McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 3
STATUTES OF QUEBEC –
IGHLIGHTS OF 1956
During the past twelve months the Provincial legislators of Quebec have
passed a profusion of statutes dealing with a diversity of subjects. Of this
multiplicity, the following are among the most consequential.
Section twenty-two of The Courts of Justice Act’ has been amended, by
4-5 Eliz. 2, c. 19, so as to enable the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to in-
crease to the extent of four the number of puisne judges of the Superior
Court of the Province of Quebec. Henceforth, the Superior Court, which is a
court of record, shall be composed of fifty judges, that is to say, a Chief
justice, an Associate Chief Justice, and forty-eight puisne judges. This will
somewhat alleviate the present strain on our overburdened judiciary.
In the previous state of The Workmen’s Compensation Act,2 no indemnity
was paid if the disability caused by an accident did not last more than seven
days. Under Bill No. 7, 4-5 “Eliz. 2, c. 7, an indemnity will be paid if the
disability lasts more than five days. In addition, upon the death of a workman,
or in the case of a permanent disability, whether total or partial, this provision
increases the compensation payable to seventy-five per centum of the salary
of the person involved, instead of the prior seventy per centum.
Under Article 1024 of the Code of Civil Procedure, when the Government,
on a petition of right, was adjudged to pay a sum of money, the Minister of
Finance of the Province had to pay it out of the money in his hands for that
purpose or, if there were none or if it was insufficient, out of the money which
might have been thereafter voted by the legislature for that purpose. The
amendment, 4-5 Eliz. 2, c. 14, of the said article, will facilitate and accelerate
the payment of these sums. In similar circumstances, the Minister of Finance
is now authorized to meet the judgment out of the Consolidated Revenue
Fund.
The Act to Protect the Dairy Industry in the Province of Quebec2 is re-
vised so that it is now prohibited to sell, offer for sale, or to possess any food
product, whatever may be the name by which it is called, which is used or
prepared for use for any of the purposes which butter may serve, and which is
not a butter substitute,4 but the colour of which has been altered by any
1R.S.Q. 1941, c. 15; amended 11 Gio. 6, c. 24, s. 1; 12 Geo. 6, c. 16, s. 1; 14 Geo. 6,
c.50, s. 2; 14-15 Geo. 6, c. 55, s. 1.
221 Geo. 5, c. 100; R.S.Q. 1941, c. 160; amended 5 Geo. 6, c. 64; 7 Geo. 6, c. 27;
7 Geo. 6, c. 28; 8 Geo. 6, c. 29; 9 Geo. 6, c. 42; 9 Geo. 6, c. 43; 10 Geo. 6, c. 35; 11 Geo.
6, c. 51; 13 Geo. 6, c. 53; 15-16 Geo. 6, c. 34; 15-16 Geo. 6, c. 35; 3-4 Eliz. 2, c. 8, 3-4
Eliz. 2, c. 37.
s2-3 Eliz. 2, c. 6.
4Section l(g) of the Act defines “substitute” as any food product prepared for use or
used for any of the purposes which a dairy product may serve and in the manufacturing
of which vegetable oils or fats are employed; such term means particularly, but not
No. I1]
CASE AND COMMENT
colouring matter, or with which any colouring matter for the purpose of arti-
ficially colouring this product is delivered to the purchaser. This is an augment-
ation to the existing restriction on manufacturing, selling or offering for sale,
and possession of any substitute for a dairy product, as well as the limitation
against the presence in dairy products and appurtenances of any matter that
may be used for the making of substitutes of dairy products. The new enact-
ment is an extension of the subsisting legislation and may prove to have
infinite consequences on the future of the many spreads or shortenings now
found on the commercial market.
An entirely new venture in the field of legislation is Bill 28, An Act Re-
specting the Sale and Distribution in the Province of Newsprint made from
Wood derived from the Public Domain of the Province.5 By regulating the
cost of paper, and by guaranteeing publishers their required supply, this law is
designed primarily to safeguard newspapers 6 against recent increases in the
price of newsprint. But Bill 28 is purely permissive in character, and those
magazines and journals not wanting to apply for this protection need not do so.
Among the other notable features of this statute is that from and after the first
of September 1955, and until the first of March 1957, no producer or supplier
shall exact, directly or indirectly, from one or more consumers, for his news-
print, a higher price than that in force on the first of September, 1955. In
addition, no producer or supplier after the first of March, 1957, shall increase
such price without the authorization of a Newsprint Board, which is con-
stituted by the Act. As for the present, no appointments have been made to
this regulatory body, but a number of major constitutional questions may be
raised, in the future, concerning the Board’s functions, as well as the wider
scope and intent of the Act itself.
We therefore find that among the legislative enactments sanctioned in the
past year, a few are sufficiently significant to merit our consideration. The
ultimate impact of their provisions is a matter of conjecture, and the final con-
sequences will be anxiously awaited for many years.
HAROLD WILLIAM ASHENMIL.*
restrictively, margarine, oleomargarine, and any similar product, whatever may be the
name which it is called.
54-5 Eliz. 2, c. 26.
6Section 1(d) of the Act defines “newspaper” as any newspaper, review or magazine
published and printed in the Province.
*Third Year Law Student.
