What is it about?
This paper deals with how courts in Canada, in cross-border litigation, use the place where damage has occurred as a criterion for deciding in which jurisdiction's court a claim in tort (civil wrong) can be litigated, and which jurisdiction's law should apply to the claim. The paper covers the relevant conflict of laws (private international law) rules that are applied to these questions in the common law jurisdictions of Canada (the provinces and territories other than Quebec).
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Why is it important?
Harm caused by somebody's negligence can occur in a different legal jurisdiction from the one where the person's conduct took place. Internationally, different legal systems handle such situations in a variety of ways. The two main issues are where the party that suffered the harm can sue the party whose negligence caused it, and which jurisdiction's law determines the validity of the claim. The role of the place of damage is often key. Cross-border tort claims are increasingly common and often involve very large damages. The paper provides an up-to-date review of the law that Canadian courts apply to these cases. It was written as one of a coordinated group of national reports covering this subject.
Perspectives
I hope that this specific treatment of the localization of damage will open up for the reader a good sense of the general features of Canadian private international law (also called conflict of laws). The topic also highlights the challenges that any legal system confronts when fitting cross-border accidental harm into a legal framework.
Joost Blom
University of British Columbia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Localisation of Damage: National Report for Canada (Common Law Jurisdictions), October 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004711877_004.
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