Nils Christie's Criticism Of The Canadian Court Justice System

In 1759, the Canadian Court Justice system was brought to Canada by the French. After the battle of Quebec, all of Canada then followed the English common law system except for Quebec 1. Based on my understanding and knowledge of N. Christie’s arguments and the Canadian court system, I believe that Christie’s criticism of modern legal system is fair and it effects our current court system today. In 1977, Nils Christie wrote the essay, “Conflicts as Properties”, in which he discusses the four problems that occur within the western legal system. The four problems that affect the legal system in four ways is that the courts are always located in areas that people may not have easy access to locate, the courthouses are challenging to find your way around, the parties are irrelevant to much of the proceedings and the proceedings makes conflicts between the actual parties involved turn into conflicts between the State and the parties 2.

No matter which city you go to, the courthouses are always located in a location where it is hard for people to transport there. Courthouses are placed in places where there are not many residential places and where it is often hard for people to have access to get there. For example, the Ottawa courthouse is located downtown. If you live in the west side of Ottawa and you are traveling to the courthouse by bus, the trip may take about an hour or two to arrive at the location because of the distance. In conclusion, courts are easier to have access to when they are located in smaller cities rather than larger