Quebec law

According to the Constitution of Canada, these two governments are each responsible for enacting law when it falls under their sphere of competence.

As such, the federal government is responsible for criminal law, foreign affairs, commerce, interprovincial transportation, and telecommunications.

In 1664, Louis XIV decreed in the charter creating the French East India Company that French colonial law would be primarily based on the Custom of Paris, the variant of civil law in force in the Paris region.

The French law merchant was in force as regulated by the 1673 “Code Savary” on trade.

In 1763, at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, France ceded sovereignty over Quebec to Britain, in the Treaty of Paris.

This provision displaced the Paris customary law for all things civil and criminal.

[13] This section granted all the provinces, including Quebec, the exclusive power to legislate with respect to private civil law matters.

For instance, under section 91 (26) of the British North America Act, 1867, marriage and divorce fall under federal jurisdiction.

Quebec criminal law nevertheless includes a wide range of offences (road traffic safety (Code de la sécurité routière) [fr], Quebec labour law [fr], etc.).

[23] This Civil Code applied only in Lower Canada, which a year later became the Province of Quebec.

The Legislature decided to enact this new Code because of the need for immediate reforms to the family law of Quebec.

[25] The current Code consists of ten books: Quebec is a free and democratic society that abides by the rule of law.

[27] The Government of Quebec cites five statements that represent the key values of Québécois society:[28][29] Québécois society bases its cohesion and specificity on a set of statements, a few notable examples of which include: Although Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction, it does not follow the pattern of other civil law systems which have court systems divided by subject matter.

[law 3] All courts, whether federal or provincial, are protected by the principle of judicial independence.

The Supreme Court has held that judicial independence is a fundamental constitutional principle.

The courts must have complete freedom to decide cases which come before them based on the law and the facts, without any political interference.

[law 8] Second, but much more rarely, the Court of Appeal possesses the power to respond to reference questions posed to it by the Quebec Cabinet.

[law 9] This means that the Superior Court has the power to hear all civil claims under the Civil Code of Quebec, determine matters under family law, including under the federal Divorce Act, and hear class actions.

It also has jurisdiction to hear appeals and judicial review applications from lower courts and administrative tribunals.

Quebec has a large number of administrative tribunals responsible for seeing to the application of one or more laws.

[36] Unlike in the other Canadian provinces, Quebec possesses two distinct types of lawyers.

The Sûreté du Québec is the main police force of Quebec, and it is responsible for the application of the law on the entire Québécois territory.

[41] For offences against provincial or federal laws in Quebec (including the Criminal Code), the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions [fr] is responsible for prosecuting offenders in court through Crown attorneys.

The Department of Justice of Canada also has the power to prosecute offenders, but only for offences against specific federal laws (ex.