Preface

• Author: Denis Le May
• Profession: Conseiller a la documentation Bibliotheque de l'Université Laval
• Pages: 1-1

1

PREFACE

The Civil Code of Québec came into force 1 January 1994. It is always relevant and useful to look at it as a system of

legislation for Quebec in private matters; that is, the common law of the land. This book uses a chart form approach,

allowing readers or researchers, both inside and outside of the legal community, to very easily determine which particular

string of articles to read to answer a query.

The very nature of this project excludes an introduction to Quebec law or the research of Quebec law. This has

been done elsewhere.1 Some knowledge of the context and content of Quebec law on the part of the reader is assumed, but

such knowledge is by no means absolutely necessary in order to use this book. For the purpose of this book, it is enough

to place the Civil Code in the broader context of Canadian law. To do so, this book provides:

A bird’s-eye view of Quebec law

The Canadian Constitution and the Charter

FEDERAL, TERRITORIAL and PROVINCIAL legislation

BC AB SK MN ON QUEBEC NB NS PE NL

FEDERAL LAW + PROVINCIAL LAW

“COMMON” + STATUTESCOMMON” + STATUTES” + STATUTES + STATUTES 2

(“jus commune”)“jus commune”)jus commune”)”)

The Civil Code 3

1 See Douglass T. MacEllven et al., with special assistance by Denis Le May, Legal Research Handbook, 5th ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis But-

terworths, 2003) c. 12, “Researching Quebec law.”

2 Mostly in public law matters, but may complement or contradict the Civil Code and thus touch on private matters.

3 The Civil Code applies in private matters mostly, but as the foundation of all other laws (preliminary provision) it applies in public law. See

the commentary under the Preliminary Provision.