A referee is a person appointed to decide a specific, circumscribed question of fact. This person submits a report to the judge, who may decide to either accept or reject that report. In Alberta (at the time of publication), Masters in Chambers were official referees in all courts, and clerks and deputy clerks are official referees in the Provincial court, and could act as referees when required by the Court of Queen’s Bench. Outside of these official referees, the Lieutenant Governor could (at the time of publication) appoint referees by order-in-council. Courts may have also been able to refer certain questions, but the legislation was unclear. This paper researches the question, and determines that referees are helpful to the administration of justice, and that mechanisms should be enacted to encourage and ease their use.