ABSTRACT
This article studies the regulation of unmarried cohabitation in Quebec, the Canadian federation’s province of the civil law. Quebec has assimilated cohabitants to married spouses for public or social laws, while maintaining for them a policy of laissez-faire under its private law of the family. The article argues that Quebec’s approach is confusing, incoherent, and sometimes unjust. Contrary to common assertions, de facto spouses are not legal strangers, being recognized as family for some purposes by the private law. De facto spouses’ inclusion in social statutes can impose harms without their corollary benefits and runs against official aims of respecting their freedom and autonomy. Judicial adaptations of the general private law to remedy injustices arising from cohabitation have blurred the line between family law and obligations. The potential interaction between these developments and de facto spouses’ contractual freedom merit attention. Last, calls for reform across decades signify awareness of the problems identified. This article offers the most comprehensive survey of Quebec’s cohabitation law in English. Its focus on the interaction between cohabitation’s treatment under private and public law may prompt further study in other jurisdictions.
Leckey, Robert, Cohabitation Law in Quebec: Confusing, Incoherent, and Unjust (March 8, 2022). Houston Journal of International Law, forthcoming.
First posted 2022-04-06 10:00:05
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