f provincial court are very systematic and are carried out veryswiftly. It is much like a tennis match, the ball, or control in the court, is volleyed back andforth between the judge (and court clerk) and the lawyers. The court clerk arraigns theaccused, the defence lawyer responses with how the accused pleas, if it is "not guilty", thecourt clerk asks how the Crown lawyer wishes to proceed and so forth. However, this isnot so in the Ontario Supreme Court (Trial Division), though similar in methodicalprocedures, the court cases are longer and much more time is spent on each individual partof the case, from presenting the evidence to cross- examination of the witness, this isbecause of the amount of information involved. The general atmosphere and behaviour in the Provincial Courtrooms were general looseand calm. The people, lawyers, judge, clerk and recorder seem to know each other verywell. They joked openly, even while the court was in session, the defence lawyer asked ifhe could persuade the judge into a lighter sentence after the judge had already made adecision in a very easy and friendly tone of voice, something seemly unprofessional thatcaused chuckles throughout the courtroom. Where in the Ontario Supreme Court theatmosphere was much more serious, professional, strict and at times high in tension. Ourcurrent bail system, in either monetary terms or personal recognizance, seemed prettysuccessful in Provincial Court, though not observed in the Ontario Supreme Court, all thepeople did show up for their trial, which included two people on bail for possession ofmarijuana cigarettes. As a final note, no bench warrant was every called for by the judgefor people whom failed to attend their trial. The necessity of the duty council is for those who don't have a lawyer and is for theirbenefit that they discuss legal options that the accused might have before proceeding,however this part of the system is not very efficient as the court must...
