Two systems, one country

Canada is bijural. Quebec uses civil law for private matters, derived from French and Roman traditions. The other nine provinces and three territories use English common law. Public law in Quebec — criminal, administrative, constitutional — is largely common-law-derived. Private law in Quebec — contract, property, family, succession, civil liability — is governed by the Civil Code of Quebec (CCQ), enacted in 1991, in force since 1994.

This guide is a primer for students from a common-law background.

The Civil Code of Quebec

The CCQ is a comprehensive codification. It is the primary source of private law in Quebec. Doctrine (academic writing) and jurisprudence are secondary — interpretive aids rather than independent sources of law.

The structure:

Book One: Persons (status, capacity, names, family).
Book Two: The Family.
Book Three: Successions.
Book Four: Property.
Book Five: Obligations.
Book Six: Prior Claims and Hypothecs.
Book Seven: Evidence.
Book Eight: Prescription.
Book Nine: Publication of Rights.
Book Ten: Private International Law.

The preliminary provision states that the CCQ constitutes a body of rules which, in all matters within the letter, spirit or object of its provisions, lays down the jus commune of Quebec.

Method

A civilian lawyer begins with the Code, not with cases. Articles are read systematically — against neighbouring provisions, in light of the structure of the Code, and in dialogue with doctrinal commentary.

Cases illustrate the application of the Code; they do not bind subsequent decisions in the formal way common-law precedent does. The SCC's role is interpretive, not law-making.

Vocabulary

A few translations every common-law student should know:

Contract — Title One of Book Five. Concepts include cause and object (CCQ arts 1410-1411). Consideration is absent.
Civil liability — extracontractual responsibility (CCQ art 1457). The QC equivalent of the common-law tort of negligence.
Trust — historically alien to civil law. Introduced as patrimony-by-appropriation (CCQ arts 1260-1298).
Real property — immovable (CCQ arts 899ff).
Personal property — movable.
Hypothec — mortgage equivalent.
Prescription — limitation period.

Family law

Quebec family law differs sharply from common-law provinces. Quebec (Attorney General) v A (2013) upheld the exclusion of de facto cohabitants from spousal-support and matrimonial-property regimes. The CCQ historically left those questions to express choice (marriage, civil union) rather than imposed regimes.

Bill 56 (2024) introduced the parental union regime — a new statutory framework providing some property and support rights to cohabiting parents.

The matrimonial regimes available under QC law include:

Partnership of acquests — the default since 1970.
Separation of property.
Community of property — historical default.

Family patrimony (CCQ arts 414-426) is mandatory for married and civil-union spouses regardless of regime: residence, household effects, motor vehicles, certain pensions and savings accumulated during the union.

Obligations

The CCQ's law of obligations covers contractual and extracontractual liability. Key concepts:

Cause and object (art 1410-1411). A contract is null without a valid cause and object.
Good faith (art 6, 7, 1375). Good faith pervades the CCQ — both in formation and performance. The civilian principle predates and is broader than the common-law principle in Bhasin.
Lésion (art 1405). Limited grounds for setting aside a contract for unfair imbalance.
Civil liability (art 1457). Fault, damage, causation.

Property

Civilian property law uses different categorisations. Ownership (CCQ arts 947-953) is a defined right with attributes of usus, fructus, abusus. Modalities of ownership and dismemberments (usufruct, use, servitudes, emphyteusis) provide flexibility unfamiliar to common-law students.

The numerus clausus principle is operative: real rights exist only as the Code recognises them.

Federal-provincial bijuralism

Federal statutes operate across both legal systems. The Federal Law-Civil Law Harmonization Act (1st 2001, 2nd 2004, 3rd 2011) aligns federal legislation with QC civil-law concepts. Federal statutes increasingly contain dual-language and dual-tradition vocabulary.

The SCC routinely sits in panels including civilian and common-law judges. Three of the nine seats are reserved by statute for Quebec — guaranteed to be civilian-trained.

Why this matters even outside Quebec

Federal legislation, Charter analysis, and the structure of Canadian appellate courts assume bijural fluency. A non-Quebec lawyer who does not understand basic CCQ vocabulary cannot read a Quebec-origin appeal or a federal statute correctly. This guide is a starting point — not a substitute for sustained study.

Quebec Civil Law for Common-Law Students