Canadian law The legal system of Canada is Legal pluralism, pluralist: its foundations lie in the English common law system (inherited from its period as a colony of the British Empire), the Napoleonic Code, French civil law system (inherited from its New Fra ...

, a real and substantial connection or the real and substantial connection test is a legal principle used to determine whether a subject matter falls within a jurisdiction. The phrase was first adopted in Canada in the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

decision of
Libman v. The Queen
' (1985). It is used in several circumstances in matters of

conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

Enforcement of foreign judgments

The test is primarily used to determine whether a Canadian court will recognize a foreign judgment where there was

service ex juris Service ex juris is legal notice of an upcoming proceeding given to a defendant who resides outside of the jurisdiction of the court. Rules of service ''ex juris'' are typically found in the rules of civil procedure and are limited by subject matter ...

. Courts will usually recognize a judgment from a foreign province or nation where the claimant shows that there is a real and substantial connection between the subject matter of the litigation or the damages suffered and the jurisdiction issuing the judgment. The foreign judgment must be final and the foreign court no longer has any power to change or rescind it.

Jurisdiction

When a claimant wishes to bring an action to a Canadian court, the Court must be satisfied that it has jurisdiction over the matter.

Jurisdiction in personam Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Juri ...

is determined using the real and substantial connection test. In '' SOCAN v. CAIP'' (2004), the Supreme Court of Canada applied the R&S connection test to determine the location of a breach of copyright in the context of peer to peer downloading. In ''

Club Resorts Ltd v Van Breda ''Club Resorts Ltd v Van Breda'', 2012 SCC 17, is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that has brought greater certainty to the question of a real and substantial connection in the assumption of civil jurisdiction by Canadian courts in matt ...

'', the Supreme Court applied the test to determine civil jurisdiction in the face of a

. Law of Canada {{canada-law-stub