The Civil Code regulates personal status, matrimonial law and relations between married persons, relations between parents and children, property law and contract law, and liability in case of civil (non-criminal) injustice. Today, the decisions of French courts and the writings of French legal commentators can be respected if the provisions of French law remain similar to those of Quebec, but they do not have binding force in Quebec law. Legal reform in Quebec is inspired by legal developments in North America and elsewhere as well as in continental Europe. The law can usefully be divided into public and private law. The most important branch of the first is constitutional law, which deals with the powers of governments and the separation of powers between different levels of government. The second branch is criminal law, which regulates the punishment and deterrence of crimes considered injustices against society. Criminal behaviour is often also a civil injustice; For example, an attack is a crime for which the aggressor can be punished by the state, and a civil injustice for which the person attacked can receive compensation in a civil court. That is, a single activity can have public (i.e., criminal) and private (i.e., civil) consequences. The distinction is important; Because of the consequences of a criminal conviction, greater protection is required for the accused in a criminal case than for the accused in a civil case, the most important safeguard being the requirement of unequivocal proof of guilt. On the other hand, a civil action for damages may succeed after weighing the probability. Plaintiffs in civil cases have the right to win if their case is more persuasive, but the plaintiff in criminal proceedings is not entitled to a conviction. The only right to conviction belongs to the community, and while it is in the community`s interest to suppress crime, it is almost as important not to create a society whose members live in constant fear of false convictions.
Administrative law, which is becoming increasingly important in a highly regulated society, is the third branch of public law. Among other things, it regulates the exercise of governmental powers, which greatly affect most citizens. A fourth branch is tax law, according to which revenue is generated for the purpose of being spent for public purposes. In Quebec civil law – the parts of Quebec`s private law under the Civil Code – judicial decisions are considered differently, at least in formal theory. In this system, the courts will use the Code to determine a particular principle and then apply that principle to the facts. The principal authority for judges in Quebec is the Code itself; Therefore, they have the right to apply them without being bound by a prior decision, including that of a higher court. In practice, however, previous judicial decisions (case law) have traditionally been invoked, as in the common law tradition, and for the same reasons – that it is unwise, for reasons of public policy, to revive uncertainty about a law once its meaning and meaning have been established. In addition, the techniques used by Quebec judges to distinguish cases are similar to those used by their counterparts in other provinces. The actual status and weight of previous decisions therefore depend on the establishment of case law, and this in turn depends on the interpretation of the judge. There is no rule on the number of cases required to establish that they are a truly authoritative source of law. Legal reasoning at common law is primarily an argument by analogy. To avoid arbitrary decisions, similar cases must be decided immediately (see Stare Decisis), but there is always room for discussion of the facts of a previous case that are relevant and which are not.
In this system, legal reasoning is an attempt to provide convincing arguments to distinguish cases or to give a rational explanation of it. It is a never-ending process, as there will always be other cases; When new decisions are made, the principles and exceptions articulated in this case law form the basis of the common law. The rule of law, respect for the law, democratic principles and respect for others are the foundations of Canada`s legal heritage. All Canadians should understand the law, the ideas and principles behind it. This publication will help readers understand that private law establishes the rules between individuals. It is also called civil law. Private law settles disputes between groups of people and compensates victims, as in the example of closure. A civil case is a lawsuit that settles private disputes. The rule of law is another elusive term that has many different meanings. It is a British constitutional doctrine imported into the Canadian Constitution by the preamble to the Constitution Act, 1867, in which the founders of our constitution expressed a desire to create a constitution “similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom.” It describes an orderly society, as “law and order,” but it also describes the judicial independence of the executive. According to this principle, the police must obey the law and the actions of government officials must be authorized by law. The term is also used to support the reasons given by the courts for their decisions; In the rational explanation is the assurance given to the losing party that the decision is not merely a bizarre exercise of arbitrary power.
Another aspect of the rule of law, often referred to as the principle of legality, is to avoid retroactive legislation. The courts will rule that criminal laws must be interpreted to apply only to conduct that occurs after a law comes into force, a principle enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Laws also align individual rights with our duties as members of society. For example, if a law gives a person the legal right to drive, it also requires a driver to know how to drive and follow traffic laws. Equality, which means equity or justice, also describes a special set of rules that is sometimes considered a source of law. These rules developed in parallel with the common law in England to allow for the enforcement of statutory claims for which the common law did not provide for appropriate remedies. In the Middle Ages, the king retained the power to override court decisions on grounds of fairness and began to refer requests for the exercise of this discretion to the clerk, who created the Court of Chancery for this purpose. In the 16th century, this court carried out a large number of operations and, when decisions were justified, an initially unlimited margin of discretion became a body of principles and rules. Accordingly, the English legal system contained the principles of common law and equity with 2 groups of courts; If the rules were contradictory, justice prevailed because the Chancellor`s orders were carried out under threat of immediate imprisonment. Ironically, the rules of justice became even stricter than the common law, so much so that the Court of Chancery was ridiculed by Charles Dickens in the 19th century. Although in England the 2 courts have been united and a similar unification has been achieved in all Canadian common law jurisdictions, the principles have not yet been fully merged.
Laws help ensure a safe and peaceful society. The Canadian legal system respects the rights of individuals and ensures an orderly society. He applies the same law to everyone. This includes police, governments and civil servants. All must fulfill their duties in accordance with the law. Laws can be divided into public and private law. The law regulates the relations of individual members of society with each other and with society as a whole. Every human society has a legal system, because every society must try to resolve the fundamental conflict between the needs of the individual and those of the community. Law is not synonymous with justice, although it has been described as “part of Western man`s dream of a life governed by reason.” Scientific writings were sometimes considered a source of law.
At common law, writings were considered inferior until recently, and it was said that writers could not be considered authorities until their death. Nevertheless, lawyers can always adopt a writer`s argument. The courts willingly listen to and quote the arguments of contemporary jurists, even if they are not true sources of law, until the judges adopt them. In Quebec, the doctrine of living and deceased scholars, whether in the form of books, articles or commentaries on individual judicial decisions, has always been freely consulted and cited by jurists and judges, although it is no more a source of law or an authoritative authority than in the common law tradition.
