, or charge on, a ship or any part interest therein or any charge in the nature of bottomry or respondentia for which a ship or part interest therein or cargo was made security;

  • (d) any claim for damage or for loss of life or personal injury caused by a ship either in collision or otherwise;

  • (e) any claim for damage sustained by, or for loss of, a ship including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, damage to or loss of the cargo or equipment of, or any property in or on or being loaded on or off, a ship;

  • (f) any claim arising out of an agreement relating to the carriage of goods on a ship under a through bill of lading, or in respect of which a through bill of lading is intended to be issued, for loss or damage to goods occurring at any time or place during transit;

  • (g) any claim for loss of life or personal injury occurring in connection with the operation of a ship including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, any claim for loss of life or personal injury sustained in consequence of any defect in a ship or in her apparel or equipment, or of the wrongful act, neglect or default of the owners, charterers or persons in possession or control of a ship or of the master or crew thereof or of any other person for whose wrongful acts, neglects or defaults the owners, charterers or persons in possession or control of the ship are responsible, being an act, neglect or default in the management of the ship, in the loading, carriage or discharge of goods on, in or from the ship or in the embarkation, carriage or disembarkation of persons on, in or from the ship;

  • (h) any claim for loss of or damage to goods carried in or on a ship including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, loss of or damage to passengers’ baggage or personal effects;

  • (i) any claim arising out of any agreement relating to the carriage of goods in or on a ship or to the use or hire of a ship whether by charter party or otherwise;

  • (j) any claim for salvage including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, claims for salvage of life, cargo, equipment or other property of, from or by an aircraft to the same extent and in the same manner as if the aircraft were a ship;

  • (k) any claim for towage in respect of a ship or of an aircraft while the aircraft is water-borne;

  • (l) any claim for pilotage in respect of a ship or of an aircraft while the aircraft is water-borne;

  • (m) any claim in respect of goods, materials or services wherever supplied to a ship for the operation or maintenance of the ship, including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, claims in respect of stevedoring and lighterage;

  • (n) any claim arising out of a contract relating to the construction, repair or equipping of a ship;

  • (o) any claim by a master, officer or member of the crew of a ship for wages, money, property or other remuneration or benefits arising out of his or her employment;

  • (p) any claim by a master, charterer or agent of a ship or shipowner in respect of disbursements, or by a shipper in respect of advances, made on account of a ship;

  • (q) any claim in respect of general average contribution;

  • (r) any claim arising out of or in connection with a contract of marine insurance; and

  • (s) any claim for dock charges, harbour dues or canal tolls including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, charges for the use of facilities supplied in connection therewith.

• Marginal note:Jurisdiction applicable

  (3) For greater certainty, the jurisdiction conferred on the Federal Court by this section applies

  • (a) in relation to all ships, whether Canadian or not and wherever the residence or domicile of the owners may be;

  • (b) in relation to all aircraft where the cause of action arises out of paragraphs (2)(j) to (l), whether those aircraft are Canadian or not and wherever the residence or domicile of the owners may be;

  • (c) in relation to all claims, whether arising on the high seas, in Canadian waters or elsewhere and whether those waters are naturally navigable or artificially made so, including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, in the case of salvage, claims in respect of cargo or wreck found on the shores of those waters; and

  • (d) in relation to all mortgages or hypothecations of, or charges by way of security on, a ship, whether registered or not, or whether legal or equitable, and whether created under foreign law or not.

Marginal note:Bills of exchange and promissory notes — aeronautics and interprovincial works and undertakings

23 Except to the extent that jurisdiction has been otherwise specially assigned, the Federal Court has concurrent original jurisdiction, between subject and subject as well as otherwise, in all cases in which a claim for relief is made or a remedy is sought under an Act of Parliament or otherwise in relation to any matter coming within any of the following classes of subjects:

• (a) bills of exchange and promissory notes, where the Crown is a party to the proceedings;

• (b) aeronautics; and

• (c) works and undertakings connecting a province with any other province or extending beyond the limits of a province.

24 [Repealed, 2002, c. 8, s. 33]

Marginal note:Extraprovincial jurisdiction

25 The Federal Court has original jurisdiction, between subject and subject as well as otherwise, in any case in which a claim for relief is made or a remedy is sought under or by virtue of the laws of Canada if no other court constituted, established or continued under any of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982 has jurisdiction in respect of that claim or remedy.