High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Canadian legal system has its foundation in the British common law system, inherited from being a former colony of the United Kingdom and later a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Quebec, however, still retains a civil system for issues of private law (as this domain falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces). Both legal systems are subject to the Constitution of Canada. Criminal prosecutions are conducted in the style of the British common law, as this jurisdiction falls exclusively to the federal government.