Language and the law in Canada.
While much has been written on Canada's bijuralism and on the influence of the civil law tradition, language, an often overlooked element, has come to play a key role in Canadian law. Bilingualism is not a double unilingualism. Making laws in two languages implies specific drafting considerations. In a context where two versions of one law are both equally authoritative, if one version is not as clear as the other one, it is not just language equality that is endangered, it is the very principle of legality.
In our globalized world, cultures meet and legal systems blend. Virtually all regional and global institutions created since the 20th century have had to face the challenge of producing multilingual rules that can be acceptable and workable for all of their members. Law faces new cultural and linguistic challenges every day. From this perspective, the Canadian experience can be seen as a very interesting example.
