1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« This study has traced major developments in Canadian family law. It has drawn out the pluralism of contemporary family law, in the models of family life and in the ways that laws and programs take notice of them. » (p. 32)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Données documentaires diverses

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

« In presenting changes to marriage and divorce, to adult relationships outside marriage and to relations between parents and children, the study has, descriptively, distinguished different dimensions of family regulation. It has distinguished the private law of the family […] from the public law of the family […]. Thus, the legal recognition of some relationships is asymmetrical: in Quebec, unmarried couples are recognized by the public law of the family but not by the private. […] Regarding the basis for recognizing family relationships, the common-law provinces typically show a mix of formal and functional approaches. By contrast, the private law of Quebec favours almost exclusively the formal bases for recognition: consensual marriage or civil union in the case of adult relationships, filiation in the case of adults and children. […] Thus, as noted, judges in Quebec occasionally use a general rule enshrining the best interests of children in order to reach results not otherwise permitted by the formal bases for family recognition in the Civil Code. Indeed, the striking contrasts emerging from Quebec — between its innovative and robust public policy in family matters and its high rate of unmarried cohabitation, on one hand, and its focus on formally defined families in its private law, on the other — invite further reflection. There must be ways, faithful nevertheless to Quebec’s civil-law tradition, that the private law of the family can better reflect contemporary family life in that province. » (p. 32-33)