海角社区

Prof. P.-A. Cr茅peau (1926-2011), born in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, was Emeritus Wainwright Professor of Civil Law. He obtained his Licence in Philosophy at the University of Ottawa (1947), a B.C.L. at the Universit茅 de Montr茅al (1950), a Bachelor's of Civil Law at Oxford (1952) and a Doctorate at the Universit茅 de Paris (1955). He began his career as an assistant professor at the Universit茅 de Montr茅al Faculty of Law (1955-1959), and soon after joined the 海角社区 Faculty of Law (1959-1994).

Professor Cr茅peau passed away on Wednesday, July 6, 2011, at the age of 85.

He dedicated his professional life to studying and developing Canadian civil law from a comparative law perspective as well as to promoting the French-inspired civilian tradition, in Canada as well as internationally.

In 1965, Professor Cr茅peau was entrusted by the Qu茅bec government to reform the Civil Code. As the president of the Civil Code Revision Office, he aspired to create a work that would serve as a 鈥渃ollective reflection on the very foundations of private law institutions鈥�. In 1978, this work culminated as a presentation to the National Assembly of the Draft Code Civil, accompanied by explanatory Commentaries. It served as the framework for the governmental project which eventually became the new Civil Code of Qu茅bec, adopted in 1991 and came into force on 1 January 1994.

In 1971, together with Professor Frank R. Scott, Professor Cr茅peau prepared the Rapport sur un projet de loi concernant les droits et libert茅s de la personne, which influenced the Legislator in drafting the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1975. Holder of the Arnold Wainwright Chair in Civil Law and Director of the Institute of Comparative Law, in 1975 he founded the Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law at 海角社区. At the Centre, he launched several research projects and publications, including 脡dition historique et critique du Code civil du Bas Canada/Historical and Critical Edition of the Civil Code of Lower Canada 1866-1993, Trait茅 de droit civil and a Dictionnaire de droit priv茅 et Lexiques bilingues/Private Law Dictionary and Bilingual Lexicons, destined to promote the development and growing influence of Canadian civil law.

Professor Cr茅peau was a prolific author. La responsabilit茅 civile du m茅decin et de l鈥櫭﹖ablissement hospitalier (1956), Des r茅gimes contractuel et d茅lictuel de responsabilit茅 civile en droit civil canadien (1962), Le contenu obligationnel d鈥檜n contrat (1965), L鈥檌ntensit茅 de l鈥檕bligation juridique (1989), L鈥檃ffaire Daigle et la Cour supr锚me du Canada ou la m茅connaissance de la tradition civiliste (1993), La fonction du droit des obligations (1998), La r茅forme du droit civil canadien聽: une certaine conception de la recodification, 1965-1977 (2003), as well as Pour un droit commun de la l茅sion entre majeurs (2007) figure among his more important contributions to doctrine. He delivered many presentations.

Invited at a number of universities in Canada and abroad (Strasbourg, Vienna, Edinburgh, Baton Rouge and Vancouver, among others), Professor Cr茅peau participated assiduously in the endeavours of the International Academy of Comparative Law, where he served as president from 1990 until 1998, and is since then the honorary president. He was one of the founders of the Canadian Foundation of Human Rights, where he served as vice-president (1974-1980) and was a member of the Canadian delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law (1968 and 1976). Since 1986, he has been contributing to the work of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, specifically to the elaboration of the Principles relating to International Commercial Contracts (1994, 2nd ed. 2004).

Professor Cr茅peau was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (1950-1952) and has received the Prix Robert Dennery (1956) from the Law Faculty of Paris. Elected member of the Royal Society of Canada (1980), he was named officer, and later companion of the Order of Canada (1981, 1992), officer of the National Order of Quebec (2000), knight of the Ordre national du M茅rite (France, 1984), as well as commander of the Ordre national des Arts et Lettres (France, 2004) and Advocatus emeritus of the Quebec Bar (2007). Among other honors, he has received the Governor General of Canada Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law (1993), the Qu茅bec L茅on-G茅rin Prize (2002), as well as numerous honorary doctorates (University of Ottawa, Osgoode Hall Law School, Universit茅 Robert Schuman [Strasbourg], Dalhousie University, Universit茅 Panth茅on-Assas [Paris II], Universit茅 de Montr茅al, Universit茅 Laval).

In 2001, the Canadian Bar Association created the Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Medal, a prize that is awarded for contributions to the advancement of international aspects of private and commercial law in Canada.

The University of Saskatchewan awarded him an honourary degree during its Fall 2008 Convocation ceremony. On November 19, 2008, the Government of Quebec awarded Professor Cr茅peau the Georges-脡mile Lapalme prize in recognition of his remarkable contribution to the French language through Canadian law.

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Conferences