Our Mandate: Fundamental Legal Research
Founded in 1975 by Professor Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau, the Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Centre for Private and Comparative Law (formerly the Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law) endeavours to promote the civilian tradition in Canada and develop it through a philosophy of openness to the lessons to be learned from other legal traditions.
The Cr茅peau Centre brings together legal scholars and academics from Quebec and abroad with a view to renewing the theoretical investigations of Quebec鈥檚 fundamental private law institutions.
As a civil law system evolving in an environment otherwise largely grounded in the common law, Quebec鈥檚 private law provides a living model for the fruitful coexistence of two historically distinct legal traditions. The importance of this model in our increasingly interconnected world is underlined by the fundamentally bilingual nature of Quebec鈥檚 civil law.
The ambitious research program of the Cr茅peau Centre comprises many different axes of research, all of which pursue a dialogical understanding of local law set against the world鈥檚 great legal traditions.
From the Treatise of Civil Law to historical and critical editions of the Qu茅bec Civil Code, from legal terminology projects, like the Private Law Dictionaries and Bilingual Lexicons, to transsystemic legal education, the Cr茅peau Centre aims to develop new theoretical understandings of private law.
Following the death in 2011 of Professor Cr茅peau, the Centre was renamed in March 2012 as the Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau Centre for Private and Comparative Law.
See a biography of Professor Paul-Andr茅 Cr茅peau on the Wainwright Fund website.
