Superior Court of Justice (Ontario)

The Superior Court of Justice is a superior court in Ontario, Canada, known in French as the Cour supérieure de justice. It sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations. It was renamed from the Ontario Court (General Division) in 1999 and is one of two divisions of the Court of Ontario, the other being the Ontario Court of Justice. The court has inherent jurisdiction over civil, criminal and family law matters at common law, and its authority is entrenched in the Canadian Constitution. It has three specialised branches: the Divisional Court, which hears appeals from some orders of the Superior Court and reviews decisions of administrative tribunals; the Small Claims Court, for civil claims up to 50,000 dollars; and the Family Court, which succeeds the Unified Family Court begun as a pilot project in Hamilton in 1977. The court also keeps a Commercial List, set up in 1991 for complex commercial litigation. Its executive consists of the Chief Justice, the Associate Chief Justice, eight Regional Senior Judges and the Senior Judge of the Family Court.