This publication contains the results of four Special Studies
conducted in Canadian civil courts by the Canadian Centre for
Justice Statistics. It is divided into four chapters and
includes a brief literature review (Canada and the United States)
in the
Introduction. The four studies include: an analysis of Ottawa
court data resulting from a manual data collection survey designed
and undertaken by the CCJS; and an analysis of three extracts
from existing civil databases in Nova Scotia, Alberta, and
Saskatchewan. Included in the analysis are: the volume of
cases initiated, the volume of different types of cases, the
frequency
of case outcomes where a disposition is indicated, the number
of case events for a variety of civil event types, the elapsed
times
between various stages of case processing, and other
information to profile the basic characteristics of civil cases.
Additional
information addresses civil case processing issues such as
the proportion of trials and the size of the dormant caseload
managed by the court. A full set of data tables for each
chapter is included in the Appendices. Also included are brief
descriptions of the methodology for each of these studies.
