Slideshow 2: Sources of Law

Question 1

• 7 sources of law at work in Canada, or influential to Canadian business:

Answer 1

– The Constitution
– Statutory law
– Common Law
– Quebec Civil Code
– International Law
– Uniform Commercial Code (U.S.)
– Custom

Question 2

Sources of Law: The Constitution Act

Answer 2

– Which level of government will regulate?
– (ss. 91-92)
– Court Structure (s. 96)
– Charter of Rights and Freedoms
* Against governments and governmental actions
* Corporate actors generally do not enjoy Charter
rights and freedoms.

Question 3

Sources of Law: Statutory Law

Answer 3

– Laws created by government(s)
– Statutes are laws passed by Parliament, a provincial
legislature or municipal council (the latter typically
referred to as by-laws)
– Subordinate legislation enjoys the clout of enacted
statutes, though created by an appointed, rather than
elected, governmental body (Regulations)
* Must be created pursuant to a duly enacted statute
– Statutes and subordinate legislation MUST not offend
the Constitution
* Sections 91 or 92, or the Charter

Question 4

Sources of Law: Common Law

Answer 4

• Laws created by Judges and the Judicial System
  – The consistent application of judicially defined
  principles in subsequent cases
  – “Stare decisis” (case law precedent)
  – The system of civil law in all provinces but
  Quebec, has its origins in England
  – Its primary elements include contract law, torts
  and property law
  – The legal Common Law world is small

Question 5

Sources of Law: Civil Code

Answer 5

– The system of law governing private relations in
Quebec, most of Europe and South America.
– The Quebec Civil Code is much like a very
comprehensive statute, which sets forth legal principles affecting contracts, torts, property, wills and trusts, among other areas.
– In Civil Code systems, judicial discretion and the role of precedent is less significant than in common law jurisdictions.

Question 6

Sources of Law: International Law

Answer 6

– Perhaps the most difficult source of law to pin down,
and the least likely to affect day-to-day lives
– The regulated actors in true international law are
nation-states – the “law” being bi-lateral and multi-
lateral treaties
– Private actors are affected by international laws when
national governments adopt international laws as
domestic law (e.g. Kyoto Accord)
– United Nations, Geneva Conventions

Question 7

Sources of Law: Uniform Commercial Code (U.S.)

Answer 7

– The “most important commercial legislation in the world”.
– UCC is a model code that codifies the American
common law of contract, which the various American states adopt as they see fit – it lends some consistency to commercial laws in a federation (that is, there is less variance from state to state)
– Would a UCC-type law make sense for Canada?

Question 8

Sources of Law: Custom?

Answer 8

– Can custom be a source of law?
– In any legal system, new issues will arise for
which no lawmaker has formulated a response.
– “Custom” amounts to the way things are
normally done in the business or social world
by reasonable persons in the absence of formal
legal regulation.