Ontario. Weekly Courts

Identity area

Type of entity

Higher-level Ontario government office (type B)

Authorized form of name

Ontario. Weekly Courts

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

    • Weekly Courts

    Other form(s) of name

    • Ontario. Single Courts

    • Ontario. Practice Courts

    • Ontario. Motions Courts

    Identifiers for corporate bodies

    Description area

    Dates of existence

    1881-

    History

    Since 1837, individual Justices of the superior courts (and later Masters) have been able to hear motions about a wide range of procedural matters in criminal and civil cases. The name of these motion hearings has changed over time from Practice Court (c. 1837-1881) to Single Court (c. 1881-1894) to Weekly Court (c. 1894 to present). The volume of motions made in York County required that the Court sit every day and thus came to be locally known as Motions Court. In 1895, Weekly Courts were established in London and Ottawa.

    Places

    Legal status

    Functions, occupations and activities

    The Weekly Courts, presided over by individual justices of the superior courts, have jurisdiction to hear motions concerning a wide range of procedural matters in civil and criminal cases. As these courts tended to sit once a week, they became known as Weekly Courts.

    Address

    Ontario Judicature Act, Statutes of Ontario 1881, Chap. 5

    Internal structures/genealogy

    General context

    Relationships area

    Related entity

    Ontario. High Court of Justice (1881-1989)

    Identifier of related entity

    BA50

    Category of relationship

    hierarchical

    Type of relationship

    Ontario. High Court of Justice controls Ontario. Weekly Courts

    Dates of relationship

    1881-1913

    Description of relationship

    Related entity

    Ontario. Supreme Court (1881-1989)

    Identifier of related entity

    BA51

    Category of relationship

    hierarchical

    Type of relationship

    Ontario. Supreme Court controls Ontario. Weekly Courts

    Dates of relationship

    1913-1989

    Description of relationship

    Related entity

    Ontario. Court of Justice (Provincial Division) (1989-)

    Identifier of related entity

    BA59

    Category of relationship

    hierarchical

    Type of relationship

    Ontario. Court of Justice (Provincial Division) controls Ontario. Weekly Courts

    Dates of relationship

    1989-

    Description of relationship

    Access points area

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    Epithet

    Control area

    Authority record identifier

    BA176

    Institution identifier

    Rules and/or conventions used

    RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

    Status

    Approved

    Level of detail

    Dates of creation, revision and deletion

    2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

    Language(s)

      Script(s)

        Sources

        Banks, Margaret A. Evolution of the Ontario Courts, 1788-1981 (1983)

        Maintenance notes

        Form of name used in heading not found in Canadiana Name Authorities, 1996-12-24. "Ontario. Practice Court", however, is found, but is used as a variant form of name since the term "Weekly Court" is the more recent, and longer-lived term.


        Archivist(s):
        T. Belton, R. Anger