Volume 24, numéro 3, 1983

EN :

Those who like to pay tax are few. Accordingly, income tax is often described as a shame. Of course, the right to enjoyment of property is at stake in the matters of taxation. And the collection of taxation involves also other aspects of the right to substantive and procedural due process of law : right to privacy, to be heard, to unbiassed decision, to professional secrecy...

This article contrasts these rights, as they are expressed in sections 5 to 9 and 23 of the Charte des droits et libertés de la personne of Québec and section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, with sections 13 to 16 and 38 and following of the Loi sur le ministère du revenu of Québec and sections 159, 231 and 232 of the Canadian Income Tax Act.

It finds that it is the application of the income tax law, more than the law itself, that threatens human rights. It concludes that the main benefit of both Charters of rights is to provide a shelter from such unreasonnable application

EN :

This article deals with the powers of the fiscal administration in French law. The author examines the various protections afforded by the law and the administration to the taxpayer.

The author also studies the powers of the administration in relation to the reassestment of tax. Such procedures are either contradictory or discretionnary. The taxpayer's rights are guaranteed by certain rules concerning limitation of actions and changes in official policis.

EN :

Quebec's Civil Code acknowledges the existence of a dual regime including both civil and commercial juridical operations. This distinction, which is derived from French Law, also exists in Belgian and German Law. These countries have created specialized commercial courts or tribunals with jurisdiction over commercial matters. They are staffed with judges drawn from business.

One may ask how in fact a dualistic system of this nature functions in Quebec, given the absence of such special commercial tribunals. It may be noted that although there is no body of commercial law dealing exclusively with traders, there exists in fact a system of business law comprehensive enough to apply also to non-traders (Part I). In addition, the informal nature of the procedural rules, as well as the background of the judges who are selected mainly from the ranks of practising lawyers, permits one to discern a close resemblance between litigation before these courts and the conduct of trials before commercial tribunals (Part II).

EN :

Under the Special Corporate Powers Act of the Province of Quebec, a trustee for bondholders, in the event of failure of the corporation to fulfil the conditions of the trust deed, is empowered to take possession, to administer and to sell the assets on which security was given, for the benefit of the bondholders. However, Quebec law does not specify the duties of the trustee when he exercises his powers and this has resulted in numerous court debates.

In the first part of this article, the nature of the security obtained under a trust deed is examined in order to establish the framework within which the powers of the trustee are exercised. The second part of this article examines the duties and powers of the trustee when he takes possession, when he administers and when he disposes of the property of the corporation.

The author emphasises the inadequacies in the law of Quebec, particularly as to the definition of the duties and powers of the trustee and to the judicial mechanism enabling the trustee for bondholders to take possession and to sell the assets of the corporation. The resulting difficulty of determining the respective rights and duties of the trustee and the corporation gives rise to ambiguous situations.

EN :

The object of this article considers the ever-evolving concept of jurisdiction in the context of judicial review of administrative action. The author examines recent jurisprudential developments from an historical perspective in an attempt to reveal those factors triggering intervention. The Supreme Court of Canada has often fashioned its tests of jurisdiction to fit the intended results. Hence, over the last decades, jurisdictional terminology has become ripe with deceptive distinctions and attempts to rationalize the various tests have in fact raised most perplexing problems.

EN :

A travel agent's liability normally differs according to whether he merely acts as a middleman between clients and service suppliers or whether he himself organizes travel. Court decisions reveal nevertheless that proper qualification of the relationship is not necessarily a prerequisite as to the rules applicable. The overriding criterion appears rather to be consumer protection. Consequently, the burden of proof on the consumer has been slightly reduced and travel agents are more often than not held liable under an obligation of result.

EN :

This article examines the doctrine of abuse of process in Canadian criminal law in the light of two recent events, the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Amato c. R. and the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The consideration of Amato v. R. in the firts part of the article shows that the majority of judges of the Supreme Court support the existence of the doctrine of abuse of law, and their reasons for this are examined.

The effects of the Charter upon such a doctrine is demonstrated in the second part. The American experience is cited, showing the interrelationship of the U.S. Constitution and the doctrine of abuse of process. This is followed by a comparative table of Canadian cases in which the procedure was halted either because of the doctrine or by virtue of the Charter, particularly s. 24(1) which permits judges to stay proceedings for reasons of infringement or denial of guaranteed rights or freedoms.

The article concludes that the doctrine has not been superceded by the Charter, but rather that it plays an important role par ailed to it : the former protects the integrity of the legal process while the latter safeguards the rights of the individual.