L'Entracte, Volume 12, No. 2, February 15, 2003

The Notarial Chair: A Fruitful Beginning

By Pierre Ciotola, Notary, Professor at the Université de Montréal, Holder of the Notarial Chair.

The Notarial Chair was created through a partnership between the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal and the Chambre des notaires du Québec. I have held the Chair since March 2002 and my mandate terminates in May 2004.

Firstly, it is important to remember that the Notarial Chair is not a legal person or an institutional entity. Like any other university chair, its focus is on research and education. It has a multi-faceted mandate: education, research, conferences, development of a Web site with a notarial news watch, promoting the notarial profession as an institution and fostering foreign exchanges. The Notarial Chair's objective is to strengthen and develop notarial teaching and research activities in order to sustain the development and influence of the profession, ensuring its durability and continuity. However, its purpose is not to replace the University's responsibility as regards training and teaching of the notarial fourth year. The Notarial Chair was granted by the Chambre des notaires du Québec to the Université de Montréal, permitting the joint financial participation of the Fonds d'études notariales of the Chambre des notaires and the Université de Montréal.

Very Active Committees

The Chairholder works together with many committees to plan the Chair's activities. The Administrative Committee supervises the Chair's financial planning. In addition to the Chairholder, the Administrative Committee includes Denis Marsolais, President of the Chambre des notaires, Jean Lambert, another representative nominated by the Chambre des notaires, Jacques Frémont, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Alain Caillé, Vice-Rector of the Université de Montréal. As for the Scientific Committee, it scrutinizes the projects proposed by the Chairholder. In addition to the Chairholder, the Scientific Committee is composed of Notaries Claude Laurent and Christine Gagnon as representatives of the Chambre des notaires du Québec as well as Claude Fabien and Alain Roy as representatives of the Université de Montréal. Since the Chair has an academic mission, it is also called upon to collaborate with the other law faculties in Québec. Consequently, a University Advisory Committee was established, with members comprised of one representative from each Québec civil law faculty and, of course, one representative from the University of Ottawa. In addition to the Chairholder, the following persons are members of the University Advisory Committee: Francois Brochu (Université Laval), Nicholas Kasirer (McGill University), Lucie Laflamme (Université de Sherbrooke), Brigitte Lefebvre (UQAM) and Jacques Beaulne (University of Ottawa). Chaired by Notary Jean Lambert, the University Advisory Committee plans activities of interest to the entire university community.

Activities for 2002-2003

The activities for 2002-2003 were made possible in a relatively short period of time. While the initial activities were aimed at ensuring the visibility of the Notarial Chair, in the long term the Chair's work will also have to focus on research in areas of interest to the notarial profession.

Roger-Comtois Conferences

From the Chair's inception, one of the Chairholder's projects was to organize prestigious annual conferences at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. In that regard, readers of l'Entracte were provided with a report on the first Roger-Comtois Conference held on October 8, 2002. The Roger-Comtois Conferences will deal with various notarial law topics of interest to the notarial field, both as an institution and a profession. The texts of Roger-Comtois Conferences will be published and given to each participant and will also be available on the Notarial Chair's Web site. We are hopeful that many notaries will participate in this annual event.

Scientific Sessions and Round Tables

In university circles, it is frequent to hold scientific sessions and round tables on current events. The Chairholder wanted to swiftly set up such an activity which ensures great visibility for the profession. Thus, last April, the first round table was held on the topic of computerization and conservation of notarial deeds, leading to an article published in the Revue internationale d'histoire du notariat (May-June 2002). Furthermore, on March 27 2003, another round table, to be presided over by the Chairholder, will be held at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal on the theme Action/Reaction-Jurisprudence, doctrine and practice. At that round table, Judge Claude Champagne, J.C.S., Lawyer Sophie Bourque and Notary Pierre Pepin will discuss topics under this theme. In addition, activities sponsored by the Chair have taken place or will take place in various law faculties before the end of the 2002-2003 academic year, in cooperation with representatives of each university.

Symposiums on Current Subjects

The purpose of the Notarial Chair's symposiums is to deal with current topics of interest to the legal community. In that respect, a symposium on the Act instituting civil unions and establishing new rules of filiation was held at the Université de Montréal on November 29, 2002 under the honorary chairmanship of Judge Anne-Marie Trahan, J.C.S. The symposium was jointly organized by the Notarial Chair and the Private Law Department of the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal.

Activities for Law Students

Last April, the Chairholder took part in an "open house" at the Faculty of Law meant to welcome students and underline their career choices. Other activities, under the stewardship of Professor Alain Roy, Associate Researcher of the Notarial Chair, were carried out in the first semester in order to reach out to new students, and other activities are planned for this year's second semester. Conferences for students in the Bachelor of Laws program were also organized during the first semester. These conferences were given within the scope of the first year property law course. Our colleague, Serge Allard, a specialist on divided co-ownership, gave two conferences on this quickly evolving topic, to the great satisfaction of a majority of the first year students. On November 12, 2002, several notaries with differing practices were invited to meet students at the Faculty in order to share their experience as notaries. Some twenty students participated in this activity-truly an encouraging beginning. For the occasion, Notary Jean-Paul Dutrisac, Vice-President of the Chambre des notaires, spoke briefly on the boom the profession is experiencing and the desired rejuvenation of the profession.

Publishing Support

With the financial support of the Chair, Notary Alain Roy published a book entitled Déontologie et procédures notariales. The volume was published by Éditions Thémis.

Bursaries of the Notarial Chair

For the coming year, the Chair will award six bursaries of $1000 to deserving students enrolled in the Notarial Law Program of the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal.

Web Site

The Chair's site is currently under construction. In a few months, it will be possible to access the site for current news on the Chair, to obtain the texts of certain conferences and to read up to date news concerning the notarial profession around the world. Web site users will also be able to give their comments and share them with other users. It will also be possible to register for the Chair's free activities through the Web site, thereby greatly simplifying the management of these activities. The site should be in operation by March. Our colleague Bertrand Salvas and the firm QuiboWeb are participating in the site's creation.

Development of the Profession

The 125th Anniversary Album of the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal

The Faculty will celebrate its 125th anniversary in the autumn of 2003. This is the perfect opportunity to prepare a souvenir album and the Chairholder is currently working on such an album in cooperation with Professor Jean Hétu. The album will underline the 125 years of the Faculty's history and its link with the notarial profession. The Chair has contributed to starting this project (approximately 25% of its budget) and is relying on donations from the legal community in order to successfully complete the album.

The Chair's Logo

One of the Chair's projects is the creation of a logo giving it a distinct identity within the academic and legal communities. The Chairholder is currently working with Lucie Roberge, a graphic designer, to create such a logo.

Activities for 2003-2004

The Chair's activities for the 2003-2004 year are already being planned. The Roger-Comtois Conference will once again be held in the fall. Furthermore, within the scope of the Journées Maximilien-Caron to be held in the winter of 2004, the Chair will participate in the organization of a commercial law symposium with the Faculty's Centre de droit des affaires et du commerce international. Of course, the DDN bursary program will continue. The Chair will also provide financial support to the Mélanges Jean-Pineau for a volume which will contain some thirty articles on many legal topics, including an article written by the Chairholder entitled Droit des sûretés : épizootisme legislatif ou contre-réforme. Finally, the University Advisory Committee will soon decide on the possibility of organizing Chair conferences in various faculties. If this project is accepted, the theme will probably be that of the public officer's duty and impartiality and it should result in articles to be published in the various law journals.

Activities for 2004-2005

At the request of the President of the Chambre des notaires, the Chairholder has the mandate to organize a one-day symposium on technological change and the evolution of legal principles, within the scope of the Entretiens Jacques Cartier to be held in October of 2004 at the Université de Montréal. We are fortunate to be able to rely on the undisputed expertise of our Faculty colleague Pierre Trudel, a specialist in new technologies, as joint organizer of this symposium.

Activities of the Chairholder and the Associate Researcher

Another objective of the Chair is to support the Chairholder's and the Associate Researcher's research activities. The Chairholder is currently focussing his research on successions law, carrying out a detailed study on the intent of testators. The Chairholder is also pursuing his teaching activities in the fields of security on moveable and immoveable property and successions. Thanks to the Université de Montréal's CEFES grant program, he has been able to develop WebCT sites within the scope of his teaching activities. A WebCT site allows a professor to monitor his students not only in the classroom but also outside of teaching periods. Students are in contact with the professor and other students in the group by means of electronic messages and online problem discussions. Students can also access the professor's course materials online. Access to the WebCT sites is restricted.

As for my colleague Alain Roy, he has lectured on the subject of civil union at many conferences, including at a symposium on this topic held at UQAM and within the framework of a symposium on the new frontiers of the law and their impact on education and research held at the Université de Poitiers (France). In 2002, Éditions Thémis published two of his works: Déontologie et procédure notariales and Le contrat de mariage réinventé. Perspectives socio-juridiques pour une réforme, the latter being his doctoral thesis which earned him a prize from the Association Henri-Capitant. In addition to many articles and commentaries published during the past year in various legal journals, including the Revue du Notariat, he will contribute to the Mélanges Jean-Pineau project to which the Notarial Chair is providing financial support.

Finally, the Chairholder is fortunate to be able to count on Sylvie Berthold's support as occasional collaborator in the organization of various activities. In conclusion, I invite all notaries to participate in the Chair's activities. Your attendance at these activities will contribute greatly to the visibility of the profession within the universities. You will be giving a face to the notarial profession which differs from that of the university professors-trained notaries who work in this fascinating field. The future notaries will be those you will have convinced to join this different yet essential profession.