Nova Scotia Supreme Court
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia.
The Supreme Court consists of 25 judicial seats including the position of Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice. At any given time there may be one or more additional justices who sit as supernumerary justices. The justices sit in 18 different locations around the province.
Jurisdiction
As with all superior courts across the country, the court is said to have inherent jurisdiction. It hears civil and criminal trials. The criminal trials can be judge alone or judge and jury. The court will also hear appeals from the provincial court, small claims court, Family court, and various provincial tribunals.Appeals of Supreme Court decisions are then made to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
History
While the first court administering the Common Law was established in Annapolis Royal in 1721, the creation of a Supreme Court took place on October 21, 1754, several years before the Province was granted a legislative assembly. The court is the oldest court in Canada and is among the oldest in North America.Jonathan Belcher was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. The court's jurisdiction extended to the entire colony, which, after the Treaty of Paris ended the war with France in 1763, includes present day Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and eastern Maine.
In 1990, on the recommendation of the Nova Scotia Court Structure Task Force, the County and Supreme courts were merged to create a bench of 25 judges at the trial level. Since 1999, the Supreme Court also administers the Nova Scotia Family Division Court, with eight judges, that has jurisdiction over divorces and other family law cases in the Halifax and industrial Cape Breton.
Supreme Court Family Division
The Supreme Court includes the Family Division which adjudicates matters of family law in the regions of Halifax and Cape Breton. As Supreme Court Justices, they have authority over both divorce as well as all other family law matters, unlike their provincial court counterparts who do not have the federal authority to adjudicate divorces.Justices of the Supreme Court
| Name | Location | Date appointed | Appointed by | Prior position |
| Chief Justice Deborah K. Smith | Halifax | 2019 | Trudeau | Associate Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice McInnes Cooper |
| Justice Patrick J. Duncan | Halifax | 2007 | Harper | Beveridge, MacPherson & Duncan NS Legal Aid |
| Justice Patrick Murray | Sydney | 2010 | Harper | Murray, Gouthro, Wall LLP Gillis and Murray LLP Stewart, McKelvey, Stirling, Scales LLP |
| Justice Pierre L. Muise | Yarmouth | 2010 | Harper | Provincial Court Judge NS Public Prosecution Service |
| Justice Peter Rosinski | Halifax | 2010 | Harper | NS Public Prosecution Service Appeal Crown McLean & Associates Margeson & Wilson MacIntosh, MacDonnell & MacDonald |
| Justice Michael Wood | Halifax | 2011 | Harper | Burchells LLP |
| Justice James L. Chipman | Halifax | 2013 | Harper | Stewart McKelvey Sterling Scales LLP Cox Downie |
| Justice Joshua M. Arnold | Halifax | 2013 | Harper | Arnold Pizzo McKegan LLP NS Crown Attorney |
| Justice Robin C. M. Gogan | Sydney | 2013 | Harper | Breton Law Group Sampson McDougall |
| Justice Denise Boudreau | Halifax | 2013 | Harper | Public Prosecution Service of Canada NS Legal Aid LeBlanc, MacDonald, and Pickup |
| Justice Jamie Campbell | Halifax | 2014 | Harper | Provincial Court Judge Cox Hansen |
| Justice Jeffrey R. Hunt | Truro | 2015 | Harper | Patterson Law |
| Justice D. Timothy Gabriel | Halifax | 2016 | Trudeau | Provincial Court Judge Landry McGillivray |
| Justice Ann E. Smith | Halifax | 2016 | Trudeau | Burchells LLP |
| Justice Christa Brothers | Halifax | 2017 | Trudeau | Stewart McKelvey Sterling Scales LLP |
| Justice John Bodurtha | Halifax | 2018 | Trudeau | Atlantic Regional Office, Justice Canada |
| Justice Darlene Jamieson | Halifax | 2018 | Trudeau | Merrick Jamieson Sterns Washington & Mahody |
| Justice Scott Norton | Pictou | 2018 | Trudeau | Stewart McKelvey |
| Justice John Keith | Kentville | 2019 | Trudeau | Cox & Palmer |
| Justice Diana Rowe | Bridgewater | 2020 | Trudeau | Department of Justice |
| Name | Location | Date appointed | Appointed by | Prior position |
| Justice Frank C. Edwards | Sydney | 1993 | Chrétien | |
| Justice Gerald R. P. Moir | Halifax | 1997 | Chrétien | Bruchell, MacDougall Federal Business Development Bank Weldo, Misener & Covert |
| Justice M. Heather Robertson | Halifax | 1998 | Chrétien | Chief of Staff to the Premier of Nova Scotia Burchell, MacDougall Walker, Dunlop |
| Justice Robert William Wright | Halifax | 1998 | Chrétien | Daley, Black & Moreira |
| Justice C. Richard Coughlan | Bridgewater | 2001 | Chrétien | Coughlan and Coughlan |
| Justice Mona M. Lynch | Bridgewater | 2002 | Chrétien | Dept of Justice, Youth Crime NS Legal Aid Justice of Family Division NS Legal Aid |
| Justice Gregory M. Warner | Kentville | 2003 | Chrétien | Warner, Jacquard Pink Macdonald Harding Town of Yarmouth |
| Justice Kevin Coady | Halifax | 2003 | Chrétien | Coady Filiter |
| Justice N. M. Scaravelli | Pictou/Antigonish | 2006 | Harper | Macintosh MacDonnell & MacDonald Fitzgerald and Assoc. |
| Justice Glen G. McDougall | Halifax | 2001 | Chrétien | Sampson McDougall LLP |
Past Judges
| Name | Prior position |
| Chief Justice Joseph Phillip Kennedy | Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Chief Judge of Provincial Court Provincial Court Judge Kenney, Theakson, Kennedy & Allen |
| Justice Felix A. Cacchione | Supreme court Justice Private Practice Nova Scotia Legal Aid |
| Justice Elizabeth Van den Eynden | |
| Justice Arthur W. D. Pickup | Supreme Court Justice LeBlanc, MacDonald & Pickup |
| Justice Linda Lee Oland appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Arthur Joseph LeBlanc appointed Lieutenant Governor | |
| Justice Joseph Michael MacDonald appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Marlene Jill Hamilton appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice John Edward Flinn | |
| Justice J. Edward Scanlan appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Hiram Joseph Carver | |
| Justice Nancy Jean Bateman appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Charles Edward Haliburton | Supreme Court Justice Eric Kinsman Member of Parliament |
| Justice Ian Palmeter | |
| Justice Simon James MacDonald | Supreme Court Justice County Court Judge NS Crown attorney MacIntyre, MacDonald & Gillis federal Department of Justice |
| Justice Donald MacKinnon Hall | |
| Justice Douglas Lawrence MacLennan | |
| Justice Norman Robert Anderson | |
| Justice John Hugh MacDonnell | |
| Justice Murray James Ryan | |
| Justice Ronald Newton Pugsley | |
| Justice Jamie William Sutherland Saunders | |
| Justice David William Gruchy | |
| Justice Walter Robert Evans Goodfellow | |
| Justice Allan Paul Boudreau | Supernumerary Supreme Court Justice Crawford, Boudreau & Khattar |
| Justice Gerald B Freeman appointed to the Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Elizabeth Ann MacKinnon Roscoe Appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice David Ritchie Chipman | |
| Justice John McNab Davison | |
| Justice Gordon Alfred Tidman | |
| Justice Francis Bernard William Kelly | |
| Justice Kenneth McNeill Matthews | |
| Justice Robert Buckley MacDonald | |
| Justice Hilroy Selig Nathanson | |
| Justice Daniel Merlin Nunn | |
| Justice Lorne Otis Clarke Appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Roderick MacLeod Rogers | |
| Justice Charles Denne Burchell | |
| Justice Kenneth Peter Richard | |
| Justice Leonard Lawson Pace | |
| Justice Constance Rachlle Glube appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice James Doane Hallett appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice William Johnston Grant | |
| Justice Angus Lewis Macdonald | |
| Justice Alexander Murdoch Macintosh | |
| Justice Ian Malcolm MacKeigan | |
| Justice Vincent Alan James Morrison | |
| Justice Malachi Cornelius Hubert Jones appointed to Court of Appeal | |
| Justice Gordon Leavitt Shaw Hart | |
| Justice Donald Joseph Gillis | |
| Justice Arthur Gordon Cooper | |
| Justice Justin Louis Dubisky | |
| Justice Gordon Stewart Cowan | |
| Justice Alexander Hugh McKinnon | |
| Justice Ronald Manning Fielding | |
| Justice Vincent Joseph Pottier | |
| Justice Thomas Herbert Coffin | |
| Justice Frederick William Bissett | |
| Justice Frank Harris Patterson | |
| Justice Vincent Christopher MacDonald | |
| Justice Lauchlin Daniel Currie | |
| Justice James Lorimer llsley | |
| Justice Eugene Troop Parker | |
| Justice Josiah H. MacQuarrie | |
| Justice John Stanley Smiley |
Judges of the Supreme Court Family Division
| Name | Location | Date of appointment | Prior position |
| Justice R. James Williams | Halifax | Walker, Dunlop Blois, Nickerson, Palmeter and Bryson | |
| Justice Moira C. Legere-Sers | Port Hawkesbury | NS Legal Aid Maritime Life Assurance Company Boyne Clark | |
| Justice Deborah Gass | Halifax | Executive Director of the Penitentiary Legal Services Wright, Chivers & Co | |
| Justice Darryl W. Wilson | Sydney | Family Court Crown attorney Edwards & Wilson |
| Name | Prior position |
| Justice M. Clare MacLellan | Provincial Court Judge and Supreme Court Family Division |
| Justice Douglas C. Campbell | Family Division, Halifax Cox Hansen O'Reilly Matheson |