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What are Canadian Laws? The Supreme law in Canada consists of a number of Acts of Parliament, which are documented statutes, as well as undocumented conventions, which together make up the Constitution of Canada.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was the first appearance of a Constitution for Canada. The true constitution for Quebec up until 1774 was The Royal Proclamation, after which the Quebec Act was passed by the British Parliament. The Act ensured the expansion of the Province's borders to the rivers of Mississippi and Ohio. The Act also introduces the English criminal law presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" in place of the French law of "guilty until proven innocent". However, the civil law system remained French for non-criminal matters.

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The contents of the present Constitution includes the Canada Act (1982) and any corrections or additions to the Act. In addition, the Supreme Court of Canada had declared that the undocumented conventions are also a part of the Constitution.

Canadian law includes "The Charter" which is an assemblage of an individual's rights, written in layman's terms so that it can be easily interpreted by average Canadian citizens. The Charter is that portion of Canadian law that makes the greatest impression on the average Canadian's everyday life. It is a briefer document than its other constitutional counterparts, but one that has been developing the fastest now for many years.

The unwritten Canadian laws have no formal documentation which codifies them into discrete coded statutes, but are still recognized by courts and executives as binding.
A court may quote "the constitution" as a demonstration of its authority although no document exists.

As for the undocumented Canadian laws, there have been three sources for them: Conventions, royal prerogatives, and Unwritten Principles. Although conventions are part of Canadian law, they cannot be forced legally. These conventions allow the subsistence of a Prime Minister and the Parliamentary cabinet. They also imply that the Governor General needs to give his permission for bills to be made into statutes, and that the Prime minister will be required to call an election in the event of the loss of a vote of non-confidence.

The powers of the Canadian Crown have long since been reduced gradually by the Parliamentary System. However, royal prerogatives reserve the rights to give authority to the Government to declare wars, to create laws, distribute passports and the like. In case a legal interest in land gets effaced by law, the ownership of the said land can be handed over to the superior royal lord.

Principles are enmeshed into Canadian law from the opening phrases of the Constitution Act (1867), and are legally binding, unlike Conventions. Some of the Constitutional principles that are recognized:
- Democracy - Constitutionalism - Federalism - Respect for Minorities - Responsible Government - Implied Bill of Rights 'etc

New laws can be introduced into the Constitution by the government or by private members with no government backing, by the submission of bills to the standing Committees of the Commons or the Senate. What are Canadian Laws?

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