LA PHILOSOPHIE GENERALE DU NOUVEAU CODE CIVIL DU QUEBEC

Abstract

The civil Code of Lower Canada of 1866 was a practical and accessible code, and did not contain any statements of philosophic principle. The same is true of the Civil Code of Quebec, which was adopted by the National Assembly on December 18, 1991. The new Code is founded on two main ideas: no break with the past, thus ensuring continuity of existing laws, but also adjustment to Quebec society at the end of the twentieth century, thus ensuring a greater relevance to the present. The Code consolidates and improves. It consolidates by harmonizing with the Quebec Charter of Rights and Liberties of the Person, by codifying some general principles and affirming some jurisprudential solutions. It improves by recasting some institutions, particularly in the areas of property, prescription, suretyship and administration of the property of others. It also improves in integrating specific laws into the Code, but paying due regard to what should and should not be in a code. The Code also takes into account new values and techniques in order to adjust to the realities of modern Quebec society. The new values are based on the respect for the individual. Related to this primacy of the individual are principles of civil responsibility, where, in some cases, the law considers the victim rather than the presumed wrongdoer. There is also a better balance in the relationship between individuals in a new 'contractual justice': As for new techniques, they lead to the creation of computerized registration systems to meet today's needs. They also appear in the laws of evidence and in sensitive areas relating to the individual, and consequently it must be ensured that modern techniques do not adversely affect the primacy of the individual.