Television and real Canadian trials

Most television shows about legal matters are American. They tend to show American procedure correctly but they give a very misleading impression to people who are watching to find out what will happen in a Canadian court.

The differences are subtle but real.

First, the Courtroom itself is different. In Canada the clerk who handles process for the judge sits in front of the judge between the judge and the rest of the Courtroom. As a result, judges cannot have private discussions with the lawyers where the lawyers come close to the judge and they are whisper together – known as a “side-bar”. This is more important than you might think – it means any objection made by a lawyer has to be done in the open where everyone can hear it. If there is a jury, the jury has to get up, leave and be taken to the jury room and that means any objection will take, at a minimum, half an hour or so. As a result Canadian lawyers object far far less than American lawyers.

Second, in our Superior Courts, Canadian lawyers and judges wear legal robes (see the picture). This means the process is met with more formality and usually leads to less emotion from the lawyers. Beyond that, Canadian law is dead set against emotional appeals (cases are to be decided on law and not sympathy) and so Canadian trials tend to be far less theatrical than American trials.

Now that all said, Canada and America share a common legal tradition and doing trials in America is different from Canada only in a degree. In both countries trials are far less exciting than on television and most cases are slow, tedious and boring to anyone other than the parties themselves!