Civil Jury Trials In Common Law Countries Outside The U.S.

A report on civil jury trials in British Columbia provides some insight in the practice in Canada. (British Columbia and Colorado both have about 5 million people.) In that province, there are an average of 24 civil jury trials each year (1-3 of which are not motor vehicle accident cases in a typical year).

From the beginning of 2015/16 to the end of 2019/20 inclusive, jury notices were filed in 21,374 actions in British Columbia. In the same period covering five fiscal years, 120 civil jury trials were completed. 

In that time period 19,939 demands (93.3%) were made in motor vehicle accident cases, 1430 were made in general civil cases, 4 were made in family law cases, and 1 was made in a foreclosure case. About 80% of the demands were made in Vancouver or Westminster courts. 

In the ten year period ending on the same date, "238 civil jury trials took place between 2010/11 and 2019/20, representing approximately 30 per cent of all jury trials in the province. Undoubtedly the greatest number by far of civil jury filings and jury trials take place in Vancouver and New Westminster. Twelve Supreme Court registries in British Columbia had no civil jury trials whatsoever." A median B.C. civil jury trial takes nine days and the mean duration is ten days. There have been only two in the last ten years that took more than four weeks.

Québec abolished civil juries in 1976. In other provinces, jury trial is typically available at the option of a party in specific causes of action: defamation, malicious arrest, malicious prosecution, and false imprisonment. They are also available in actions for seduction, criminal conversation, and breach of promise of marriage in provinces that still permit those causes of action. Several provinces restrict jury trial in other civil matters to actions in which the amount in issue exceeds a specified value threshold.

The right to a jury trial is broader in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Alberta, and Ontario, although in Ontario the amount in controversy must exceed $200,000 Canadian dollars v. $75,000 in Alberta v. $1,000 in the other jurisdictions. 

In the England and Wales the civil jury trial right is narrow and this is also the case in New Zealand and some but not all Australian states and territories. There are no civil jury trials in South Australia or the Australian Capital Territory. New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania have relatively broad civil jury trial rights.

By comparison, in Colorado, in 2006, there were 337 civil jury trials in a single year, which is typical, more than thirteen times as many per capita as British Columbia.

The situation in civil cases, which 15% of all jury trials are conducted, is more comparable between the federal and state system. There were just 17 limited jurisdiction civil trials in state court (v. 1236 bench trials and 3485 small claims bench trials) with jury trials making up just 1% of state court trials and where trials themselves are very rare. About 54% of civil trials in federal court (43 jury trials and 36 bench trials) and 50% civil trials in general jurisdiction state courts were to juries (277 jury trials and 280 bench trials), with about 75% in tort cases) - both of these categories of cases are more likely to go to trial but trials are still rare in civil cases across the board.

A large share of motor vehicle accident cases in Colorado are resolved in jury trials, but they make up a much smaller share of the total share of civil jury trials in the state (maybe half). 

Also, while Canada has federal trial courts, they make up a tiny share of the total case load of civil court dockets in Canada and an even smaller share of Canadian civil jury trials. The main federal court has 37 judges, 9 part-time senior judges, and 8 magistrates (titled translated to more familiar terminology). It handles 50% immigration cases, and the balance federal administrative law, intellectual property, admiralty, what we could call Indian law in the U.S., and claims against the federal government. There is also a separate federal tax court. The lion's share of its cases have a governmental party. Private law civil cases make up only a very small part of its docket. Many Canadian federal court cases would be heard in "Article I" courts in the United States. Indeed, it isn't clear to me that there are any civil jury trials in Canada's federal trial courts.