L'enquête publique et le pouvoir de condamnation pour outrage au tribunal

In the sphere of public inquiries, i.e. those which are limited to the exercice of the power of inquiry and recommendation to a higher instance, the Quebec legislator has enacted different provisions conferring upon the investigators the power to punish acts of contempt. Such provisions were necessary because investigators, as opposed to judges of the superior courts and the courts of records, possess no inherent capacity to impose penalties for acts of contempt committed in or out of their presence. To this end, the legislator has conferred upon investigators the power to condemn for contempt of court, by provisions which refer to the powers of the Superior Court in this matter. The investigators therefore may punish acts of contempt committed in their presence, such as witnesses' refusal to testify or produce documents. It is however more difficult to determine if the investigators are empowered to punish acts of contempt committed outside their presence, for usually inferior courts are not so empowered. In this connection, the courts have also examined the nature of contempt, which can be either civil or criminal depending on the nature of the jurisdiction exercised and the offence committed. With respect to public inquiries, it is equally interesting to ask oneself if the investigators can use contempt of court as a means of punishment. Relative to this question, we think that the investigators should sanction contempt only as a coercive means and not as punishment. Upon conviction of contempt, it is important that the convicted parties have some recourse, since the decisions may have serious consequences such as a fine or imprisonment. In this regard, the courts agree to exercice their powers of control when commissioners exceed their jurisdiction. There is however no right to appeal the commissioner's decision. Investigators may conceivably use such vast powers in an arbitrary and abusive manner. In a perspective of legislative reform, we would be of the opinion that it would be preferable to attribute such a power to a court of justice rather than to the investigators themselves

L'État et les entreprises : des partenaires pour la création d'une réglementation favorable à la quête des capitaux dans le marché des valeurs mobilières

Fidèle aux préceptes du libéralisme économique, l'État a cherché, depuis plus d'un siècle et demi, à favoriser la quête des capitaux en mettant en place un environnement juridique favorable à la création, au financement et à l’administration des sociétés par actions en vue de promouvoir la maximisation des profits en faveur des investisseurs. Dans l'étude qui suit, l'auteure montre comment la mise en place de cet encadrement propice aux entreprises et aux investisseurs se manifeste dans la réglementation du marché des valeurs mobilières, plus particulièremet dans celle qui est relative aux sociétés par actions et à l'appel public à l'épargne.True to the principles of economic liberalism, for the past 150 years States have attempted to favour the quest for capital by creating a legal environment conducive to the forming, financing and managing of joint-stock companies to generate maximum profits for in vestors. In this paper, the author explains the effects that the implementation of this framework favouring businesses and investors have had on securities regulations, especially in those dealing with joint-stock companies and public offerings

L'affaire Michaud : la voix d'un « simple actionnaire »

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, le milieu des affaires a été témoin de diverses formes d'activisme au sein de l'actionnariat des sociétés canadiennes. La bataille menée par Yves Michaud depuis deux ans est une manifestation retentissante de cet activisme. Après sa victoire devant les tribunaux contre quelques institutions bancaires canadiennes, cet actionnaire a été en mesure, lors des assemblées annuelles tenues par la plupart des grandes banques canadiennes, de soumettre des propositions visant notamment à limiter la rémunération des dirigeants et à assurer l'indépendance des membres du conseil d'administration. Une telle croisade est intéressante en ce qu'elle a réussi à bouleverser l'ordre établi dans un milieu où normalement ce genre de confrontation est peu prisé. Dans le présent article, l'auteure entend circonscrire la réalité de ce type de manifestation dans le contexte plus global de l'activisme au sein de l'actionnariat des grandes entreprises canadiennes, pour ensuite évaluer l'impact potentiel de cette affaire au regard de l'utilisation du mécanisme des propositions comme outil de participation des actionnaires.Over the past two years, the business world has seen a high level of activism among Canadian shareholders. Yves Michaud's now two year struggle stands out as a prime example of such involvement. In the wake of his victory in court against various Canadian banking institutions, Shareholder Michaud was able to attend annual shareholders' meetings held by most large Canadian banks and table proposals seeking especially to limit officers' remuneration and ensuring the independence of members sitting on their boards of directors. This crusade merits more than passing interest because it has upset the established order at a corporate level quite unaccustomed, albeit ordinarily uncomfortable with such doings. In this paper, the author attempts to depict the reality of this type of manifestation in the wider context of shareholder activism in dominant Canadian corporations, and thereafter to measure the potential impact of such actions on the use of tabling proposals as a shareholders' tool for participation

La rémunération excessive des dirigeants d’entreprise et le contrôle judiciaire comme instrument de gouvernance

Depuis les récents scandales qui ont ébranlé les marchés financiers au Canada et aux États-Unis, les observateurs n’ont pas manqué de décrier le caractère excessif et parfois même frauduleux de la rémunération accordée à de hauts dirigeants de sociétés tout en soulignant du même coup le piètre rendement et la déconfiture de certaines d’entre elles. Malgré les efforts faits pour assurer une meilleure gouvernance des entreprises, les mécanismes internes de surveillance et de contrôle sont parfois insuffisants ou inefficaces pour prévenir les abus. En raison de ces défaillances internes, les tribunaux sont appelés à intervenir pour résoudre les conflits qui résultent de la mise en place d’un régime de rémunération prétendument excessif. Comme l’étude qui suit le montrera, l’action judiciaire représente un instrument complémentaire de gouvernance grâce au contrôle que les tribunaux peuvent exercer à l’égard de la direction de l’entreprise en vue de prévenir les comportements déviants. Dans sa recherche portant sur l’exercice du contrôle judiciaire, l’auteure fait ressortir l’importance de tenir compte des différences existant entre les sociétés fermées et les sociétés ouvertes et elle explore ensuite la possibilité pour les tribunaux d’adopter une approche différente qui prendrait en considération la spécificité des unes et des autres dans l’évaluation des régimes de rémunération.Since the recent scandals that have shaken financial markets in Canada and the United States, observers have not missed a chance to speak out against the excessive and sometimes fraudulent character of corporate executives’ compensation packages while concurrently emphasizing the mediocre return and failures of a significant number of companies. Despite efforts made to ensure better corporate governance, internal monitoring and control procedures have on many occasions proven to be insufficient or ineffective in preventing abuses. Owing to these internal failures, the courts have been called upon to intervene by resolving conflicts that result from the implementation of allegedly excessive compensation packages. As the following study demonstrates, judicial action represents a complementary instrument of governance owing to the control that courts can exercise over corporate directorates in preventing such deviant behaviours. In her search dealing with the judicial control, the author highlights the importance of taking into account existing differences between closely-held companies and publicly-held companies ; she then investigates the possibility that the courts adopt a different approach that would consider the specificity of one or another when evaluating compensation packages

Aspects méthodologiques de la jurisprudence québécoise en droit commercial à la fin du XIXe siècle

Dans la présente étude, l'auteure examine la motivation des jugements rendus en droit commercial à la fin du XIXe siècle, soit entre 1875 et 1900. Le corpus étudié est composé de 253 jugements de la Cour supérieure, de la Cour de révision, de la Cour du Banc de la Reine et de la Cour suprême, qui traitent des rapports juridiques des entreprises avec leurs membres, leurs dirigeants, leurs créanciers et leurs débiteurs. Après avoir situé l'étude de cette jurisprudence dans le contexte plus général des recherches sur la pensée juridique québécoise, l'auteure analyse la motivation judiciaire sur la base d'analyses quantitatives et qualitatives, en prêtant attention plus particulièrement à la structure et à la longueur des jugements, à la langue des opinions ainsi qu'aux sources citées dans les jugements.In this study the author examines the reasons underlying decisions in commercial law made towards the end of the 19th century, namely from 1875 to 1900. Her analysis focuses on 253 judgments from the Superior Court, the Court of Review, the Court of Queen's Bench and the Supreme Court, which deal with the legal relationships of business enterprises with their members, officers, creditors and debtors. After situating the study of this case law in the more general setting of research on Quebec legal thinking, the author analyses the legal reasoning on a quantitative and qualitative basis while paying special attention to the structure, length, language, and sources cited in the judgments

L'enquête publique et les critères de contrôle judiciaire des fonctions exercées par les enquêteurs

The public inquiry has long been used to gather information of concern to the State in order that the best decisions may be made according to the information thereby obtained. The Quebec legislator has, therefore, foreseen the need for different laws or particular provisions that would enable the government to make use of this procedure. Among these we find the laws governing commissions of inquiry, police, municipal commissions, coroners and arson investigations. The public often follows closely the proceedings of such inquiries, which, consequently, become a means of informing, educating, and establishing a dialogue with, the public. However, certain public inquiries, such as the Quebec Commission of Inquiry on Organized Crime, the commission of inquiry on freedom of unionization and the Keable Commission, run the risk of affecting the rights of citizens, namely those summoned to appear during such hearings as well as those whose names appear in the testimony given. Hence, some individuals may see their reputations tarnished because of facts brought to light during the inquiry, lose their jobs as a result of commission recommendations or many later have to face either civil or criminal prosecution. It is, therefore, important that such persons be given access to the courts, in order to either challenge the jurisdiction of the commission or demand that the inquiry respect the rules of natural justice.In this area, judicial review depends on the characterization of the method of operation of the public inquiry as a whole, i.e. as the exercise by the commissioners of a recommendatory power, or of interlocutory decisions taken during the course of the inquiry. Depending on the judicial or administrative nature of the activity concerned, the courts will decide whether or not to exercise their superintending and reforming powers. Thus, the courts will intervene only if the function exercised is of a judicial nature. In this regard, the courts deem that an administrative body exercises a judicial function, on the one hand when it determines the rights of individuals and, on the other, when such a body has a duty to act judicially. Apart from some rare exceptions, the courts have ruled that the exercise of the power of inquiry generally does not trench on the rights of citizens and that such a power is therefore administrative in nature. At present, the issue as to whether the inquiry determines the rights of individuals is considered by the courts in the light of either one of two theories, which can be labelled the binary and global theories. Supporters of the binary theory feel that the inquiry and the decisions which may proceed therefrom represent two quite distinct stages and the interference with the rights of individuals can only occur when a decision is made. We find an illustration of this reasoning in, among others cases, Guay v. Lafleur and St-John v. Fraser. Proponents of the second theory are agreed that the decision is an integral part of the inquiry process and that interference with rights occurs at the inquiry level itself. This argument is exemplified adequately by the judgement in Saulnier v. Quebec Police Commission. This paper also examines the characterization of interlocutory decisions made by a commission in the course of its proceedings. In this respect, the courts feel that coercive powers are of a judicial nature, while decisions concerning the administration of evidence are seen as administrative. A study of the abundant jurisprudence in this area leads us to conclude that the Quebec legislator should provide for a specific recourse, similar to that existing presently in Ontario, which would allow citizens access to the courts to challenge decisions made by commissions of inquiry

L'oeuvre de Robert Demers

L'oeuvre de Robert Demers, élaborée en un peu plus de dix ans, fut consacrée au droit commercial. La présente étude identifie les thèmes dominants de cette production et expose les différentes méthodes de travail auxquelles il a eu recours.The works of Robert Demers, developed in a period extending just over ten years, were devoted to commercial law. This study identifies the dominant themes of this production and highlights the various working methods that he employed

Le raisonnement judiciaire fondé sur l’équité dans les conflits entre actionnaires de petites sociétés : l’éclairage d’une approche consensuelle

En droit canadien des sociétés par actions, le recours en cas d’iniquité, appelé communément « recours pour oppression », est un terrain fertile pour résoudre les confits entre les administrateurs, les dirigeants et les actionnaires des sociétés. Ce recours permet d’apprécier le caractère juste des actes d’une société en tenant compte non seulement des droits explicitement reconnus mais également des intérêts implicites des personnes protégées. Dans l’hypothèse où ils concluent à l’existence d’un acte abusif ou injuste, les juges disposent d’une discrétion étendue pour rendre l’ordonnance qu’ils estiment appropriée dans les circonstances. En raison de la fexibilité inhérente au concept de l’équité, la tâche qui incombe aux tribunaux en cette matière est périlleuse, car elle exige la prise en considération d’un ensemble de variables en vue d’établir les attentes réciproques des parties au moment de la création de l’entreprise et pendant la vie de celle-ci. Dans le contexte des petites sociétés composées d’un nombre restreint d’actionnaires, les autorités judiciaires sont appelées à évaluer une dynamique complexe de relations d’affaires auxquelles se greffent souvent des liens familiaux ou amicaux. Sur la base de l’analyse économique du droit, notre recherche a pour but de proposer une méthode de raisonnement judiciaire aux fins de l’application des recours fondés sur l’équité, plus particulièrement ceux qui impliquent les confits entre les actionnaires de petites sociétés. De manière rétrospective, la méthode envisagée pourra servir à évaluer les décisions judiciaires rendues en cette matière et pourra, de manière prospective, guider les tribunaux appelés à intervenir sur cette base. Cette évaluation débouchera sur une remise en question du forum traditionnel d’adjudication judiciaire et mettra en lumière l’utilité de recourir à certaines formes de justice consensuelle, telles la médiation et la conciliation judiciaire, pour résoudre les litiges de cette nature.In canadian business corporation law, the remedy in the case of unfairness, commonly referred to as the “oppression remedy”, provides fertile ground for the resolution of conficts between corporate directors, officers and shareholders. It is an approach that makes it possible to surmise the true ambit of corporate acts by taking into account not only explicitly recognized rights but also the straightforward interests of protected persons. Where judges may arrive at a conclusion of abuse or unfairness, they have a wide range of discretionary remedies to rule in the manner they deem appropriate based upon circumstances. Owing to the inherent flexibility in the concept of an equitable remedy, the task devolving to courts in such instances is a precarious one because it requires the counterbalancing of many variables to establish the mutual expectations of parties at the time of the company’s creation and throughout its active existence. Where this involves small corporations having only a limited number of shareholders, judicial authorities must weight the complex dynamics of business relations that are often intermixed with ties of family or friendship. Based upon an economic analysis of the law, our research seeks to propose a method of judicial reasoning applicable to remedies based upon equity, especially those that delve into disputes between shareholders in small corporations. Retrospectively, the proposed method may be used to evaluate past judicial rulings handed down in such circumstances, and prospectively, to enlighten courts called upon to act on future misgivings between parties. This evaluation will lead to a reassessment of the traditional forum for judicial decision-making and will shed new light on the utility of resorting to certain forms of consensual justice, such as mediation and judicial conciliation to resolve disputes of this nature

Partie III : les manifestations du particularisme juridique des rapports de confiance dans les services de conseils financiers et de gestion de portefeuille

Les services offerts par les conseillers financiers et par les gestionnaires de portefeuille se caractérisent par l’existence d’un lien de confiance accrue qui commande une reconnaissance juridique propre à cette réalité. Dans cet article qui constitue la troisième partie d’une trilogie d’articles publiés dans ce numéro de la Revue générale de droit, l’auteure entend montrer comment le droit positif prend en compte la spécificité des rapports de confiance entre les prestataires de services de placement et leurs clients. Plus spécifiquement, l’analyse fait ressortir que, dans ce secteur d’activités extrêmement réglementé, il se dégage un fil conducteur qui se manifeste par une intensification des obligations imposées aux intermédiaires de marché et par une diminution corrélative des obligations des consommateurs, de même que par l’imposition de sanctions particulières aux prestataires de services de placement.The services offered by financial advisors and portfolio managers are qualified by the existence of a heightened bond of trust that calls for judicial recognition specific to this reality. In this article that comprises the third part of a trilogy of articles published in this edition of Revue générale de droit, the author intends to show how positive law takes into account the specificity of the relationships of trust between investment service providers and their clients. More specifically, the analysis emphasizes that, in this highly regulated sector of activity, a unifying thread emerges that manifests itself by an intensification of the obligations imposed on financial intermediaries and by a corresponding decrease of consumer obligations as well as by the imposition of specific sanctions and penalties on investment service providers