{"id":37356,"date":"2023-05-11T12:08:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T12:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/blog\/adjournment-legal-definition\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:32:16","slug":"adjournment-legal-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/adjournment-legal-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Adjournment: legal definition and example"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Definition\"><\/span>Definition<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/adjournment-legal-definition\/#Definition\" >Definition<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/adjournment-legal-definition\/#Example\" >Example<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/avocat-montreal.ca\/en\/legal-glossary\/adjournment-legal-definition\/#Legal_references\" >Legal references<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>An <strong>adjournment<\/strong> is the postponement of a hearing or trial to a later date. In civil matters, the court may grant it only for a serious reason, such as the illness of a party or the unavailability of an essential witness, taking into account the parties&#8217; interests and the proper administration of justice; it may impose conditions, including costs.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Example\"><\/span>Example<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>On the morning of the trial, the plaintiff&#8217;s expert is hospitalized. The court grants an adjournment to a fixed date and orders the plaintiff to pay the costs incurred by the defendant for the lost day.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Legal_references\"><\/span>Legal references<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Code of Civil Procedure, arts. 9, 158 and 174 (case management and postponement).<\/li>\n<li><em>Criminal Code<\/em>, s. 571 (adjournment in criminal matters); <em>R. v. Jordan<\/em>, 2016 SCC 27 (unreasonable delay).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition An adjournment is the postponement of a hearing or trial to a later date. In civil matters, the court may grant it only for a serious reason, such as the illness of a party or the unavailability of an essential witness, taking into account the parties&#8217; interests and the proper administration of justice; it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-glossary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Adjournment: legal definition and example | AM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Legal definition of an adjournment (postponement of a hearing) in Quebec civil and criminal procedure: conditions, serious reason, costs, with an example and references.\" \/>\n<meta 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