Editing Monarchy of Canada (section)

===Courts (King-on-the-Bench)===
[[File:The Nine.jpg|thumb|A [[Supreme Court of Canada]] courtroom displaying on the focal wall a rendition of the Royal Arms.]]
The sovereign is responsible for rendering justice for all his subjects and is thus traditionally deemed the ''fount of justice''<ref name=Cools>{{Cite hansard |chapter-url=https://sencanada.ca/en/Content/Sen/chamber/362/debates/029db_2000-02-17-e#0.2.W54BJ2.MERRJT.A7B6PH.2F |house=Senate |date=17 February 2000| column_start=1500| column_end=1510 |url-status=dead |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/029db_2000-02-17-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=36&Ses=2#0.2.W54BJ2.MERRJT.A7B6PH.2F |archive-date=4 September 2007 |title=Archived copy |access-date=21 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904143557/http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/029db_2000-02-17-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=36&Ses=2#0.2.W54BJ2.MERRJT.A7B6PH.2F}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904143557/http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/deb-e/029db_2000-02-17-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=36&Ses=2#0.2.W54BJ2.MERRJT.A7B6PH.2F |date=4 September 2007}}</ref> and his position in the [[Court system of Canada|Canadian courts]] formally dubbed the ''King on the Bench''.<ref name=MacLeod17/> The [[Arms of Canada|Arms of His Majesty in Right of Canada]] are traditionally displayed in Canadian courtrooms,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oEVXpBEcgaUC&pg=PA219 |first=John |last=Honsberger |title=Osgoode Hall: An Illustrated History |publisher=Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History |date=2004 |pages=219–20 |isbn=978-1-5500-2513-2}}</ref> as is a portrait of the sovereign.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-courtroom-home-to-special-exhibit-1.782769 |title=Calgary courtroom home to special exhibit |publisher=CTV News |date=19 March 2012 |archive-date=12 March 2017 |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312055637/http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-courtroom-home-to-special-exhibit-1.782769 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[:File:Supreme Court of Canada Coat of Arms.png|badge of the Supreme Court]] also bears a St. Edward's Crown to symbolize the source of the court's authority.

The monarch does not personally rule in judicial cases; this function of the [[royal prerogative]] is instead performed in trust and in the King's name by officers of His Majesty's court.<ref name=Cools/> Common law holds the notion that the sovereign "[[Sovereign immunity|can do no wrong]]": the monarch cannot be prosecuted in his own courts—judged by himself—for criminal offences under his own laws.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://rdo-olr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/olr_9.1_marasinghe.pdf |last=Marasinghe |first=M. L. |title=A Reassessment of Sovereign Immunity |journal=Ottawa Law Review |page=474 |access-date=31 January 2023 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201021514/https://rdo-olr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/olr_9.1_marasinghe.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Canada inherited the common law version of Crown immunity from British law.<ref name=Justice>{{Citation |url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2022/jus/J2-522-1999-eng.pdf |author=Department of Justice |title=The Liability of Public Authorities |edition=Fourth |page=11 |date=June 1999 |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |access-date=31 January 2023}}</ref> However, over time, the scope of said immunity has been steadily reduced by statute law. With the passage of relevant legislation through the provincial and federal parliaments, the Crown in its public capacity (that is, lawsuits against the King-in-Council), in all areas of Canada, is now liable in [[tort]], as any normal person would be.<ref name=Justice/> In international cases, as a sovereign and under established principles of [[international law]], the King of Canada is not subject to suit in foreign courts without his express consent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wrong |first=Humphrey Hume |author-link=Humphrey Hume Wrong |contribution=Telegram 219 |date=10 November 1952 |title=Relations With the United States |editor-last=Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada |editor-link=Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade |series=Documents on Canadian External Relations |volume=18 – 867 |contribution-url=http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=4363 |access-date=18 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123085615/http://www.international.gc.ca/department/history-histoire/dcer/details-en.asp?intRefid=4363|archive-date=23 November 2011}}{{Primary source inline|date=April 2024}}</ref>

Within the royal prerogative is also the granting of immunity from prosecution,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Public Prosecution Service of Canada |title=The Federal Prosecution Service Deskbook |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |date=October 2005 |location=Ottawa |url=http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/fps-sfp/fpd/ch35.html#note9 |id=35.4.3 |access-date=30 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521212900/http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/fps-sfp/fpd/ch35.html |archive-date=21 May 2009}}</ref> mercy, and [[Pardon#Canada|pardoning]] offences against the Crown.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dimmock |first=Gary |title=The quality of mercy |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=27 February 2008 |url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=e8b51861-a813-4c83-9d55-c2aeb6bb3bf7&k=28950 |access-date=4 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504160514/http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=e8b51861-a813-4c83-9d55-c2aeb6bb3bf7&k=28950 |archive-date=4 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |first=Molly |last=Dunsmuir |title=Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide |publisher=Parliamentary Information and Research Service |date=22 November 2004 |url=http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR-e/919-e.pdf |access-date=20 May 2009 |archive-date=26 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326043227/http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR-e/919-e.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Since 1878, the prerogative of pardon has always been exercised upon the recommendation of ministers.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDN1WzoaFNEC&pg=PA16 |first=James |last=Mallory |title=The Pattern of the Constitution |journal=Essential Readings in Canadian Constitutional Politics |editor-first=Peter H |editor-last=Russell| editor2-first=Christian| editor2-last=Leuprecht |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2011 |page=16 |isbn=978-1-4426-0368-4}}</ref>