Civil law in Quebec

Civil laws in force in Lower Canada derived for the most part from the custom of Paris, which had been applied in New France and of which the Quebec Act of 1774 had ensured the continuance. These laws had, however, been modified by laws of English origin. French civil law was complex, as was its application in an ethnically mixed society commercially tied to Britain. In the 1850s a commission was established for the codification of civil law: the new Civil Code of Canada East, a masterpiece of its kind, came into force on 1 Aug. 1866. For many, it embodied the basic social values of Lower Canada and represented an integral part of French Canada’s national identity. In 1980 and 1991, new versions of the Civil Code were adopted, henceforth known as Quebec’s Civil Code.