Follow
Université de Moncton Faculty of Law (French: Université de Moncton École de droit) is one of only two law schools in the world offering a common law legal education taught entirely in French, the other being the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law.
History
The Faculty was established in 1978 in order to respond to the needs of francophone communities in New Brunswick, and more broadly those outside Quebec. New Brunswick has a significant francophone minority (approximately 35% of the province speaks French as a first language), and it is the only constitutionally bilingual province in Canada, thus the province faced a unique need that was recognised by the creation of the school. Moreover, as Quebec follows the civil law tradition, francophones in common law jurisdictions were recognised as needing a legal education in order to defend their rights and to practice law in other parts of Canada.
The Honourable Michel Bastarache, former Puisne Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada, served as one of the first deans of the faculty.