Abstract:
Mixed jurisdictions have been called “the third legal family” by Louisiana scholar Vernon V. Palmer. Although Palmer admits there is “no single paradigm” to mixity, mixed jurisdictions are generally legal systems characterized by some degree of bijurality or legal hybridity—systems in which there is a mix of laws and judicial attributes that derive from multiple tradition-based sources. Although these sources are found primarily in the civil and common law traditions, they may derive from aboriginal, customary, and religious traditions as well. Because of the multiple historical influences on their legal formation and their bijural existence, mixed legal systems are also often jurisdictions with a history of legal transplantation and cross-fertilization of legal culture.
As many comparative jurists have maintained, mixed jurisdictions provide fascinating legal laboratories of study. This Article will focus on Quebec as one such mixed jurisdiction, and will examine Quebec procedural law as a microcosm of its mixity by providing insights into the impact of this mixity on legal pedagogy, judicial decision-making, and law reform.
