THE SUPERVISORY JURISDICTION IN QUEBEC

Abstract

This article is concerned with recent developments affecting the supervisory jurisdiction of the Quebec Superior Court. It focuses on 1) the increasingly lenient attitude of the courts toward procedural technicality touching the means of invoking the supervisory jurisdiction; 2) an increasing emphasis on protecting privative clauses; and 3) legislative provisions purporting to confer some supervisory jurisdiction on tribunals presided over by provincially appointed judges. The author considers the potential effects of a recent amendment to article 50 of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure on the issues involved in these developments. First he considers the extent to which the supervisory jurisdiction in Quebec depends on the terms of this article, and then he examines the implications of three principal alterations in the wording of the article.