Page "Civil Code of Quebec" Paragraph 18

Following France's relinquishment of Canada in favour of Guadaloupe in the Treaty of Paris ( 1763 ), Canada came under British law.

However, the seigneurial system of land tenure continued to be applied uniformly throughout the province.

In 1774, as a result of a ruling by the British courts in Campbell v Hall about the status of legal systems found in acquired territories, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act which restored the former French civil law for private law while keeping and reserving English common law for public law including criminal prosecution.

As a result, modern-day Quebec is now one of only a handful of bijuridical jurisdictions in the world where two legal systems co-exist.