Layland v Ontario (Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations) was a 1993 case brought towards the Ontario Divisional Court (Superior Court) after a same-sex couple was denied a marriage license at Ottawa City Hall.
[1] The couple sought judicial review of the decision by the Ottawa City Clerk to deny them a marriage license, arguing that the acknowledged common law prohibition of same-sex couples from marriage violated their rights under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by discriminating on the basis of their sex.
[2] In a 2-1 decision, judges of the Ontario Divisional Court dismissed the application for an order requiring the issue of a marriage licence, ruling "that under the common law of Canada applicable to Ontario a valid marriage can take place only between a man and a woman.
"[3]