What is the difference between the cases that are tried in Supreme Court of BC and Provincial courts? What types of cases are tried in Municipal Courts?
Thank you for your question about the difference between the BC courts. As a starting point, you will find a description of the Provincial Court’s jurisdiction on the website and in the Court’s Annual Reports . To provide a very general response to your question, there are two trial courts in BC, the Provincial and the Supreme Court. The Provincial Court has jurisdiction to hear most adult and youth criminal matters, except adult murder cases and criminal jury trials, but in some other cases the defendant has a choice between Provincial or Supreme Court. Provincial Court hears civil cases (disputes between two parties) with a value up to $10,000, and family matters except divorce, adoption and division of property. There are some other areas in which the Provincial Court does not have jurisdiction, like real property, estates, and residential tenancy disputes. Otherwise, the two trial courts deal with the same kinds of cases, the real differences tending to be the value of the claim or
