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

Marginal note:Stay of proceedings

• 50.1 (1) The Federal Court shall, on application of the Attorney General of Canada, stay proceedings in any cause or matter in respect of a claim against the Crown where the Crown desires to institute a counter-claim or third-party proceedings in respect of which the Federal Court lacks jurisdiction.

• Marginal note:Recommence in provincial court

  (2) If the Federal Court stays proceedings under subsection (1), the party who instituted them may recommence the proceedings in a court constituted or established by or under a law of a province and otherwise having jurisdiction with respect to the subject-matter of the proceedings.

• Marginal note:Prescription and limitation of actions

  (3) If proceedings are recommenced under subsection (2) within 100 days after the proceedings are stayed in the Federal Court, the claim against the Crown in the recommenced proceedings is deemed, for the purposes of any laws relating to prescription and the limitation of actions, to have been instituted on the day the proceedings in the Federal Court were instituted.

Marginal note:Reasons for judgment to be filed

51 If a judge gives reasons for a judgment pronounced by the judge or pronounced by a court of which the judge was a member, the judge shall file a copy of the reasons in the Registry of the court.

Judgments of Federal Court of Appeal

Marginal note:Powers of Federal Court of Appeal

52 The Federal Court of Appeal may

• (a) quash proceedings in cases brought before it in which it has no jurisdiction or whenever those proceedings are not taken in good faith;

• (b) in the case of an appeal from the Federal Court,

  • (i) dismiss the appeal or give the judgment and award the process or other proceedings that the Federal Court should have given or awarded,

  • (ii) in its discretion, order a new trial if the ends of justice seem to require it, or

  • (iii) make a declaration as to the conclusions that the Federal Court should have reached on the issues decided by it and refer the matter back for a continuance of the trial on the issues that remain to be determined in light of that declaration; and

• (c) in the case of an appeal other than an appeal from the Federal Court,

  • (i) dismiss the appeal or give the decision that should have been given, or

  • (ii) in its discretion, refer the matter back for determination in accordance with such directions as it considers to be appropriate.

• (d) [Repealed, 1990, c. 8, s. 17]

Evidence

Marginal note:Taking of evidence

• 53 (1) The evidence of any witness may by order of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court be taken, subject to any rule or order that may relate to the matter, on commission, on examination or by affidavit.

• Marginal note:Admissibility of evidence

  (2) Evidence that would not otherwise be admissible is admissible, in the discretion of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court and subject to any rule that may relate to the matter, if it would be admissible in a similar matter in a superior court of a province in accordance with the law in force in any province, even though it is not admissible under section 40 of the Canada Evidence Act.

Marginal note:Who may administer oath, affidavit or affirmation

• 54 (1) All persons authorized to take and receive affidavits to be used in any of the superior courts of a province may administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and solemn affirmations to be used in the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.

• Marginal note:Person empowered by commission

  (2) The Governor in Council may, by commission, empower any person who the Governor in Council thinks necessary, in or outside Canada, to administer oaths and to take and receive affidavits, declarations and solemn affirmations in or concerning any proceeding had or to be had in the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.

• Marginal note:Oath, affidavit or affirmation is valid

  (3) Every oath, affidavit, declaration or solemn affirmation taken or made under this section is as valid and of the same effect, to all intents, as if it had been administered, taken, sworn, made or affirmed before the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.

• Marginal note:Style of commissioner

  (4) Every commissioner empowered under subsection (2) shall be styled a commissioner for administering oaths in the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Process

Marginal note:Application of process

• 55 (1) The process of the Federal Court of Appeal and of the Federal Court runs throughout Canada and any other place to which legislation enacted by Parliament has been made applicable.

• Marginal note:Enforcement of order for payment of money

  (2) An order for payment of money, whether for costs or otherwise, may be enforced in the same manner as a judgment.

• Marginal note:No attachment for non-payment only

  (3) No attachment as for contempt shall issue for the non-payment of money alone.

• Marginal note:Sheriff to execute process

  (4) A sheriff or marshal shall execute the process of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court that is directed to the sheriff or marshal, whether or not it requires the sheriff or marshal to act outside their geographical jurisdiction, and shall perform all other duties expressly or impliedly assigned to the sheriff or marshal by the Rules.

• Marginal note:Federal Court process if absence or incapacity of sheriff

  (5) If there is no sheriff or marshal or a sheriff or marshal is unable or unwilling to act, the process of the Federal Court shall be directed to a deputy sheriff or deputy marshal, or to any other person provided for by the Rules or by a special order of that court made for a particular case, and that person is entitled to take and retain for their own use the fees provided for by the Rules or the special order.

• Marginal note:Federal Court of Appeal process if absence or incapacity of sheriff

  (6) If there is no sheriff or marshal or a sheriff or marshal is unable or unwilling to act, the process of the Federal Court of Appeal shall be directed to a deputy sheriff or deputy marshal, or to any other person provided for by the Rules or by a special order of that court made for a particular case, and that person is entitled to take and retain for their own use the fees provided for by the Rules or the special order.

Marginal note:Analogy to provincial process

• 56 (1) In addition to any writs of execution or other process that are prescribed by the Rules for enforcement of its judgments or orders, the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court may issue process against the person or the property of any party, of the same tenor and effect as those that may be issued out of any of the superior courts of the province in which a judgment or an order is to be executed, and if, by the law of that province, an order of a judge is required for the issue of a process, a judge of that court may make a similar order with respect to like process to issue out of that court.

• Marginal note:Process against person

  (2) No person shall be taken into custody under process of execution for debt issued out of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court.

• Marginal note:Process against property

  (3) All writs of execution or other process against property, whether prescribed by the Rules or authorized by subsection (1), shall

  • (a) unless otherwise provided by the Rules, be executed, with respect to the property liable to execution and the mode of seizure and sale, as nearly as possible in the same manner as similar writs or process that are issued out of the superior courts of the province in which the property to be seized is situated are, by the law of that province, required to be executed; and

  • (b) bind property in the same manner as similar writs or process issued by the provincial superior courts, and the rights of purchasers under the writs or process are the same as those of purchasers under those similar writs or process.

• Marginal note:Claim against property seized

  (4) Every claim made by a person to property seized under a writ of execution or other process issued out of the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court, or to the proceeds of its sale, shall, unless otherwise provided by the Rules, be heard and disposed of as nearly as may be according to the procedure applicable to like claims to property seized under similar writs or process issued out of the courts of the provinces.

• (5) [Repealed, 1990, c. 8, s. 18]

General

Marginal note:Constitutional questions

• 57 (1) If the constitutional validity, applicability or operability of an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, or of regulations made under such an Act, is in question before the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court or 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, the Act or regulation shall not be judged to be invalid, inapplicable or inoperable unless notice has been served on the Attorney General of Canada and the attorney general of each province in accordance with subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Time of notice

  (2) The notice must be served at least 10 days before the day on which the constitutional question is to be argued, unless the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court or the federal board, commission or other tribunal, as the case may be, orders otherwise.

• Marginal note:Notice of appeal or application for judicial review

  (3) The Attorney General of Canada and the attorney general of each province are entitled to notice of any appeal or application for judicial review made in respect of the constitutional question.

• Marginal note:Right to be heard

  (4) The Attorney General of Canada and the attorney general of each province are entitled to adduce evidence and make submissions to the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court or the federal board, commission or other tribunal, as the case may be, in respect of the constitutional question.

• Marginal note:Appeal

  (5) If the Attorney General of Canada or the attorney general of a province makes submissions, that attorney general is deemed to be a party to the proceedings for the purpose of any appeal in respect of the constitutional question.

Marginal note:Fees to be paid to Receiver General

57.1 All fees payable in respect of proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court shall be paid to the Receiver General unless they are, in accordance with an arrangement made by the Minister of Justice, to be received and dealt with in the same manner as amounts paid as provincial court fees, in which case they shall be dealt with as so provided.

Marginal note:Law reports editor

• 58 (1) The Minister of Justice shall appoint or designate a fit and proper person to be editor of the official reports of the decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court and may appoint a committee of not more than five persons to advise the editor.

• Marginal note:Contents

  (2) The editor shall include in the reports only the decisions or the parts of them that, in the editor’s opinion, are of sufficient significance or importance to warrant publication in the reports.

• Marginal note:Printing and distribution

  (3) The official reports shall be printed and shall be distributed with or without charge as the Governor in Council may direct.

• Marginal note:Official languages

  (4) Each decision reported in the official reports shall be published therein in both official languages.

Marginal note:Police services

59 Any services or assistance in connection with the conduct of the hearings of the Federal Court of Appeal and of the Federal Court, the security of those courts and their premises and of staff of the Courts Administration Service, or in connection with the execution of orders and judgments of those courts, that may, having regard to the circumstances, be found necessary shall be provided, at the request of the Chief Justice of each of those courts, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or any other police force that the Governor in Council may designate.