Afin de faire état de la terminologie du droit privé québécois, le Centre Paul-André Crépeau de droit privé et comparé a lancé en 1981 le projet des Dictionnaires de droit privé et lexiques bilingues.

En exprimant le droit privé dans les langues anglaise et française, les Dictionnaires de droit privé / Private Law Dictionaries sont des outils de connaissance originaux qui tiennent compte du fait que le droit privé québécois évolue dans un cadre linguistique et juridique unique au monde. Ils constituent les seuls ouvrages de terminologie juridique pouvant prétendre refléter la spécificité bilingue et bijuridique de la culture juridique québécoise, en plus d’être un outil essentiel pour l’ensemble des juristes québécois, pour les traducteurs juridiques, pour les juristes de l’ensemble du Canada intéressés par le droit civil québécois et, enfin, pour les juristes œuvrant en droit comparé.

Cette page vous donne accès, dans leurs versions française et anglaise, aux dictionnaires suivants : le Dictionnaire de droit privé, 2ème (1991), Le Dictionnaire de droit privé — Les obligations (2003), Le dictionnaire de droit privé — Les biens (2012), Le Dictionnaire de droit privé — Les familles, 2èmeéd (2016). Un projet de Dictionnaire de droit privé — Successions est actuellement en cours, et sera progressivement ajouté à la base de données.

Afin de faciliter vos recherches, nous vous invitons à consulter la page de présentation des Dictionnaires, qui expose les principes ayant guidé la présentation des entrées et présente les différents éléments qui forment la structure des articles. La rubrique d’aide pourra également vous être utile afin de découvrir les diverses fonctionnalités du moteur de recherche.

Le Centre Paul-André Crépeau de droit privé et comparé tient à remercier le Ministère de la Justice du Canada et la Chambre des Notaires pour leur appui financier pour la conduite des projets lexicographiques ainsi que l’Association du Barreau Canadien qui contribua à la mise en ligne Dictionnaire de droit privé — Les familles, 2èmeéd (2016).


In 1981, the Paul-André Crépeau Centre of Private and Comparative Law launched its Private Law Dictionaries and Bilingual Lexicons in order to present the terminology of the Quebec private law.

By expressing the private law in the French and English languages, the Private Law Dictionaries/Dictionnaires de droit privé are original tools which take account of the unique linguistic and juridical landscape in which the Quebec private law evolves. These are the only publications of legal terminology which can claim to reflect the bilingual and bijuridical specificity of Quebec’s legal culture. They serve as an essential tool for jurists and translators in Québec, for those across Canada interested in the Québec civil law, as well as for those working in the field of comparative law.

This website gives access, in their French and English versions, to the following dictionaries : the Private Law Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1991), the Private Law Dicitonary–Obligations (2003), the Dictionary of Private Law–Property (2012), the Private Law Dictionary–Family, 2nd ed. (2016). The Private Law Dictionary-Successions is in progress, and will gradually be added to the database.

To facilitate your research, please consult the "Guide to the Use of the Dictionaries", which presents the guiding principles behind the entries and the different components of their structure. The Help Section may also be useful in understanding the search engine’s various functions.

The Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law would like to thank the Department of Justice of Canada and the Chambre des Notaires for their financial support of the dictionary projects, as well as The Canadian Bar Association, which will contribute to the online version of the Private Law Dictionary of the Family, 2nd ed. (2016).


Le projet des Dictionnaires en bref




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PUNITIVE DAMAGES
(Obl.Financial penalty imposed by a court in a private law context on the author of conduct viewed as reprehensibleQuebec courts have been empowered to grant punitive or exemplary damages to defamation victims since the coming into force of s. 49 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1976” (Jukier, (1989) 49 R. du B. 3, p. 35) Occ. Arts. 1610, 1621, 1899, 1902, 1968 C.C.Q.; art. 840 C.C.P.; s. 31, An Act respecting collective agreement decrees, R.S.Q. c. D-2; s. 54.10, An Act respecting the Régie du logement, R.S.Q. c. R-8.1; s. 45.1, An Act respecting petroleum products and equipment, R.S.Q. c. P-29.1.Obs. 1º Punitive damages were not traditionally recognized in the Civil law, given that the objective to punish reprehensible conduct through legal sanction was viewed as part of the role of the criminal law2º Punishment and prevention are the two leading features of punitive damages. This distinguishes punitive damages from compensatory damages, whose principal aim is to compensate the harm suffered by the victim3º Article 1621 C.C.Q. limits punitive damages to cases expressly provided by law, thereby conferring upon such damage awards an exceptional character in Quebec civil law. The Draft Civil Code (art. 290, Bk V, C.C.R.O.) proposed extending such awards to cases of intentional or gross fault on the part of the debtor4º The Supreme Court of Canada, in its trilogy of cases Béliveau St-Jacques v. Fédération des employés et employées de services publics inc. (CSN), [1996] 2 S.C.R. 345, Québec (Curateur public) v. Syndicat national des employés de l’hôpital St-Ferdinand (CSN), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 211 and Augustus v. Gosset, [1996] 3 S.C.R. 268, has indicated that the recourse in punitive damages available under subsection 49 (2) of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (R.S.Q. c. C-12), is subject to the general principles of civil liability5º Article 1621 C.C.Q. provides a non-limitative list of criteria to assist courts in determining the quantum of punitive damages, such as the gravity of the debtor’s fault, his or her patrimonial situation, the extent of the reparation for which he or she is already liable to the creditor and the fact that the payment of the damages is assumed by a third person. This reaffirms the preventive character of punitive damages, considering that the quantum may not exceed what is considered to be sufficient to fulfil this purpose6º The expressions punitive damages and exemplary damages in the Civil Code and related legislation are interchangeable. See s. 423, An Act respecting the implementation of the reform of the Civil Code, S.Q. 1992, c. 57Syn. exemplary damagesSee also  compensatory damages, damages, moral damages, private law penaltyFr. dommages-intérêts exemplaires, dommages-intérêts punitifs+.
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