Metropolitan Judiciary

The Metropolitan Judiciary (French: Magistrature métropolitaine) is the local (non-federal) judicial system encompassing the city of Ottawa, Canada's capital and fourth-most populous city, which unlike all other incorporated municipalities, unincorporated communities or other localities in Canada, is officially a federal district, and thus not legally part of any province or territory in the country, hence the need for the Metropolitan Judiciary to prosecute crimes occurring in Ottawa at the non-federal level. While the Supreme Court of Canada and the Frderal Court of Appeal, the two highest courts in the federal judicial system, are indeed based in Ottawa, and thus many trials and other judicial proceedings of federal jurisdiction take place in Ottawa federal courts, the Metropolitan Judiciary nonetheless forms a major part of the judicial system present in Ottawa, as it is indeed the fourth-most populous Canadian city, and the great majority of its residents would never find themselves facing federal chargers.