The politics of codification : the lower Canadian civil code of 1866 / Brian Young.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Young, Brian J., 1940-

Contributor:

Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History.

Series:

Studies on the history of Quebec.

Studies in the history of Quebec = Etudes d'histoire du Quebec

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Québec (Province). Civil Code of Lower Canada.

Québec (Province).

Civil law--Political aspects--Quebec (Province).

Civil law.

Civil law--Quebec (Province)--History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 264 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : co-published by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and McGill-Queen's University Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Young interprets codification as part of a larger process that included the collapse of the Lower Canadian rebellions, the decline of seigneurialism, expansion of bourgeois democracy in central Canada, professionalization of the bar, and formation of the institutional state. Central to codification was a profound ideological shift in Lower Canadian society that gave priority to exchange and individual property rights. Young examines the evolution of codification from its nationalist origins in the 1820s and 1830s into a Civil Code that was integral to Confederation and became a flagship of bilingualism in Quebec. The formation of the commission, the work of the codifiers, and the reaction of the anglophone minority and the Roman Catholic hierarchy are considered, as is the Code's meticulous blending of a conservative social vision with the principles of freedom of property. The Politics of Codification will be of great interest to students of law, members of the legal professions, and Canadian social and legal historians.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Tables

Illustrations

Preface

The Legal Landscape

Attitudes to Codification before the Rebellions

The Political Will to Codify, 1838–57

The Codifiers

Politics of the Codification Commission, 1857–66

The Commission at Work

The Persistence of Customary Law: Married Women as Traders

‘Wittingly and Willingly’: The Law of Obligations

Conclusion

Chronology

Abbreviations

Notes

Essay on Sources

Select Bibliography

Index

Picture Credits and Sources

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-252) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85717-7

9786612857171

0-7735-6504-3

OCLC:

732601150