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This article discusses the four-volume work entitled Iroquoisie by Léo-Paul Desrosiers, which has recently appeared after being forgotten for a half-century. In this work, which is a masterpiece from several viewpoints, and incisively written, the author put forward several hypotheses that anticipated contemporary historiographic paradigms. The authors of this article attempt to review the work by analysing it under three headings. Thus, they explore first of all the history of Desrosiers and the main factors that explain a certain silence that has long surrounded his work. They then analyse the work itself, from the viewpoint of its archivistic erudition and the interpretative paths that it follows, but also of its overall perspective. They conclude with a critique of the intention underlying Iroquoisie in the economy of the novellist's personal writing, as well as in the defense of the ideologies to which the novellist adhered. This analysis points to a convincing work, with complexity and internal contradictions that enrich the understanding of the history of New France rather than closing in on itself or invalidating its main theme.

Keywords: Gracia Couturier

In following dialectic reasoning, avenues of analysis are proposed to assess the insolvable contradiction that puts the vectors of globalized expansion at odds with the requisites of the Rule of Law. The issue of their reciprocal compatibility cannot be eluded because the two phenomena are based upon hegemonic premises, which allow them to lay claim to the preeminence of distinct fields. Thus, during the 1990s, the tangible progression of the Rule of Law as a means of expression for constitutional democracy beyond the limited circle of occidental countries contributed to the latent universalization of the principle, but also of the development of a rhetoric that transformed it into a myth that forms the basis of contemporary political debates. The ideas (constitutionalism, political democracy, the « juridical handling » of fundamental freedoms) that nurture discussions on the Rule of Law point the political and institutional practices of sovereign states in a specific direction. Conversely, globalization is associated with the emergence of « borderless laws » and the creation of new machinery for imposing regulations that would reduce state sovereignty in various areas currently under their exclusive jurisdiction. Since the integrity of national legal systems is solidly based upon the prevalence of constitutional standards, the effectiveness of the Rule of Law and constitutionalism may become shaky owing to the multiplication of legal systems in potential competition with one another. Globalization offers fertile ground for devising various scenarios wherein states no longer have precedence over the dynamics for creating standards or setting reference points. If this analysis highlights the exacerbation of many contradictions, it correspondingly underscores the complementarity arising from the limits of the State being outpaced by the classical sources of international law. Between the globalization of the Rule of Law and its correlative integration into the multiform realities of globalization, current transformations demonstrate the need for reformulating the Rule of Law.

The principle underlying the consensual transfer of ownership is an issue which, in its factual and legal aspects, offers comparative legal scholars more resemblances than differences between the common law and the civil law systems, which in turn is an incentive to examine the foregoing closely and further our knowledge of Canadian legal duality. The historic trail leads us back to English jurisprudence of the 15th and 16th centuries. In civil law, this principle issues from an abstraction made by those who drafted the Napoleonic Code to extol the omnipotence of individual volition. Despite all, the principle has never totally satisfed doctrine, not only because it has always been strongly linked to the conditions of risking the loss of the object of the contract, but also because the idea of exclusive and full ownership from which it issues raises criticisms regarding the distribution of rights and obligations arising from the contract. Despite a convergence of criticisms and reformatory trends pertaining to the contractual transfer of ownership, the dynamics underpinning the principle betrays a near parallel evolution of both Canadian legal systems, while new solutions may further underscore this intersection owing to the infuence of American law and uniform international law dealing with the same issue.

In the following paper, the author analyzes the central issues raised by the recognition of aboriginal title under State law. He offers answers to the many unresolved issues concerning the sources of aboriginal title, its conditions of existence and attributes. Concerning the sources of aboriginal title, the author highlights the Supreme Court's stato-centric approach to the defnition of aboriginal rights and argues, in particular, that the doctrine of continuity of pre-colonial law has more of a metaphoric rather than operational meaning. As for the conditions of the title's existence, the author concludes that they still remain sufficiently undetermined as to generate legal insecurity and allow judges to conduct, under the guise of an assessment of the historical record, contemporary socio-economic arbitrations between indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous majority. Finally, the analysis of the attributes of aboriginal title brings to light the uncertainty which persists with regard to several fundamental issues, such as, for example, the identity of the holder of title. This uncertainty of the law, as well as the failure of the Supreme Court of Canada to reconcile aboriginal title with modernity, cast doubt on the capacity of indigenous peoples to develop their lands according to their contemporary priorities.

France's official policy toward Québec has been one of non-interference and non-indifference. An analysis of what French diplomacy sought and did during the 1970s reveals that the attitude of the Québec government, more than any other factor, determined French diplomacy toward Québec. France was simply responding to Québec's requests.