Per curiam

Per curiam is a Latin phrase meaning 'by the court.' A per curiam judgment is issued in the name of the court as a whole rather than under the name of an authoring judge. The Supreme Court of Canada occasionally uses this format, typically styled as reasons of 'The Court,' often in cases where the court wishes to speak with a single institutional voice.

For readers and researchers, a decision issued by the court as a whole signals unanimity and institutional weight, though its precedential force is the same as any other decision of that court. The label matters mainly for citation and for understanding the court's posture: no individual judge's reasoning can be singled out, and the reasons stand as the collective view of the panel.