Sylvio Normand

Sylvio Normand is truly a giant in fields of civil law and legal history and done much to raise the standing of the Faculty of Law and the University. His vast expertise is recognized well beyond the borders of Québec and Canada and has had a considerable impact on generations of legal practitioners.

An important researcher

Professor Normand has spent his career exploring, in a notably original way, three distinct research fields: Québec legal history, particularly as it relates to the history of thought and culture; civil law, especially property law and the process for codifying laws; and the legal literature, with an interest in its production and the literary genres specific to law.

He has put his name on more than 50 chapters in multiauthor books and at least 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He’s also the author of three monographs, including the introduction to property law used for teaching by all law faculties in Québec, and Law as a University Discipline: A History of the Université Laval Faculty of Law. His work has been cited numerous times by law and history researchers as well as by the Québec courts and the Supreme Court of Canada.

He has been invited for his expertise by French and Canadian universities as a visiting professor and by the University of Ottawa and Université de Sherbrooke faculties of law as an external evaluator of undergraduate programs. He has been selected to serve on the editorial boards of scholarly journals including Revue électronique d’histoire du droit and Cahiers aixois d’histoire des droits de l’outre-mer français.

He has been invited to give dozens of lectures in Québec, the rest of Canada, and Europe and has received grants from such organizations as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the FRQSC (Québec’s society and culture research fund), Chambre des notaires du Québec, Barreau du Québec, and the Canadian Foundation for Legal Research.

He is currently working on a project entitled La loi, reflet de la société québécoise (The Law: A Reflection of Québec Society), funded by the National Assembly of Québec, Chambre des notaires du Québec, and Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes. The project looks at pieces of Québec legislation that have a played foundational role in the legal system and involves contributions from numerous academics, specialists, and students.

A passionate teacher

As well as research, Sylvio Normand is strongly committed to educating the next generation. His work as a teacher and contributions as director of graduate programs attest to it. He has also supervised and refereed the work of graduate students, thus contributing to the training of future civil law professors.

Professor Normand has been heavily involved in the Faculty of Law, taking on a number of administrative positions. He was dean of the Faculty from 2008 to 2012 and acting dean in 2017, leading a major program review and presiding over the foundation of new research bodies and the development of philanthropic outreach. He was also associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies and director of the journal Les Cahiers de droit.

For years he was a member of Université Laval’s University Council and library advisory committee. All of which barely scratches the surface. He remains an associate professor and co-holder of the Louis-Philippe-Pigeon Chair in Legal Writing.

As a tribute for his outstanding contributions, a multiauthor volume entitled La culture juridique québécoise: mélanges offerts à Sylvio Normand (Québec Legal Culture: Festshrift in Honour of Sylvio Normand) is being published by Presses de l’Université Laval. It comprises 32 texts from 41 contributors, including 14 colleagues from Université Laval, 12 colleagues from elsewhere in Québec and 5 from abroad. Truly a demonstration of the esteem in which he is held by his peers.