Justice Albert Mayrand, O. C.

Justice Mayrand receiving the Order of Canada from Chief Justice Lamer
In 1975, Mr. Justice Albert Mayrand (1912-2004) inaugurated the Wainwright Lectures Series with a remarkable presentation, L’inviolabilité de la personne humaine, published in book form that same year. From 1986 until 1988, he was a Wainwright Senior Fellow, further strengthening his ties with McGill University. For many years, he helped edit the Private Law Dictionary published by the Quebec Research Centre for Private and Comparative Law established at McGill University.

Mr. Mayrand’s career was diverse as well as prolific. A veritable pioneer, he was one of the first members of the legal professorial corps at the Université de Montréal (1948-1965), his alma mater. His intellectual curiosity led him to teach courses on a wide range of civil law subjects. His articles and books, including the Dictionnaire de maximes et locutions latines utilisées en droit which underwent three editions, treat many diverse areas of Civil Law. As a brilliant author and as the editor of the Revue du Barreau, he left a profound mark in the development of Quebec private law. Indeed, his concise writing style and subtle humour have become legendary.

As a very active member of the Civil Code Revision Office (in property law, family law, and civil responsibility), he greatly contributed to the important changes brought about by the reform of the Civil Code.

Albert Mayrand continued his career at the Superior Court of Québec (1965-1974) and then at the Court of Appeal of Québec (1974-1986), enriching the bench with his renowned wisdom and broad legal culture. In 1997, he was appointed legal advisor of the National Assembly of Québec.

Mayrand Carron Montreal
Prof. Mayrand, with Dean Maximilien Caron, at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal
In 1965, the University of Ottawa awarded him an honorary doctorate. Soon after, the Université de Montréal named him professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law (1969).

To culminate his outstanding career, Justice Mayrand was made Officer of the Order of Canada, receiving his insignia from Chief Justice Antonio Lamer (1997).

Since that memorable occasion, the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal holds an annual Albert-Mayrand Conference to honour one of the greatest civil law thinkers in Quebec.

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