Interpretation Act

Two rules of bijural interpretation were added to the Interpretation Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. I-21 by section 8 of the Federal Law – Civil Law Harmonization Act, No. 1:

Duality of legal traditions and application of provincial law

Tradition bijuridique et application du droit provincial

8.2 Unless otherwise provided by law, when an enactment contains both civil law and common law terminology, or terminology that has a different meaning in the civil law and the common law, the civil law terminology or meaning is to be adopted in the Province of Quebec and the common law terminology or meaning is to be adopted in the other provinces.

8.2 Sauf règle de droit s’y opposant, est entendu dans un sens compatible avec le système juridique de la province d’application le texte qui emploie à la fois des termes propres au droit civil de la province de Québec et des termes propres à la common law des autres provinces, ou qui emploie des termes qui ont un sens différent dans l’un et l’autre de ces systèmes.

Please consult the Index of Bijuralism and Harmonization caselaw where a list of decisions citing sections 8.1 and 8.2 of the Interpretation Act may be found.