Nova Scotia Supreme Court

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is the superior trial court of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Despite its name it is not the province's court of last resort: appeals from its decisions go to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The court has inherent jurisdiction, as every superior trial court in Canada does, and it hears civil and criminal trials, the criminal ones before a judge alone or a judge and jury. It also hears appeals from the Provincial Court, the small claims court, the family court and various provincial tribunals. The bench has 25 judicial seats, including the Chief Justice and the Associate Chief Justice, with extra supernumerary justices sitting at times, and the justices sit in 18 locations around the province. The court was created on 21 October 1754, making it the second oldest court in Canada, and Jonathan Belcher was its first Chief Justice. In 1990 the former County and Supreme courts were merged into a single trial bench, and since 1999 the court has also run the Family Division, which handles divorce and other family law in the Halifax and Cape Breton regions.