Jus Commune and Common Languauge: Insights on the Judicial Construction of Linguistic Law in Quebec Through the Prism of Jus Commune

Abstract

Abstract The jus commune (droit commun) is the intellectual canvas upon which any rule of law is built upon within a given society, that must be integrated in any interpretation or construction process in any field of law, even constitutional law. As the jus commune bears a series of structural values, one ponders as to the correct construction of linguistic law to be held in that regard within a minority society entrenched inside a greater federal superstructure, where linguistic preservation is a collective existential matter. The author submits that the Supreme Court of Canada may have neglected to consider this important factor in Quebec when striking down large sections of the Charter of the French Language pertaining to the official language of law and judicial decisions in the 1979 Blaikie case, in which it imposed official constitutional bilingualism in matters of legislation and judicial decisions to the enclaved French-speaking province. Perhaps the appropriateness of this decision should be revisited.