Quebec Civil Code

Quebec Civil Code

(Canada) the code of law applying in civil matters in the Canadian province of Quebec. The British conquest of Nouvelle-France in 1760 marked the beginning of the difficulty of running two different legal systems together. Even immediately after conquest, it was accepted in the capitulation of Montreal that the French civil law should apply until altered fully in compliance with the accepted view in the English system in relation to its colonies. The French law was subordinated by the proclamation of 1763, but the Quebec Act 1774 reinstated French civil law (but maintained English criminal law). The Civil Code of Lower Canada became law in 1866 and was closely modelled on the NAPOLEONIC CODE.