Canada’s Three Main Legal Traditions Law 120

Canada’s Three Main Legal Traditions Before the first European colonists arrived in Canada, the Native peoples had their own system of laws in place. When the first French and English colonists arrived, these colonists adopted laws that already existed in their home countries, sometimes failing to notice that Canada's Native peoples already had established laws.

Canada’s Three Main Legal Traditions Our legal system in Canada derives from three traditions: Native, English and French. Our laws, our government and our courts evolved from these traditions. In 1867, some of the British colonies (New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia) joined together and Canada was born under the British North America Act. It is thanks to this act that the first constitution was formulated and that later, Canada became an independent country capable of formulating its own laws in 1867. Later, in 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms renewed our legal system.