MR. GILPIN (for Sir EDWARD WATKIN)asked Mr. Attorney General. Whether Articles 70 to 74, inclusive, of the "Code Civile" of Lower Canada, respecting the registration—the register being in duplicate, and there being power to those so signing to demand certified extracts from the register—of persons making "profession by solemn and perpetual vows," now form part of the General Law of the Dominion of Canada; or, if not if they attach solely to the Catholic Province of Quebec?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALSir, the articles of the Civil Code of Lower Canada referred to in the Question of the hon. Member provide for the registration, with certain formalities, of the names, ages, and other particulars of all persons making profession, by solemn and perpetual vows, in religious communities in Lower Canada. That Code came into operation in 1866, and though it had the effect of law given to it by the Legislature of the then united Province, it affected Lower Canada alone. The Imperial Act constituting the Dominion of Canada was passed in 1867. Under that Act, the part of the then Province of Canada, which had formerly constituted the Province of Lower Canada, was again formed into a separate Province, under the name of the Province of Quebec. That Act provided a Legislature for the Dominion, and also separate Legislatures for the several constituent Provinces, and specified the matters which were to be the subjects of legislation by such respective Legislatures. The "articles of the Civil Code having relation to acts of religious profession do not now form part of the general law of the Dominion of Canada, but affect solely the Province of Quebec.