Laws of Quebec - Locating the code, acts & regulations

Last revised September 02, 2022

The laws of Quebec are a combination of the Civil Code and the Acts and Regulations.

Civil Code

The Civil Code, L.Q. 1991, c. 64, is a codification of private law principles. It governs persons, relations between persons, and property.  The current Civil Code of Québec came into force on January 1, 1994.



A looseleaf consolidated version of the Code civil Québec / Québec Civil Code,  as well as The Civil Code of Québec in Chart Form, which provides broad subject overviews, topical access and shows how sections interrelate, are available in print.  The Civil Code of Quebec is also available on the Publications Quebec site. 



Current and historical consolidations of the Civil Code of Quebec, from 2006 to the present, can be found on CanLII.

 

McGill has recently produced a new digital collection, The Archives of the Civil Code Revision Office, which includes approximately 4000 documents, mostly from 1969-1979. 

Acts and regulations

The Acts and Regulations are public laws of general application based on common law principles which complement, expand or provide exceptions to the Civil Code. 



Statutes are drafted in French then translated into English. Though the English versions are considered official, judges will refer to the French for intent, as per section 8 of the Charter of the French Language. 



The most recent Quebec statute revision in was compiled in 1977 and the Revised Regulations of Quebec were consolidated to December 31st, 1981.  A cumulative table of amendments can be found in each annual statute volume.



Publications Québec has the annual statutes going back to 1996, current consolidations, and the tables of provisions brought into force, all of which are official versions. 

To find a statute or regulation by name: 

The laws are listed on Publications Québec in alphanumeric order, based on the French name of the act. Regulations are published using the same alphanumeric designations as assigned to the Revised Statutes.



To find a print copy of a statute or regulation, use the 'Alphabetical Table of Contents' in the print Documentation volume. The assigned alphanumeric chapter numbers are derived from the French title of the act. Regulations are published using the same alphanumeric designations as assigned to the Revised Statutes.

To find a statute or regulation by subject:

Use the subject index located in each annual statute volume for legislation given royal assent during the year since 1978.  There is not a cumulative subject index to the statutes.  An alphabetical subject index is located in volume 11 of the Revised Regulations along with a list by responsible ministry.



CCH’s Rapid Finder may also be a quick way to find Quebec legislation by subject. In the 2013 Rapid Finder, the Quebec Legislative Index begins on page 142. Acts are listed alphabetically by their English name, along with the corresponding reporters they are in. By scrolling to page 142 and doing a Ctrl+F search, with the keyword “labour”, you can see at a glance which Quebec acts are within the Canadian Labour Law Reporter. 

To find a statute or regulation by date: 

Public and private acts are published in annual volumes produced the year the legislation is given royal assent.  Concordances between chapter and bill numbers are found in each annual volume. To locate regulations by date enacted, check the cumulative index of the bound volumes of the Gazette officielle du Québec Part II, Laws and Regulations.



Bibliotheque et Archives nationales du Québec also has the Gazettes Part I & II from 1869-1995. Part I and Part 2 were published together until 1972. Only Part 2 of the Gazette began to be published in English as of 1976.  

Bills

Bills are available on the National Assembly of Quebec site. It is easiest to use this site when searching for a known bill, rather than searching by subject.