McGill University neglects the teaching of civil law, inherited from the French culture of Quebec, denounces Frédéric Bastien, who proposes to crack down on its graduates by prohibiting them from registering with the Quebec Bar.
• Read also: No debate in English for Frédéric Bastien
The debate has raged in the legal community since a graduate of the English-speaking university denounced the sharp decline in the place given to civil law in the corpus of the venerable institution.
“These are lecturers, a precarious position by nature, who will give them these courses now,” laments the candidate for the leadership, Frédéric Bastien.
Exit, therefore, the great professors and university research in this field inherited from Roman law and codified under the French Emperor Napoleon. While the English-speaking provinces come under English Common Law, relations between people and with their property, in Quebec, are governed by civil law.
In other words, McGill law graduates will have little training in one of the important areas of Quebec’s legal field, says Bastien. And this, despite the $ 360 million that McGill University receives from Quebec annually. “The civil law that is declining at McGill is as if we were saying that our legal culture is receding and that the legal culture of common law is advancing,” he says.
However, “McGill had a whole tradition of civil law, they were very strong in this area” until recently, notes the aspiring PQ leader.
Impact in public debate
And this university debate has very real repercussions in the lives of Quebecers, says Bastien. The issue of religious accommodation, for example, falls largely under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, inherited from Anglophone law. “In France, homeland of civil law, accommodations do not exist,” he emphasizes.
As the graduate behind the debate, Xavier Foccroulle-Ménard, noted in the student newspaper The offenseMcGill University now has a maximum of two professors specializing in civil law, but five in international law and human rights, as well as three in Indigenous law.
In a short open letter published in response, the Dean of McGill Law School, Robert Leckey, assured that the faculty of his university includes “renowned civilians who have been trained in Quebec, France, Germany, in Egypt and Argentina ”. “These lawyers are up to the task of providing high-quality training in civil law,” he said.
Blocked at the Bar
While waiting for McGill to correct the situation, Frédéric Bastien proposed preventing McGill graduates from registering with the Quebec Bar and thus being able to practice in the province. “We can tighten the bar admission criteria to ensure that anyone who wants to become a member of the Bar has studied at a university where there is real research and real education in civil law,” he said.
Likewise, a Bastien government would tighten the criteria for the order of professions to ensure that training is adequate.
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