Université de Montréal - Thèse sous forme numérique

1694.1.3.3. ExpertsAll authors of the selected texts are SCC judges, also called Justices. The SCC is composedof a chief justice called Chief Justice of Canada and eight puisne judges. According to theSupreme Court Act, R.S.C., c. S-26 (1985), at least three of the nine judges are appointedfrom among the judges of the Court of Appeal or of the Superior Court of the Province ofQuebec.One of the functions of the SCC judges is to carry out judicial review, i.e. toexamine cases previously tried by an inferior court. Judges rely upon the advocates topresent legal and factual argument and they act as impartial referees in an adversarialjudicial process. They evaluate the evidence presented in the court, apply the existing rulesof law to the facts, look back to see how previous judges have dealt with earlier casesinvolving similar facts in that area of law, and then reach a decision that may set aprecedent (that is binding on lower courts).4.1.3.4. MacrostructureCanadian judgments are composed of two main parts: an identification part and a thematicpart. The identification part includes data elements that allow the document to be identifiedphysically as information. Some elements are mandatory and others are optional (Pelletieret al. 2009). Mandatory elements correspond to those pieces of information that must bepresent at the very beginning of a judgment file such as the name of the court where thecase was tried, etc. (Table 16). Optional elements are those which may not be needed inevery judgment such as dates and place of the hearing, case origin and judicial history,disposition, reasons, names of counsel, appendices and cover and backing sheets.