THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND QUEBEC LAW

Abstract

Despite the differences in their legal systems, the effect of a Bill or Rights in Quebec would not be dissimilar to the effect in the rest of Canada. This article is particularly concerned with remedies for breach of civil liberties, and specifically, damages under the Civil Code. It surveys the applicability of the remedial provision to illustrate its wide ambit and, in light of it, seeks to explain the restrictive attitude of the Quebec courts in recent civil liberties cases before them. The author then considers how the principles of Quebec law already discussed relate to the Bill of Rights; in order to assess this question, he considers how a case previously decided under Quebec law would be different had the Bill or Rights been applied.