Quebec Legal Historiography, 1760-1900
Vince Masciotra*
Introduction
With the recent multiplication of scholarly works on the history of
Quebec law, the need arises to survey what has been achieved to date.’ This
article therefore proposes to provide a relatively extensive bibliography of
Quebec legal historiography and to highlight noteworthy attempts at a his-
torical understanding of Quebec law.2
The discussion focuses on studies dealing with aspects of Quebec law
in the period from the British Conquest of 1760 to 1900. This historical
period witnessed fundamental transformations in Quebec society –
the
transition to a capitalist economy – and in Quebec law –
the codification
of civil law and procedure and the reception of English criminal law. Recent
studies of law in New France, especially those treating criminal and sei-
gniorial law, are included on the basis of their comparative and methodo-
logical importance. Representative literature from elsewhere in North
*Of the Montreal Business History Project, McGill University. I wish to thank Brian Young
and G. Blaine Baker for their editorial advice at various stages of the production of this survey.
The initial bibliographic research was done in 1985 and was funded by the SSHRC and the
Osgoode Society. A first version of this survey was written as a preparatory draft of part of
the introduction to G.B. Baker et al., Sources in the Law Library of McGill University for a
Reconstruction of the Legal Culture of Quebec, 1760-1890 (Montreal: Faculty of Law and Mon-
treal Business History Project, McGill University, 1987).
‘Useful bibliographies of this material include A. Morel, CanadafranCais (Bruxelles: Institut
de sociologie, 1963); PD. Maddaugh, A Bibliography of Canadian Legal History (Toronto: York
University Law Library, 1972); H.W. Arthurs & B.D. Bucknall, Bibliographies on the Legal
Professions and Legal Education in Canada (Toronto: York University Law Library, 1968).
2Discussions of Canadian legal historiography include R.C.B. Risk, “A Prospectus for Ca-
nadian Legal History” (1973) 1 Dalhousie L.. 227; G. Parker, “The Masochism of the Legal
Historian” (1974) 24 U.T.L.J. 279; D.H. Flaherty, “Writing Canadian Legal History: An In-
troduction” in D.H. Flaherty, ed., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. 1 (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1981) 3; A. Morel, “Canadian Legal History – Retrospect and
Prospect” (1983) 21 Osgoode Hall L.J. 159; D. Hay, Book Review of Essays in the History of
Canadian Law (1983) 64 Can. Hist. Rev. 583;D. Kettler, “The Question of’Legal Conservatism’
in Canada: A Review of Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. 1” (August 1983) 18 J.
Can. Stud. 136; D. Kettler, Book Review of Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. 2
(December 1984) 19 J. Can. Stud. 150; D.G. Bell, “The Birth of Canadian Legal History” (1984)
33 U.N.B.L.J. 312; B. Wright, “Towards a New Canadian Legal History” (1984) 22 Osgoode
Hall L.J. 349; B. Young, “Law ‘in the round’
(1986) 11 Acadiensis 155.
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
America and Western Europe is listed in the notes.3 To facilitate the dis-
cussion, the literature surveyed has been classified under broad areas of the
law. These classifications reflect a mixture of elements commonly under-
stood to comprise the law (judicial structures, constitutional and admin-
istrative law, private law and criminal law) and material society (family,
economy, sexual divisions and the State).
Because of the jurisdictional boundaries of Quebec’s legal system, this
survey will also include works dealing with the functioning and application
of pan-Canadian law within Quebec.
I. Constitution and Government
The history of the various constitutions of the British North American
colony which became the Province of Quebec and the doctrinal interpre-
tation of constitutional law have been a traditional concern of Canadian
legal scholars. Formal analysis (which focuses on structures and procedures
at the expense of contextual examinations of the functioning of these struc-
tures) and whiggish reasoning (which focuses on progress and treats reform
as a series of improvements) characterize this field of research. Notable
examples are the work of such political scientists as James Mallory and
Robert Dawson.4 More recently, constitutionalists have begun to take ac-
count of the political context of the establishment of constitutions, but legal
formalism still dominates the analysis of judicial interpretation of consti-
3Surveys of modem American and English legal historiography include R.W. Gordon, “Crit-
ical Legal Histories” (1984) 36 Stan. L. Rev. 57; D. Sugarman & G.R. Rubin, “Towards a New
History of Law and Material Society in England, 1750-1914” in D. Sugarman & G.R. Rubin,
eds, Law, Economy and Society, 1750-1914: Essays in the History of English Law (Abingdon,
U.K.: Professional Books, 1984) 1; S.N. Katz, “The Problem of a Colonial Legal History” in
J.R Green & J.R. Pole, eds, Colonial British America: Essays in the New History of the Early
Modern Era (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1984) 457. Collections of English
Canadian legal historiography include L. Knafla, ed., Law and Justice in a New Land: Essays
in Western Canadian Legal History (Calgary: Carswell, 1986); D.G. Bell, Manners, Morals and
Mayhem: A Look at the First 200 Years of Law and Society in New Brunswick (Fredericton,
N.B.: Public Legal Information Services, 1985); R Waite, S. Oxner & T. Barnes, eds, Law in
a Colonial Society: The Nova Scotia Experience (Toronto: Carswell, 1984); D.H. Flaherty, ed.,
Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vols 1, 2 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981-
83).4See J.R. Mallory, The Structure of Canadian Government, rev’d ed. (Toronto: Gage, 1984);
R.M. Dawson, The Government of Canada, 5th ed., rev’d by N. Ward (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1970). The “reception” of English laws from a constitutional point of view is
considered in J.E. Cot6, “The Reception of English Law” (1977) 15 Alta L. Rev. 29; E.G.
Brown, “British Statutes in the Emergent Nations of North America: 1606-1949” (1963) 7 Am.
J. Legal Hist. 95.
714
McGILL LA4W JOURNAL
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tutional law.5 A few historians, notably Hilda Neatby, Alfred Burt, Pierre
Tousignant and Fernand Ouellet, have looked at the origins of the various
constitutional statutes, mainly from a historical and political point of view.
They have focused on colonial policy and conflicts opposing various interest
groups in England and the colony.6 Tousignant’s study of The Constitutional
Act of 1791,7 for example, challenged the view often advanced by earlier
historians that British authorities “generously” gave political rights to Ca-
nadians. He argued that the British wanted a colonial government broadly
based on the English model, but one in which power would be retained by
England through the Governor-General.
Another aspect of constitutional history is the role of judicial review
by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Supreme Court of
Canada.8 One modern critic of the scholarship of judicial review, Patrick
5G. R6millard, Lefed~ralismecanadien, 2d ed., vols 1, 2 (Montreal: Qu6bec/Amdrique, 1983),
which includes an excellent bibliography. For a critique of the doctrinal interpretation of Ca-
nadian federalism, see P.J. Monahan, “A Doctrine’s Twilight: The Structure of Canadian Fed-
eralism” (1984) 34 U.T.L.J. 47.
6H.M. Neatby, The Quebec Act: Protest and Policy (Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall, 1972);
by the same author, Quebec: The Revolutionary Age, 1760-1791 (Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart, 1966); A.L. Burt, The Old Province of Quebec (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1933); P.
Tousignant, “Ptoblfmatique pour une nouvelle approche de la constitution de 1791” (1973)
27 Rev. d’hist. de l’Amfrique frangaise 181; E Ouellet, Le Bas-Canada, 1791-1840: Change-
ments structuraux et crise (Ottawa: Universit6 d’Ottawa, 1976). See also G. Bernier & D. Sal6e,
“Social Relations and Exercise of State Power in Lower Canada (1791-1840): Elements for an
Analysis” [Spring 1987] Studies in Political Economy 101; G.EG. Stanley, A Short History of
the Canadian Constitution (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1969). A good comparative study is J.M.
Ward, Colonial Self.Government: The British Experience, 1759-1856 (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1976). On Confederation, see J.C. Bonenfant, La naissance de la con ederation
(Montreal: Lem~ac, 1969); PB. Waite, The Life and Times of Confederation 1864-1867: Politics,
Newspapers and the Union of British North America (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1962); W.L. Morton, The Critical Years: The Union of British North America, 1857-1873 (To-
ronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964). See also A.I. Silver, The French-Canadian Idea of Con-
federation, 1864-1900 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982).
7(U.K.), 31 Geo. 3, c. 31.
80n the Supreme Court, see EH. Underhill, “Edward Blake, the Supreme Court Act, and
the Appeal to the Privy Council, 1875-76” (1938) 19 Can. Hist. Rev. 245; E MacKinnon, “The
Establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada” (1946) 27 Can. Hist. Rev. 258; E Vaughan,
“Civil Code Influences on the Supreme Court of Canada, 1875-1980: Particularly in Contract
and Negligence” (1986) 20 L. Soc. Gaz. 48; PH. Russell, The Supreme Court of Canada as a
Bilingual and Bicultural Institution (Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1969); J.G. Snell & F Vaughan,
The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1985). On the Privy Council, see PA. Howell, The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
1833-1876: Its Origins, Structure and Development (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1979); R. Stevens, “The Final Appeal: Reform of the House of Lords and Privy Council, 1867-
1876” (1964) 80 Law Q. Rev. 343; FM. Greenwood, “Lord Watson, Institutional Self-Interest
and the Decentralization of Canadian Federalism in the 1890s” (1974) 9 U.B.C. L. Rev. 244;
S. Wexler, “The Urge to Idealize: Viscount Haldane and the Constitution of Canada” (1984)
29 McGill L.J. 608. On judicial review, see J. Smith, “The Origins of Judicial Review in
Canada” (1983) 16 Can. J. Pol. Sci. 115, which reviews the literature.
19871
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
Monahan, concludes that “Canadian constitutional law and theory lingers
at the dusk of legal formalism.” 9 Monahan notes that whereas legal for-
malism has been criticized by Canadian scholars for a number of years, it
still predominates analyses of judicial review. For -Monahan, constitutional
law and interpretation must be seen as a political discourse, which can be
analyzed in terms of the political and intellectual climate of the times in
which it was produced. Significant advances in this field of research could
be modeled after the investigations conducted by John Pocock, with a view
to producing more sophisticated analyses of the history of intellectual inter-
pretations of constitutional statutes. 10 Another approach would be to probe
more deeply into the political and social repercussions of specific consti-
tutional statutes and decisions.
More recently, several Quebec scholars initiated research into the nine-
teenth-century legal foundations of urban and local governmental and ad-
ministrative structures.I’ In a review of some of this work, Jean-Guy Belley
notes that analyses of the elite discourse surrounding the enactment of leg-
islation have been produced at the expense of a “sociologie historique de
l’ttat qub6bcois” which would investigate the local consequences of those
laws. 12
In his work on the first parliamentary institutions in Lower Canada,
between 1791 and 1838, Henri Brun looks at the dynamic interaction be-
tween the various levels of colonial government and examines the actual
operation of formal structures.13 His dominant theme is the struggle of the
local Francophone elite for increased political rights. Another area of State
9See Monahan, supra, note 5 at 47. He discusses judicial review at pp. 51-69.
10See J.G.A. Pocock, The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law: A Study of English
Historical Thought in the Seventeenth Century (New York: Norton, 1967). See also Monahan,
ibid. An example of an intellectual history approach applied to a case in Quebec that reached
the Supreme Court is R. Knopff, “Quebec’s ‘Holy War’ as ‘Regime’ Politics: Reflections on
the Guibord Case” (1979) 12 Can. J. Pol. Sci. 315.
riSee, e.g., J. I’Heureux, “Les premieres institutions municipales au Qubec ou ‘machines A
(1979) 20 C. de D. 331; J. LUveill~e & M.-O. Tr6panier, “Evolution de la legislation
taxer’
relative A l’espace urbain au Qu6bec” (1981-82) 16 R.J.T. 19; A. Tremblay & D. Turp, “L’in-
cidence des politiques urbaines sur l’exercice des comp6tences fed6rales et provinciales en
mati~re de gouvernement local” (1981-82) 16 R.J.T. 281; J.I. Little, “Colonization and Mu-
nicipal Reform in Canada East” (1981) 14 Soc. Hist. 93; L.J. Ste Croix, The First Incorporation
of the City of Montreal, 1826-36 (M.A. Thesis, McGill University, 1971) [unpublished].
‘2″Du juridique et du politique en sociologie de droit: Ak propos de la recherche ‘Droit et
soci6t6 urbaine au Qu6bec” (1982-83) 17 R.J.T. 445.
13H. Brun, La formation des institutions parlementaires quebecoises, 1791-1838 (Quebec:
Presses de l’Universit6 Laval, 1970). On the politics of the period, see Ouellet, supra, note 6;
H.T. Manning, The Revolt of French Canada, 1800-35: A Chapter in the History of the British
Commonwealth (Toronto: Macmillan, 1962).
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[Vol. 32
organization which legal historians are beginning to study is the school
system. 14 J.E. Hodgetts and James Gow have published administrative his-
tories of the bureaucratic structures of the United Canadas and the province
of Quebec, but still to be investigated are the particular roles of the law and
lawyers in administrative processes.’ 5
II. The Civil Law System
In view of the unique legal-political processes which led to the amal-
gamation of French, English and American sources, and to the codification
of Quebec’s private law, it is not surprising that several legal educators have,
beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, combined a historical
presentation with the usual doctrinal approach to legal scholarship. In the
latter part of the nineteenth century, a few French-Canadian law teachers,
most notably Edmond Lareau, published general historical texts on the
provincial legal system.16 These works emphasized legislation and depended
heavily on quotations from documentary sources. This approach continues
at the law schools of Universit6 Laval and Universit6 de Montreal in the
‘4See, e.g., P. Carignan, “La place faite A Ia religion dans les 6coles publiques par la loi scolaire
de 1841” (1982-83) 17 R.J.T. 9. An older work is 0. Gagnon, Cultural Developments in the
Province of Quebec: Minorities’ Rights and Privileges under the Educational System (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1952). See also L.-P Audet, Histoire du Conseil de l’instruction
publique de la province de Quebec, 1856-1964 (Montr6al: Lem6ac, 1964); L.-P. Audet, Histoire
de l’enseignement au Quebec (Montr6al: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971).
15See J.I. Gow, Histoire de l’administrationpublique queb~coise 1867-1970 (Montr6al: Presses
de l’Universit6 de Montreal, 1986); J.E. Hodgetts, Pioneer Public Service: An Administrative
History of the United Canadas, 1841-1867 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1956). See
also G. Paquet & J.-P. Wallot, Patronage et pouvoirpolitique dans le Bas-Canada (1794-1812):
Un essai d’conomie historique (Montr6al: Presses de l’Universit6 du Qu6bec, 1973); Bernier
& Sale, supra, note 6.
‘ 6B.A.T. de Montigny, Histoire de droit canadien (Montr6al: E. S6ncal, 1869); G. Doutre &
E. Lareau, Le droit civil canadien suivant l’ordre etabli par les codes, precede d’une histoire
gntrale de droit canadien (Montr6al: A. Doutre, 1872); E. Lareau, Histoire du droit canadien
depuis les origines de la colonie jusqua nos jours, vols 1, 2 (Montr6al: A. P6riard, 1888-89);
R. Lemieux, Les origines du droitfranco-canadien (Montr6al: C. Thforet, 1901). For a bio-
graphical article of Lareau, see S. Gagnon, “Lareau, Edmond” in Dictionary of Canadian
Biography, vol. 11 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982) 488. See also ER Walton, The
Scope and Interpretation of the Civil Code of Lower Canada [1907] (Toronto: Butterworths,
1980); W.J. White, The Sources and Development of the Law of the Province of Quebec (Mon-
treal: Gazette, 1903). Articles on late nineteenth-century legal scholarship in Quebec and On-
tario include S. Normand, “Une analyse quantitative de Ia doctrine en droit civil qu6b6cois”
(1982) 23 C. de D. 1009; G.B. Baker, “The Reconstitution of Upper Canadian Legal Thought
in the Late-Victorian Empire” (1985) 3 Law and Hist. Rev. 219. See also A. Morel, supra, note
2.
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
historical introductions to Quebec law which the faculties prepare for their
classes. 17
The work of several historians, especially Hilda Neatby and Evelyn
Kolish, who have investigated the establishment and evolution of the civil
law system since 1763, stands on a different methodological footing.18 Much
of their work stresses conflicts between interest groups and attempts by
specific groups to reform both substantive law and the court system. Prom-
inent in this regard, for example, were the perennial battles initiated by
merchants to obtain the application of British private law in Quebec. Evelyn
Kolish attempts to interpret the attitudes and reactions of Canadians to
changes in the civil law of Quebec/Lower Canada between 1760 and 1840.
She examines the administration of civil justice, the judiciary and the mag-
istracy, and such facets of substantive civil law as bankruptcy, inheritance,
land tenure regimes and the registration of hypothecs. She finds that the
opinions ,of contemporaries reflected primarily their ethnic background,
though sometimes they were modified by class or economic interests. The
explanation offered for this ethnic conflict over private law is that Anglo-
phone and Francophone groups alike saw the law as a powerful instrument
of their socio-ethnic goals, including economic pursuits, political and in-
stitutional power, and ethnic survival.
17See, e.g., J.C. Bonenfant, H. Brun & C. Vachon, Histoire des institutionsjuridiques (textes):
Histoire du droit priv (Qu6bec: Facult6 de droit, Universit6 Laval, 1969); A. Morel, Histoire
du droit, 6th ed. (Montreal: Librairie de l’Universit6 de Montreal, 1980-81).
18H.M. Neatby, The Administration of Justice under the Quebec Act (London: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1937), which, though concerned primarily with the administration of justice,
gives ample consideration to disputes surrounding points of substantive law; E. Kolish, Change-
ment dans le droit priv6 au Qu6bec et au Bas-Canada, entre 1760 et 1840: Attitudes et r6actions
des contemporains (Doctoral dissertation in legal history, Universit6 de Montr6al, 1980) [un-
published]. See also Neatby, supra, note 6; A.L. Burt, supra, note 6. These are general texts
which give substantial consideration to legal matters. See also, on the same and later periods,
W.R. Riddell, “The First British Courts in Canada” (1923-24) 33 Yale L.J. 571; W. Smith,
“The Struggle over the Laws of Canada, 1763-1783” (1920) 1 Can. Hist. Rev. 166; EH. Soward,
“The Struggle over the Laws of Canada, 1783-1791” (1924) 5 Can. Hist. Rev. 314; L. Pelland,
“Aperqu historique de notre organisation judiciaire depuis 1760” (1933-34) 12 R. du D. 14; A.
Morel, “Les r6actions des Canadiens devant l’administration de Ia justice de 1764 it 1774: Une
forme de r6sistance passive” (1960) 20 R. du B. 53; J.-P Wallot, “Plaintes contre l’adminis-
tration de la justice (1807)” (1966) 19 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am6rique franqaise 551, (1970) 20 Rev.
d’hist. de l’Am6rique franqaise 28, 281, and 366; J. UHeureux, “L’organisation judiciaire au
Qu6bec de 1764 A 1774” (1970) 1 R.G.D. 266; L. Renaud, “La Cour d’appel i l’aube de l’Union
(1839-49)” (1973) 8 R.J.T. 465. See also J.-M. Fecteau, “Prolgom~nes i une 6tude historique
des rapports entre I’ttat et le droit dans la soci6t6 qu6b6coise, de la fin du XVIIIe si6cle A la
crise de 1929” (1986) 18 Sociologies et socidt6s 129.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 32
The daily workings of some civil courts, especially those active during
the French regime, have been the subject of quantitative analyses.19 It is to
be hoped that the recent reorganization of the archives of the Judicial Dis-
trict of Montreal, which contain the records of the Sessions of the Peace
and the Court of King’s Bench, will enable and encourage scholars to un-
dertake similar research on the civil courts of the British regime. The work
and role of court officers has been neglected, though a recent study by Pierre
Audet on the offices of clerk of the court and prothonotary demonstrates
the importance of these functionaries. 20 Several fundamental legal concepts
relevant to the civil justice system, including the responsibility of judges,
the injunction remedy and the authority of precedents in appellate courts,
have been examined recently, but typically from a formal perspective. 21
The greatest institutional achievement in Quebec civil law, the Civil
Code of Lower Canada (1866), has been a central concern of legal scholars
since its enactment. Research into the chronology of the establishment and
reform of the Civil Code, and into its doctrinal sources, has recently been
combined with more traditional studies of the internal coherence of the
body of law that was codified. Significant contributions to research in this
field include a detailed study of the work of the codification commission
by John Brierley, an examination by Marian Karpacz of appellate decisions
19A valuable study is J.A. Dickinson, Justice et justiciables: La procdure civile a la PrvO
de Quebec, 1667-1759 (Quebec: Presses de l’Universit6 Laval, 1982). A small-scale work on
rural civil courts is S. Normand, “Justice civile et communaut6 rurale au Qu6bec, 1880-1920”
(1984) 25 C. de D. 579. Each of these studies attempts to determine how representative the
justiciables were of society at large. For an enlightening epistemological discussion of this
approach, see J.-G. Belley, “Vers une sociologie historique de la justice qu6bdcoise: R6flexion
en marge d’un ouvrage recent sur la justice civile sous le regime frangais” (1983) 24 C. de D.
409. Other studies of the courts of New France include A. Morel, “L’imposition et le contrOle
des peines au Bailliage de Montrbal (1666-1693)” in Etudes juridiques en hommage di M. le
juge Bernard Bissonnette(Montr6al: Presses de ‘Universit6 de Montreal, 1963) 411; J. Mathieu,
“Les causes devant la Pr~v6t6 de Qu6bec en 1667” (1969) 3 Soc. Hist. 101; J.R. Thompson,
“An Evaluation of Judicial Fees in Cases brought before the Sovereign Council, 1663-1690”
(1969) 3 Revue du centre d’6tudes de Qu6bec 9; J.A. Dickinson, “La justice seigneuriale en
Nouvelle-France: Le cas de Notre-Dame-des-Anges” (1974) 28 Rev. d’hist. de l’Amfrique fran-
gaise 323; and, by the same author, “Court Costs in France and New France in the Eighteenth
Century” [1977] Can. Hist. Assoc. Hist. Papers 49. A valuable introduction to the society of
New France and the place of law within it is Louise Dechene, Habitants et marchands de
Montreal au XVIIe siecle (Montr6al: Plon, 1974).
20Les officiers de justice: Des origines de la colonie jusqu di nos jours (Montreal: Wilson et
21See N. Bernier, “1’autorit de prfcdentjudiciaire A la Cour d’appel du Quebec” (1971) 6
R.J.T. 535; A. Prujiner, “Origines historiques de l’injonction en droit qubEcois” (1979) 20 C.
de D. 249; H.P Glenn, “La responsabilit6 des juges” (1983) 28 McGill LJ. 228.
Lafleur, 1986).
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
as a source of law for the codifiers, and the 1981 historical and critical
edition of the Civil Code.22 In a study of public opinion in the period leading
up to codification and the period following the Civil Code’s enactment,
Andr6 Morel found surprisingly little public debate on the matter.23 His-
torical treatment of the 1867 Code of Civil Procedure has been neglected,
but a monographic study by Jean-Marie Brisson of the evolution of civil
procedure in Quebec from 1774 to codification is now available.24 A broader
historical perspective which would place the adoption of both codes in the
context of state-building at the time of Confederation has yet to be
attempted.
II1. Criminal Justice
The quality and scope of legal-historical research in criminal justice
surpasses that on other aspects of Quebec law. This state of affairs is probably
related to the greater availability of criminal records, especially for the
French regime, and, more importantly, to the example provided by a number
of social historians who have been concerned for some time with how crim-
inal justice and the penal system have conditioned relations between social
classes. 25
22J.E.C. Brierley, “Quebec’s Civil Law Codification Viewed and Reviewed” (1968) 14 McGill
L.J. 521; M. Karpacz, “La Cour d’appel et la redaction du Code civil” (1971) 6 R.J.T. 513; P.-
A. Cr6peau &J.E.C. Brierley, eds, Code civil, 1866-1980:Edition historiqueet critique (Montr6al:
Socit6 qu~brcoise d’information juridique, 1981). See also J.W. Cairns, The 1808 Digest of
Orleans and 1866 Civil Code of Lower Canada: An historical study of Legal Change, vols 1,
2 (Doctoral dissertation in legal history, University of Edinburgh, 1981) [unpublished]; J.P.
Richert & E.S. Richert, “The Impact of the-Civil Code of Louisiana upon the Civil Code of
Quebec of 1866″ (1973) 8 R.J.T. 501.
23″La codification devant l’opinion publique de l’6poque” in J. Boucher & A. Morel, eds,
Le droit dans la viefamiliale, vol. 1, Livre du centenaire du droit civil (Montreal: Presses de
l’Universit6 de Montral, 1970) 27.
et 1867 (Montreal: Th6mis, 1986).
24See J.-M. Brisson, La formation d’un droit mixte: L’ olution de la procedure civile de 1774
25For comparative studies, see D. Hay, “Crime and Justice in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-
Century England” in Morris & Tonry, eds, Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) 45; D. Hay, “The Criminal Prosecution in England
and its Historians” (1984) 47 Mod. L. Rev. 1; R. Lane, “Crime and the Industrial Revolution:
British and American Views” (1974) 7 J. Soc. Hist. 287; and M. Ignatieff, “State, Civil Society
and Total Institution: A Critique of Recent Social Histories of Punishment” in D. Sugarman,
ed., Legality, Ideology and the State (London: Academic Press, 1983) 183. Influential mono-
graphs include D. Hay et al., Albion’s Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth-Century
England (London: Penguin Books, 1975); E.P. Thompson, Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of
the Black Act (Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, 1977); M. Ignatieff, A Just Measure of
Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850 (New York: Pantheon Books,
1978); M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. A. Sheridan (New
York: Vintage Books, 1979); D. Melossi & M. Davarini, The Prison and the Factory: Origins
of the Penitentiary System (London: Macmillan, 1981). Information about Canadian research
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[Vol. 32
The study of the origins of various Canadian criminal statutes has been
a favoured activity of legal historians. 26 Most of the scholarship on Canadian
criminal legislation from 1760 to 1900 emphasizes the legislators’ lack of
originality and their supposed dependence on English models. 27 However,
the work of other historians identifies significant differences between the
Canadian and English criminal justice systems. For example, Douglas Hay
points out that, unlike the British law of the nineteenth-century, Canadian
criminal law of that time permitted the Crown to appeal acquittals by lower
courts. Similarly, whereas private prosecution was prevalent in Great Brit-
ain, it was of limited relevance to Canadian residents. 28 Legal historians
disagree over the extent to which the Criminal Code of 1892 modified
Canadian criminal law.29
Important articles on the insanity defence and its judicial interpretation
have been published by Simon Verdun-Jones. This work is significant for
its willingness to analyze the law within the context of broader social ideo-
can be obtained by consulting J.G. Woods, “Criminal Justice History in Canada: A Brief Survey
of Work in Progress” (1983) 4 Crim. Just. Hist. 119, which includes researchers, their addresses
and their topics of research; L.A. Knafla, “Crime, Criminal Law and Justice in Canadian
History: A Select Bibliography, Origins to 1940” in D.J. Bercuson & L.A. Knafla, eds, Law
and Society in Canada in Historical Perspective (Calgary: University of Calgary Studies in
History, 1979) 157; K.L. Mayer, Canadian Criminology Annotated Bibliography: Crime and
the Administration of Criminal Justice in Canada (Ottawa: Solicitor General of Canada, 1977);
and the bibliography in R.A. Silverman & J.J. Teevan, eds, Crime in Canadian Society, 2d ed.
(Toronto: Butterworths, 1980).
26See, e.g., A.W. Mewett, “The Criminal Law, 1867-1967” (1967) 45 Can. B. Rev. 726; A.
Morel, “La reception du droit criminel anglais au Qu6bec (1760-1892)” (1978) 13 R.J.T. 449;
J.J. Edwards, “The Advent of English (Not French) Criminal Law and Procedure into Canada
– A Close Call in 1774” (1984) 26 Crim. L.Q. 464; G. Parker, “The Origins of the Canadian
Criminal Code” in Flaherty, ed., supra, note 1, 249; R.C. MacLeod, “The Shaping of Canadian
Criminal Law, 1892 to 1902” [1978] Can. Hist. Assoc. Hist. Papers 64; C. D6saulniers, “La
peine de mort dans la 16gislation criminelle de 1760 a 1892” (1977) 8 R.G.D. 141; V.M. Del
Buono, “The Right to Appeal in Indictable Cases; a Legislative History” (1978) 16 Alta L.
Rev. 446.
27See Parker, Mewett, Del Buono and D6saulniers, ibid.
28Hay made these remarks in an address to the annual congress of the Institut d’histoire de
l’Am6rique frangaise in October 1985, “Droit, Rtat et soci6t6 aux 1Be et 19e sixces” [unpub-
lished]. See also his “Controlling the English Prosecutor” (1983) 21 Osgoode Hall L.J. 165. To
compare with prosecution in Ontario, see P.M. Romney, Mr. Attorney: The Attorney General
for Ontario in Court, Cabinet, and Legislature 1791-1899 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1986). Two interesting discussions of the criminal justice system of Lower Canada are L.A.
Knafla & T.L. Chapman, “Criminal Justice in Canada: A Comparative Study of the Maritimes
and Lower Canada, 1760-1812″ (1983) 21 Osgoode Hall L.J. 245; J.-M. Fecteau, La pauvret6,
le crime, l’6tat: Essai sur l’conomie politique du contrble social au Qu6bec, 1791-1840 (Doc-
toral dissertation in history, Universit6 de Paris VII, 1983) [unpublished].
29See Parker, Mewett, and MacLeod, supra, note 26.
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
logies. 30 Constance Backhouse adopts a similar approach in her studies of
such aspects of nineteenth-century criminal law affecting women as infan-
ticide, abortion, rape and prostitution. 3′ Significant research into the social
meaning of criminal law has been attempted by Andr6 Morel and Douglas
Hay.32 Morel investigates the attitudes of both the elite and lower classes
towards criminal legislation from 1760 to 1892, and their reactions to the
types of punishment meted out by criminal courts. To obtain a richer per-
spective on popular mentality, the legal historian needs to broaden his re-
search to include such sources as court records which can provide direct
evidence from the testimony of the lower classes. The analysis of the cultural
products of the lower classes such as folk songs may also yield interesting
results. Hay’s article is more suggestive of popular attitudes towards criminal
justice in the critical first years of the British regime. He also tries to identify
the values of the elite which were internalized in the criminal law. Another
significant contribution is Jean-Marie Fecteau’s doctoral thesis which ana-
lyzes the discourse surrounding the adoption of criminal legislation between
1791 and 1840 as compared with similar debates in England.33
Andr6 Lachance has investigated criminal court records for part of the
French regime. A similar systematic study of any period after the Conquest
3″The Evolution of the Defences of Insanity and Automatism in Canada from 1843 to 1979:
A Saga of Judicial Reluctance to Sever the Umbilical Cord to the Mother Country?” (1979)
14 U.B.C. L. Rev. 1; and ‘Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity’: The Historical Roots of the
Canadian Insanity Defence, 1843-1920″ in L.A. Knafla, ed., Crime and Criminal Justice in
Europe and Canada (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981) 179. See also
M.L. Friedland, The Case of Valantine Shortis: A True Story of Crime and Politics in Canada
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986).
31See “Nineteenth-Century Canadian Rape Law, 1800-92” in D.H. Flaherty, ed., Essays in
the History of Canadian Law, vol. 2, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983), 200; “In-
voluntary Motherhood: Abortion, Birth Control, and the Law in Nineteenth Century Canada”
(1983) 3 Windsor Y.B. Access Just. 61; “Desperate Women and Compassionate Courts: In-
fanticide in Nineteenth-Century Canada” (1984) 34 U.T.L.J. 447; and “Nineteenth-Century
Canadian Prostitution Law: Reflection of a Discriminating Society” (1986) 18 Soc. Hist. 387.
32See Morel, supra, note 26; A. Morel, “Les crimes et les peines: tvolution des mentalit~s
au Quebec an XIXe si6cle” (1978) 8 R.D.U.S. 384. Morel’s methodological conservatism pre-
vents him from gaining a better understanding of popular mentality towards criminal law,
since his sources cannot tell him much about the lower classes’ perceptions. See also D. Hay,
“The Meanings of the Criminal Law in Quebec, 1764-74” in L.A. Knafla, supra, note 30, 77.
Compare J.M. Beattie, Attitudes towards Crime and Punishment in Upper Canada, 1830-1850:
A Documentary Study (Toronto: Centre of Criminology, 1977). On the sources and method-
ological problems in the history of mentalities and ideologies, see G. Duby, “Histoire des
mentalit~s” in C. Samaran, ed., L’histoire et ses mtthodes (Paris: Gallimard, 1961) 937; M.
Vovelle, Ideologies et mentalitts (Paris: Masp~ro, 1982).
33Supra, note 28.
McGILL L4W JOURNAL
[Vol. 32
has not yet been attempted. 34 Noteworthy analyses of criminal punishment
have been undertaken by Jean-Marie Fecteau and Pierre Tremblay.35 Trem-
blay’s method is statistically more sophisticated. He is chiefly concerned
with the “amount” and “intensity” (or “average length”) of imprisonment
in Montreal between 1845 and 1913. Tremblay’s findings suggest that the
penal system may have been a homeostatic or self-regulating system, since
the yearly “amount” of punishment over the period studied (the total num-
ber of hours of imprisonment imposed over all individuals), remained rel-
atively constant, while the “intensity” of individual punishment did change
at various times in that period. A complementary conjunctural investigation
of the variations that occurred in the length of imprisonment at different
times between 1845 and 1913 would probably yield interesting results.
On the other hand, Fecteau situates the history of the criminal justice
system in the broader context of social regulation in Lower Canada between
1791 and 1840. He analyzes the social background of the accused and the
types of criminal charges and punishments. He finds that criminal offenders
were not representative of Lower Canadian society (urban dwellers and
people on the margins of economic production, such as soldiers, were over-
represented). Fecteau therefore hypothesizes that the criminal justice system
played a minimal role within the logic of Lower Canadian social regulation,
which was mainly based on relations of authority such as those involving
seigneurs and the peasantry, merchants and clerks, and master craftsmen
and indentured servants. The Lower Canadian state is said to have played
a role complementary to that of pre-capitalist, socio-economic relations of
authority. The coercive apparatuses of’the State, of which the criminal justice
34A. Lachance, Lajustice criminelle du Roi au Canada au XVIIIe si~cle: Tribunaux et officiers
(Qudbec: Presses de I’Universit6 Laval, 1978); and Crimes et criminels en Nouvelle-France
(Montral: Borral Express, 1984). Both of these works contain excellent bibliographies. Recent
articles on the criminal law of the French regime include A. Morel, “Rrflexions sur la justice
criminelle canadienne, au 18e sicle” (1975) 29 Rev. d’hist. de l’Amdrique franaise 241; A.
Lachance, “Women and Crime in Canada in the Early Eighteenth Century, 1712-1759” in
Knafla, supra, note 29, 157; J.-E Leclerc, “Justice et infra-justice en Nouvelle-France: Les voies
de fait i Montreal entre 1700 et 1760” (1985) 18(1) Criminologie 25.
35See J.-M. Fecteau, supra, note 27; J.-M. Fecteau, “R6gulation sociale et r6pression de la
d6viance au Bas-Canada au tournant du 19e sircle (1791-1815)” (1985) 38 Rev. d’hist. de
l’Am6rique frangaise 499; P Tremblay et G. Therriault, “La punition commune du crime: La
prison et l’amende i Montr6al de 1845 i 1913” (1985) 18(1) Criminologie 43; P. Tremblay,
“‘I6volution de l’emprisonnement p6nitentiaire, de son intensit6, de sa fermet6 et de sa port~e:
Le cas de Montreal de 1845 A 1913” (1986) 28 Can. J. Crim. 47. See also J.A. Edmison, “Some
Aspects of Nineteenth-Century Canadian Prisons” in W.T. McGrath, ed., Crime and its Treat-
ment in Canada, 2d ed. (Toronto: Macmillan, 1976) 347; J.D. Borthwick, History ofthe Mon-
treal Prison from A.D. 1784 to A.D. 1886 (Montreal: A. Prriard, 1886); and, on the exceptional
case of the confinement of the criminally insane, S.N. Verdun-Jones & R. Smandych, “Catch-
22 in the Nineteenth-Century: The Evolution of Therapeutic Confinement for the Criminally
Insane in Canada, 1840-1900” (1981) 2 Crim. Just. Hist. 85.
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
system was a part, filled the gaps and dealt with the major crises in the
social system.
A subject that has yet to be researched by historians is the nineteenth-
century organization of Quebec’s municipal and rural police systems.36
IV. Political Protest and Military Law
With its weak police and criminal justice system, the military was an
essential force for the “keeping of the peace” in Lower Canada. Despite the
well-known use of military forces “as an aid to civil power” in nineteenth
and twentieth-century Canada, the legal processes behind these interven-
tions have not been a major concern of historians. A study of the British
military garrison at Montreal between 1832 and 1854 by Elinor Kyte Senior,
despite its apologetic tone, clearly shows the role of the garrison as a coercive
apparatus upon which the imperial and colonial authorities depended to
defend their authority against the rising power of the new local elite, which
was backed by segments of the popular classes. 37 The evidence presented
by Senior points to the vagueness of the military law which enabled the use
of the military by the civil powers. The substitution of martial law for the
civil administration of justice following the 1837 Rebellion is a recent in-
terest of legal historians. 38
36But see J. Turmel, Police de Montrial, historique du service: Premieres structures et &volution
de la police de Montreal, 1796-1971, vols 1, 2 (Montreal: Service de la police de la C.U.M.,
1971-74); C.D. Shearing, EJ. Lynch & C.J. Matthews, Policing in Canada: A Bibliography
(Ottawa: Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada, 1979). For comparative materials, see
W.R. Miller, Cops and Bobbies: Police Authority in New York and London, 1830-1870 (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1977); E.H. Monkkonen, Police in Urban America, 1860-1920
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981); J.J. Tobias, Crime and Police in England, 1700-
1900 (London: Gill & Macmillan, 1979).
37E.K. Senior, British Regulars in Montreal: An Imperial Garrison, 1832-1854 (Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1981), see especially parts I and II. See also R.A. McDonald,
“The Trail of Discipline: The Historical Roots of Canadian Military Law” (1985) 1 J.A.G.
Journal 1. See also D. Morton, “Aid to the Civil Power- The Canadian Militia in Support of
Social Order, 1867-1914” (1970) 51 Can. Hist. Rev. 407; J.J.B. Pariseau, Disorders, Strikes and
Disasters: Military Aid to the Civil Power in Canada, 1867-1933 (Ottawa, 1973).
38See G. Rud6, Protest and Punishment: The Story of the Social and Political Protesters
Transported to Australia, 1788-1868 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978); EM. Greenwood,
“L’insurrection apprrhendre et l’administration de la justice au Canada: Le point de vue d’un
historien” (1980) 34 Rev. d’hist. de 1’Amrrique frangaise 57; and, by the same author, “The
Chartrand Murder Trial: Rebellion and Repression in Lower Canada, 1837-1839″ (1984) 5
Crim. Just. Hist. 129. See also, on the repression of popular protest more generally, M.S. Cross,
‘The Laws Are Like Cobwebs’: Popular Resistance to Authority in Mid-Nineteenth Century
British North America” in Waite, Oxner & Barnes, supra, note 3 at 103. For a comparative
study, see G. Rud6, The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and
England, 1730-1848, rev’d ed., (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1981); R.C. Cobb, The Police
and the People: French Popular Protest, 1789-1820 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), which
contains an excellent discussion of the problems raised by the use of state (police) records in
the study of the history of popular protests at 3-48.
724
REVUE DE DROIT DE McGILL
[Vol. 32
V. The Legal Professions, the Judiciary and Legal Education
Professional groups traditionally look back on their own history to
reinforce their professional and social identity. The studies which result often
take the form of biographies of “great legal men” (more rarely of women)
or histories of institutions such as the Bar. This literature is characterized
by hagiographical and anecdotal approaches.
Although there are numerous biographies of individual judges, lawyers
and notaries, there are no prosopographical biographies of these professional
groups. 39 The social origins ofjudges could, for example, be probed in terms
of class and ethnicity. The hypothesis that the selection of judges in the
nineteenth century was a function of political patronage could also be tested.
And the particular role of justices of the peace in Lower Canadian society,
who sat on the lower courts and were responsible for local government before
municipal structures were established, has yet to be investigated. A study
of lawyers and notaries as distinct groups would permit the identification
of the salient characteristics of the social classes from which these corporate
professional entities emerged. Investigations of the daily activities of lawyers
or notaries, and of the firms that they established, would also be valuable. 40
The study of notaries in particular is fundamental because the documents
they produced mediated numerous economic relations (notably employ-
390n the methods of prosopography, see L. Stone, “Prosopography” in L. Stone, The Past
and the Present (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981) 45. On the problems raised in this
section generally, see the discussion in Sugarman & Rubin, supra, note 3 at 84ff. For collections
of short biographies on Quebec judges, see I.J. Deslauriers, La Cour sup~rieure du Quebec et
ses juges: 1849- ler janvier 1980 (Quebec: Deslauriers, 1980); E-J. Audet, Les juges en chef
de la province de Quebec, 1764-1924 (Quebec: Action Sociale, 1927); P.-G. Roy, Les juges de
la province de Quebec (Quebec: Redempti Paradis, 1933). Individual biographies include A.L.
Burt, “The Tragedy of Chief Justice Livius” (1924) 5 Can. Hist. Rev. 196; H. Neatby, “Chief
Justice William Smith: An Eighteenth-Century Whig Imperialist” (1947) 28 Can. Hist. Rev.
44; G. Malchelosse, “Les Blackstone” (1936) 1 Cahiers des dix 213; E-J. Audet, “Les Mondelet”
(1938) 3 Cahiers des dix 191; J.-J. Lefebvre, “Sir Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine Bar’t (1864), ses
ascendants et ses alliances dans les professions du droit” (1964) 1 Proc. & Trans. Royal Soc’y
Can. (4th) Section 1 69; D.R. Barry, “An Eminent Quebec Lawyer of the Last Century” (1912)
32 Can. L.T. 427; L. Hart, “Joseph-Frangois Perrault, 1753-1844 and Admissibility to the Bar”
(1962) 8 McGill L.J. 270; B.J. Young, George-Etienne Cartier: Montreal Bourgeois (Kingston,
Ont.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1981); G. Parizeau, La vie studieuse et obstinee de
Denis-Benjamin Viger (Montreal: Fides, 1980); L.ES. Upton, The Loyal Whig: William Smith
of New York and Quebec (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969). The Dictionary of
Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966-1985), and G. Palmer, Bi-
ographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (Westport, Conn.: Meckler, 1984),
contain numerous biographies of Quebec judges, lawyers, notaries and legal educators. Also
useful are older biographical dictionaries, such as G.M. Rose, A Cyclopaedia of Canadian
Biography Being Chiefly Men of the Time (Toronto: Rose Publishing, 1886-88).
40There is one law-firm history: D.H. Tees, Chronicles of Ogilvy, Renault 1879-1979 (Montreal:
Ogilvy, Montgomery, Renault, 1979).
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
ment, sale, credit and inheritance) and therefore provide a crucial source
for a nuanced, micro-analytic view of the economy of the French regime
and of the first century of the British regime. 41 Another possibility for useful
research would be the study of the daily activities of attorneys, advocates,
solicitors and barristers, in order to understand the functions comprehended
by these different professional titles.
Much of the work on the Bar and the notariat is now dated and needs
revision in light of such contemporary concerns as the role professional
associations played as centres of political recruitment. 42 Another aspect of
Quebec legal history that has been neglected is legal education. 43 To date,
writers on this subject have reminded their readers of the dates at which
41
0n the importance of notarial documents for the socio-economic history of Quebec, see
R. Sweeny, Internal Dynamics and the International Cycle: Questions of the Transition in
Montreal, 1821-1828 (Doctoral dissertation in history, McGill University, 1986) c. 3 [unpub-
lished]; L. Lavall6e, “Les archives notariales et ‘histoire sociale de Ia Nouvelle-France” (1974)
28 Rev. d’hist. de l’Amrique frangaise 385; G. Paquet & J.-P. Wallot, “Les inventaires aprbs
d6c~s A Montreal au tournant du XIXe sicle; pr61iminaire i une analyse” (1976) 30 Rev. d’hist.
de l’Am6rique franqaise 163; G. Bervin, “Les sources archivistiques: leur utilisation dans l’6tude
de la bourgeoisie marchande bas-canadienne (1800-1830)” (1984) 38 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am6rique
francaise 203; and Y.A. Morin, “La repr6sentativit6 de l’inventaire apr~s d6c~s –
l’tude d’un
cas: Qu6bec au d6but du XIXe sicle” (1981) 34 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am~rique frangaise 515.
42See J.-E. Roy, L’ancien barreau au Canada: Conference donn&e devant le barreau de Quebec
en la salle de la Cour d’assises au mois def’evrier 1897 (Montral: C. Th~oret, 1897); A.W.G.
MacAlister, The Bench and Bar of the Provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
(Montreal: Lovell, 1907); A.W.P. Buchanan, The Bench and Bar of Lower Canada Down to
1850 (Montreal: Burton, 1925); E-J. Audet, “Les d6buts du barreau de la province de Qu6bec”
(1937) 2 Cahiers des dix 207; E-J. Audet, “Le barreau et la r6volte de 1837” (1937) 31 Proc.
& Trans. Royal Soc’y Can. (3d) Section I 85; M. Nantel, “Les avocats A Montreal” (1942) 7
Cahiers des dix 185; M. Nantel, “La communaut6 des avocats” (1945) 10 Cahiers des.dix 263;
J. Boucher, ed., Le barreau di 125 ans: Son pass, son avenir (Montral: Barreau du Qu6bec,
1974). On the notariat, see J.J. Lefebvre, “Les premiers notaires de Montr6al sous le r6gime
anglais, 1760-1800” (1943) 45 R. du N. 293; J.-E. Roy, Histoire du notariat au Canada depuis
lafondation de la coloniejusqu’at nos jours, vols 1-4 (lvis, Qu6.: Revue du notariat, 1899-
1902); and A. Vachon, Histoire du notariat canadien, 1621-1960 (Qu6bec: Presses de l’Univ-
ersit6 Laval, 1962).
43But see, M. Nantel, “U6tude du droit et le barreau” (1949) 14 Cahiers des dix 11; A. Morel,
“Maximilien Bibaud, fondateurde l’Ecole de droit” (1951) 2Th6mis 9; G. Lahaise, “Centenaire
de la premi~re 6cole de droit 6tablie au Canada, Coll~ge Sainte-Marie, 1851-67” (1951) 2 Th6mis
17; R. St J. Macdonald, “An Historical Introduction to the Teaching of International Law in
Canada” (1974) 12 Can. Y.B. Int’l L. 67; L. Lortie, “The Early Teaching of Law in French
Canada” (1975) 2 Dalhousie L.J. 521; E.-E Surveyer, “Une 6cole de droit A Montreal avant le
Code civil” [1920] Revue Trimestrielle Canadienne 140; Y. Pratte, “The Faculty of Law at
Laval University” (1965) 16 U.T.L.J. 175; J. H6tu, Album souvenir 1878-1978: Centenaire de
la Facult6 de droit de l’Universitt de Montr~al (Montr6al: Yvon Blais, 1978); S.B. Frost, “The
Early Days of Law Teaching at McGill” (1984) 9 Dalhousie L.J. 150; S.B. Frost, McGill Uni-
versity: For the Advancement of Learning, vol. 1 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press,
1980). Compare G.B. Baker, “Legal Education in Upper Canada 1785-1889: The Law Society
as Educator” in Flaherty, ed., supra, note 31, 49.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 32
various law schools opened. Is it necessary to point out that institutions
like the Bar, the Notariat and law schools were at the center of the formation
and cohesion of professional groups? Yet nearly nothing is known about the
mechanisms of formation, selection and cohesion of the legal professions.
VI. Law and Economic activity
The persistence of a feudal land tenure regime in Quebec, the seigneurial
system, and its co-existence with freehold tenure during the British regime
has attracted the attention of historians and legal scholars. Debates among
historians about the relative importance of the seigneurial system have de-
veloped because of a basic misunderstanding of seigneurial law. Adopting
the social history approach of the Annales school, Louise Dechene has stud-
ied the seventeenth and eighteenth-century society and economy of the
Island of Montreal. Dech~ne’s work confronts seigneurial law with the actual
practices of peasants and seigneurs in their social and economic relations.
Her study of the interaction between legal norms and social practice leads
to a better understanding of both elements of a unique reality and goes
beyond earlier debates on seigneurial land tenure.44
A recent study of the notion of property (urban and rural), and its
transformation in the middle of the nineteenth century, is Brian Young’s
investigation of the Seminary of Montreal “as a business institution”. 45
Young looks at the transformation, under the pressure of the emerging in-
dustrial bourgeoisie, of Lower Canada’s largest seigneur into a capitalist
proprietor. The law of property is shown to be a crucial element of this
transition, and the changing definition of “property” within this evolving
socio-economic context is demonstrated.
44The “Annales school” characterizes a group of French social and economic historians who
contribute to the journal Annales –
conomies, Soci6t6s, Civilisations, and the particular
methodologies employed by these historians. See Dech~ne, supra, note 19; and L. Dechene,
“1’6volution du regime seigneurial au Canada: Le cas de Montreal aux XVIIe et XVIIIe si~cles”
(1971) 12 Recherches sociographiques 143. See also R.C. Harris, The Seigneurial System in
Early Canada:A Geographical Study, 2d ed. (Kingston, Ont.: McGill-Queen’s University Press,
1984).
45B.j. Young, In its Corporate Capacity: The Seminary of Montreal as a Business Institution,
1816-1876 (Kingston, Ont.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1986), c. 3-4. See also, G.-E.
Gigure, “Les biens de Saint-Sulpice et ‘Attorney General Stuart’s Opinion Respecting the
Seminary of Montreal (10 Ddcembre 1828)’ –
essais critiques” (1970) 24 Rev. d’hist. de
l’Am~rique frangaise 45. On the “abolition” of the seigneurial system, see E Ouellet, “‘abo-
lition du regime seigneurial et l’id6e de propri6t1”
in .Dlments d’histoiresociale du Bas-Canada
(Montreal: Hurtubise H.M.H., 1972) 297; J.-P Wallot, “Le r6gime seigneurial et son abolition
au Canada” in Un Quebec qui bougeait” Trame socio-politique du Quebec au tournant du XIXe
sikcle (Trois-Rivires: Boreal Express, 1973) 225.
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
John Brierley has examined the evolution of the legal institution of
freehold tenure, and Evelyn Kolish has analyzed public debates on the issue
of land tenure systems.46 Other noteworthy studies by Robert Armstrong
and Pierre Paquette treat public and private property in natural resources. 47
There are also works on trusts, nuisance law, patents and general property
rights.48
One aspect of property law which has attracted much attention is the
law of successions. Andr6 Morel, in a longstanding study, combined a search
for the historical evolution of inheritance law with a contemporary interest
in law reform. Other historians have concentrated on inheritance practices
in Quebec society. There seems to be a consensus that the adoption of
elements of English succession law did not significantly affect popular prac-
tices among French-Canadians which, until the latter part of the nineteenth
century, generally conformed to the rules on succession contained in the
Custom of Paris.4 9
46J.E.C. Brierley, “The Co-Existence of Legal Systems in Quebec: ‘Free and Common Soccage’
in Canada’s ‘pays de droit civil’ ” (1979) 20 C. de D. 277; Kolish, supra, note 18; P. Phillips,
“Land Tenure and Economic Development: A Comparison of Upper and Lower Canada” (May
1974) 9 J. Can. Stud. 35; G.E McGuigan, Land Policy and Land Disposal under Tenure of
Free and Common Soccage, Quebec and Lower Canada, 1763-1809 (Doctoral dissertation in
legal history, Universit6 Laval, 1962) [unpublished]. On registration of hypothecs, see also E.
Kolish, “Le Conseil lgislatifet les bureaux d’enregistrement (1836)” (1981) 35 Rev. d’hist. de
l’Am~rique franiaise 217; J. Martineau, “Comparaison et efficacit6 des diverses formes de
documents susceptibles d’enregistrement” (1979) 82 R. du N. 31. On bankruptcy, see also E.
Kolish, “ILintroduction de la faillite au Bas-Canada: Conflit social ou national?” (1986) 40 Rev.
d’hist. de l’Am~ique francaise 215.
47See the valuable work of H.V. Nelles, The Politics of Development: Forests, Mines and
Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941 (Toronto: Macmillan, 1974). See also R. Arm-
strong, “Le d6veloppement des droits miniers au Quebec A la fin du XIXe sicle” (1983) 59
UActualit6 6conomique 576; P Paquette, L’extraction de mati~res premieres et la politique
minire de l’ttat: Une analyse de leur 6volution et de leur contribution au d~veloppement
6conomique du Qu6bec, 1867-1975 (Doctoral dissertation in law, McGill University, 1982).
48R. Demers, “From the Bubble Act to the Pre-Incorporation Trust: Investor Protection in
Quebec Law” (1977) 18 C. de D. 335; M. Pourcelet, “I26volution de droit de propri~t6 depuis
1866” in J. Boucher & A. Morel, eds, Le droit dans la vie 6conomico-sociale, vol. 2, Livre du
centenaire du Code civil (Montreal: Presses de l’Universit6 de Montreal, 1970) 3; T.R. Naylor,
Industrial Development, vol. 2, The History of Canadian Business, 1867-1914 (Toronto: Lor-
imer, 1975) at 38ff.; J. Nedelsky, “Judicial Conservatism in an Age of Innovation: Comparative
Perspectives on Canadian Nuisance Law 1880-1930” in Flaherty, supra, note 3, vol. 1, 281.
49See A. Morel, Les limites de la libertt testamentaire dans le droit civil de la Province de
Quebec (Paris: L.G.D.J., 1960); by the same author, “Un exemple de contact entre deux syst~mes
juridiques: Le droit successorial au Quebec” (1963) 4 Annales de l’Universit6 de Poitiers (n.s.)
1; and “l’apparition de la succession testamentaire: Rrflexions sur le rble de la jurisprudence
au regard des codificateurs” (1966) 26 R. du B. 499. See also Kolish, supra, note 18 at 322-
38; and Y.E Zoltvany, “Esquisse de la Coutume de Paris” (1971) 25 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am~rique
francaise 365. On inheritance practices, see C. Champagne, La pratique testamentaire A Mon-
treal, 1777-1825 (Masters thesis in law, Universit6 de Montreal, 1972) [unpublished]; P. Des-
728
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[Vol. 32
Company law and the laws defining financial instruments and insti-
tutions were intimately tied to the emerging role of the nineteenth-century
State as an economic regulator. Yet the existing legal-historical literature
emphasizes the nature of relevant legislation or the debates surrounding its
adoption rather than the economic repercussions of such enactments. 50 Le-
gal definitions of credit instruments in the early nineteenth century, for
example, may have helped determine business decision-making processes
in the selection of types of credit instruments. 51 Further research could test
the extent to which legal rules contributed in shaping economic behaviour
and in legitimating opportunities for economic choices.52
jardins, “La Coutume de Paris et la transmission des terres –
le rang de la Beauce A Calixa-
Lavall6e de 1730 A 1975” (1980) 34 Rev. d’hist. de l’Amrique frangaise 331; G. Bouchard,
“Les syst~mes de transmissions des avoirs familiaux et le cycle de la soci~t& rurale au Quebec,
du XVIIe au XXe sicle” (1983) 16 Soc. Hist. 35. On succession in Europe, see J.R. Goody,
J. Thirsk & E.P. Thompson, eds, Family and Inheritance: Rural Society in Western Europe,
1200-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
500n state regulation of the economy, see M. Priest and A. Wohl, “The Growth of Federal
and Provincial Regulation of Economic Activity, 1867-1978” in W.T. Stanbury, ed., Government
Regulation: Scope, Growth, Process (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1980)
69. A monographic study showing the interplay of state and economy is G.N. Tucker’s The
Canadian Commercial Revolution, 1845-1851 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964). On
partnerships, firms and corporations, see A.W. Currie, “The First Dominion Companies Act”
(1962) 28 Can. J. Econ. & Pol. Sci. 387; G.E McGuigan, “The Emergence of the Unincorporated
Company in Canada” (1964) 2 U.B.C.L. Rev. 31; Demers, supra, note 48; EE. Labrie & E.E.
Palmer, “The Pre-Confederation History of Corporations in Canada” in J.S. Ziegel, ed., Studies
in Canadian Company Law (Toronto: Butterworths, 1967) 33; and J. Smith & Y. Renaud,
Droit qu bcois des corporations commerciales (Montral: Judico, 1974) 5.
51An important discussion of early nineteenth-century credit instruments can be found in
Sweeny, supra, note 41, c. 3, 5 and 6. See also G. Bervin, “Apergu sur le commerce et le credit
A Quebec, 1820-30” (1983) 36 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am~rique frangaise 527 and G. Paquet & J.-P.
Wallot, “Le syst~me financier bas-canadien au tournant du XIXe si~cle” (1983) 59 L’Actualit&
6conomique 456. For a useful general introduction, see E.E Neufeld’s historical treatment of
banks and other financial institutions in The Financial System of Canada: lts Growth and
Development (Toronto: Macmillan, 1972). Other works include: R.M. Breckenridge, The Ca-
nadian Banking System, 1817-1890 (New York: Macmillan, 1895); R.M. Breckenridge, The
History of Banking in Canada (Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1910); R.C. McIvor, Canadian
Monetary, Banking and Fiscal Development (Toronto: Macmillan, 1958); T. Naylor, The Banks
and Finance Capital, vol. 1, The History of Canadian Business 1867-1914 (Toronto: Lorimer,
1975); R. Rudin, Banking enfrancais: The French Banks of Quebec 1835-1925 (Toronto: Uni-
versity of Toronto Press, 1985); and E.P. Neufeld’s collection, Money and Banking in Canada:
Historical Documents and Commentary (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964). See Kolish’s
discussion of bankruptcy, supra, note 18 at 43-56, 519-33 and 624-38; and her “L’introduction
de la faillite au Bas-Canada: Conflit Social ou National”, supra, note 46. See also an interesting
discussion of law and economy in Sugarman & Rubin, supra, note 3; R.C.B. Risk, “The Law
and the Economy in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ontario: A Perspective” in Flaherty, ed., supra,
note 3, 88.
52See Sugarman & Rubin, supra, note 3 at 9ff.
19871
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
The legal history of labour in Quebec involves many aspects of the law:
property (slavery), contract (hiring of labour power), and specific labour
legislation (master and servant laws, the right to organize a trade union and
the right to strike). Marcel Trdel’s book on slavery discusses law only
incidentally, as do works on artisanship and apprenticeship by Pierre Audet,
David-Thiery Ruddel, Jean-Pierre Hardy and Mary Poutanen. These his-
torians of artisanship have studied in great detail the clauses of hiring con-
tracts (journeymen’s and apprentices’ indentures) but have dealt less
thoroughly with legal questions. While inadequate attention has been paid
to the emergence of the capitalist labour contract, some research has been
conducted on workers’ collective rights. John Dickinson’s recent article on
Quebec labour legislation at the turn of the twentieth century (1894-1914)
is noteworthy for its analysis of the extent to which this legislation was
useful to workers. Dickinson goes beyond the usual study of the origins of
legislation to analyse the inspectors’ reports on working conditions that were
mandated by the new legislation.53
VII. Women and the Law
While feminism has directed attention towards the history of women
and their present legal condition, there has been inadequate research on the
historical roots of the present legal situation of Quebec women. Much of
the work published is general and concentrates on legislation. There is no
study of Quebec property law comparable to Lee Holcombe’s research on
530n slavery and artisanship, see M. Trudel, L’esclavage au Canada francais: Histoire et
conditions de l’esclavage (Qu6bec: Presses de rUniversit6 Laval, 1960); RH. Audet, Appren-
ticeship in Early Nineteenth-Century Montreal, 1790-1812 (Masters thesis in history, Concordia
University, 1975); J.-P. Hardy & D.-T. Ruddel, Les apprentis artisans a Quebec, 1660-1815
(Montr6al: Presses de l’Universit6 du Qu6bec, 1977); M.A. Poutanen, For the Benefit of the
Master: The Montreal Needle Trades During the Transition 1820-1842 (Masters thesis in his-
tory, McGill University, 1985); and PN. Moogk, “Apprenticeship Indentures: A Key to Artisan
Life in New France” [1971] Can. Hist. Assoc. Hist. Papers 65. See also Sweeny, supra, note
41, c. 4. The important work by H.C. Pentland, Labour and Capital in Canada 1650-1860
(Toronto: James Lorimer, 1981), does not examine labour law even though it is organized
around the evolution of diverse labour regimes. On particular labour legislation, see J. de
Bonville, Jean-Baptiste Gagnepetit: Les travailleurs montrealais d lafin du XIXe siecle (Mon-
tr6al: L’Aurore, 1975) 204-15; R. Tremblay, “Un aspect de la consolidation du pouvoir d’ttat
de la bourgeoisie coloniale: La l6gislation anti-ouvri re dans le Bas-Canada, 1800-1850” (1981-
82) 8-9 Labour 243; C. D’Aoust & E Delorme, “The Origin of the Freedom of Association
and of the Right to Strike in Canada: An Historical Perspective” (1981) 36 Relations indus-
trielles 894; M. Chartrand, “The First Canadian Trade Union Legislation: An Historical Per-
spective” (1984) 16 Ottawa L. Rev. 267; and J. Dickinson, “La l6gislation et les travailleurs
qu6b6cois 1894-1914” (1986) 41 Relations industrielles 357. A study which examines the legal
context of a pre-Confederation strike is R. Tremblay, “La gr6ve des ouvriers de la construction
navale A Qu6bec (1840)” (1983) 37 Rev. d’hist. de l’Am6rique frangaise 227.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 32
the nineteenth-century English property regime of married women.54 As in
other areas of legal-historical research, the earliest studies have established
chronological bench-marks for later detailed investigations of the legal con-
dition of women.55 One exception is the important work by Constance
Backhouse on nineteenth-century law regarding women. Her treatment of
criminal laws affecting women has been noted above. She has also published
studies dealing with such aspects of the civil law as marriage and custody.
Her approach stresses the ideology or mentalit underlying nineteenth-cen-
tury judicial interpretation and legislation.5 6
A good survey of the problem, which is also suggestive of possibilities
for further research is provided by the “Collectif Clio” ‘s L’histoire des
femmes au Quebec depuis quatre sitcles.5 7
Conclusion
This survey illustrates that there is no unified field of research on Que-
bec legal history. Instead, there is a multiplicity of legal histories, each de-
fined by the problems they pose and their methodology.
Traditional legal scholars have instrumentalized the most venerable
historical methods, chronology and source criticism, in a positivist quest
for the sources of law. The identification of the origins of particular laws
has typically been combined with doctrinal interpretation of sources such
as cases, commentaries, codes and legislation. The most noteworthy work
of this genre in Quebec is Brierley’s study of the codification commission
and Brisson’s work on the evolution of nineteenth-century civil procedure.
54Wives and Property: Reform of the Married Women’s Property Law in Nineteenth-Century
England (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983).
55See A. Morel, “La lib6ration de la femme au Canada: Deux itin6raires” (1970) 5 R.J.T.
399; J. Boucher, “‘histoire de la condition juridique de la femme au Canada frangais” in
Boucher & Morel, supra, note 23, 155; J. Douglas, “The Status of Women in New England
and New France” (1912) 19 Queen’s Q. 359; W.R. Riddell, “Woman Franchise in Quebec, A
Century Ago” (1928) 22 Proc. & Trans. Royal Soe’y Can. (3d) Section II, 85; M. Jean, “UL’tat
et les communautrs religieuses feminines au Quebec –
1639-1840” (1972) 6 Stud. Canon.
163; and S. Altshul & C. Carron, “Chronology of Some Legal Landmarks in the History of
Canadian Women” (1975) 21 McGill L.J. 476. A rare study from a historical perspective is
M.D. Castelli, “Le douaire en droit coutumier ou la deviation d’une institution” (1979) 20 C.
de D. 315.
56Backhouse’s articles on criminal law are cited supra, note 31. See also her “Shifting Patterns
in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Custody Law” in Flaherty, ed., supra, note 3, 212; “Pure
Patriarchy: Nineteenth-Century Canadian Marriage” (1986) 31 McGill L.J. 264; “The Tort of
Seduction: Fathers and Daughters in Nineteenth-Century Canada” (1986) 10 Dalhousie L.J.
45; and “‘To Open the Way for Others of my Sex’: Clara Brett Martin’s Career as Canada’s
First Woman Lawyer” (1985) 1 Can. J. Women & L. 1.
57J. Stoddart et al., L’histoire desfemmes au Quebec depuis quatre sicles (Montreal: Quinze,
1982).
1987]
QUEBEC LEGAL HISTORIOGRAPHY
But doctrinal interpretation implies that the meaning of law lies exclusively
in legal texts. It implies that law is a self-contained language. The existence
of law is a “given”, and only the meaning of particular laws, their origins
and the chronology of their refoms are in question. This positivist and
doctrinal approach leaves unanswered questions for legal scholars and his-
torians. Most of these questions concern the place of law within societies.
Nevertheless, the doctrinal approach undoubtedly still serves as a stepping-
stone for social histories of the law.
The combination of doctrinal knowledge with modern historical
methods, which are often adapted from other social science disciplines,
could result in social histories of law. One major trend in Quebec and
Canadian legal history is the investigation of the ideology or mentalit of
the law. Prominent examples are the studies of Andr6 Morel, Douglas Hay,
Evelyn Kolish and Jean-Marie Fecteau. This approach is often combined
with a concern for the social interests that particular intellectual positions
support. A more ambitious approach in the social history of law is to study
the material context and consequences of law. This has been attempted in
studies of the activities of courts in New France by John Dickinson and
Andr6 Lachance. Another study which relates law directly to its material
context is Louise Dechene’s investigation of seigneurial tenure on the Island
of Montreal. Jean-Marie Fecteau’s work attempts to link the criminal justice
system to the modes of social regulation of Lower Canadian society.
Numerous problems can arise in the course of attempting social his-
tories of law. The role of law in shaping social behaviour can be exaggerated,
or the influence of social factors on law can be overemphasized. A more
serious problem is that some legal historians apply a socio-historical analysis
without using the necessary conceptual and methodological tools to support
their arguments.
Law is both an intellectual and a material phenomenon.5 8 It is at once
a series of discourses and a series of institutions. Law-as-discourse could be
studied through the methods of intellectual history and semiotics, especially
linguistics, as used in literary criticism.5 9 For example, the language of sub-
58An interesting discussion, although about intellectual phenomena generally, is M. Godelier,
“The Ideal in the Real” in R. Samuel & G.S. Jones, eds, Culture, Ideology and Politics: Essays
for Eric Hobsbaivm (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982) 12.
59For a discussion of intellectual history, see J.G.A. Pocock, “Introduction: The State of the
Art” in J.G.A. Pocock, ed., Virtue, Commerce, and History: Essays on Political Thought and
History, Chiefly in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) 1;
KS. Abraham, “Statutory Interpretation and Literary Theory : Some Common Concerns of
an Unlikely Pair” (1979) 32 Rutgers L.R. 676; S. Fish, “Working on the Chain Gang: Inter-
pretation in Law and Literature” (1982) 60 Texas L.R. 739; Gordon, supra, note 3; and Mon-
ahan, supra, note 5.
REVUE DE DROIT DE McGILL
[Vol. 32
stantive law, doctrinal commentary and judicial interpretation could be
analysed for its underlying conceptual elements and hidden assumptions.
Legal rituals and norms could also be studied for their symbolic and ideo-
logical content. 60 But law also participates in the material relations that help
to constitute society. Law-as-institution could be investigated from such
diverse sociological perspectives as structuralism, functionalism and Marx-
ism. 6′ In short, we need more ambitious research, which asks pertinent and
precise questions about the place of law within society, and which develops
useful research methods and conceptual tools in an interdisciplinary fashion.
in Hay et al, supra, note 25, 17.
60An example of such an approach is D. Hay, “Property, Authority and the Criminal Law”
61For a variety of viewpoints, see P. Vilar, “Histoire du droit, histoire totale” in Une histoire
en construction: Approches marxistes et problmatiques conjoncturelles (Paris: Gallimard, 1982)
265; D. Sugarman, “Theory and Practice in Law and History: A Prologue to the Study of the
Relationship between Law and Economy from a Socio-Historical Perspective” in B. Fryer, et
aL., eds, Law, State and Society (London: Croom Helm, 1981) 70; W.E. Forbath, H. Hartog &
M. Minow, “Introduction: Legal Histories From Below” [1985] Wisc. L. Rev. 759.
