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5 J. App. Prac. & Process 435 (2003)
The Oral Judgment Practice in the Canadian Appellate Courts

handle is hein.journals/jappp5 and id is 449 raw text is: THE ORAL JUDGMENT PRACTICE IN THE CANADIAN APPELLATE COURTS J.E. C6tW I. INTRODUCTION It is traditional that British and Canadian appeal courts render many judgments orally, in open court. Although this format may seem foreign to American judges and jurists, it is a practical and efficient tool for rendering decisions and disposing of cases. The American legal system would fare well to consider the advantages of oral judgments. II. HISTORY Oral judgments are not foreign to the American legal system. They are the traditional common-law way to render judgment. Virtually all of the English court decisions commonly referred to in law school are reports of oral judgments.' Many are not even verbatim reports.2 Until recent years, most English reasons for judgment, even long important ones, were delivered orally in court.' Although some were drafted in writing first, 4 many were ex tempore. * Justice J.E. C6td sits on the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the Court of Appeal of the Northwest Territories, and the Court of Appeal of Nunavut. He earned his baccalaureate degree, with honors, from McGill University, and holds law degrees from both the University of Alberta and Oxford University. 1. See e.g. Hadley v. Baxendale, 156 Eng. Rep. 145 (1854); see also Sir William Holdsworth, A History of English Law, vol. 12, at 102 (Little, Brown & Co. 1938). 2. Holdsworth, supra n. 1, at 111- 12. 3. See Sir Jeffery Bowman et al., Review of the Court of Appeal (Civil Div.): Report to The Lord Chancellor 90 (Sept. 1997). 4. Id. THE JOURNAL OF APPELLATE PRACTICE AND PROCESS Vol. 5, No. 2 (Fall 2003)

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