Legal Information/ Legal Briefs
Legal Briefs
Until 2010, these legal briefs provide examples of judgments pertaining to everyday situations. Beginning in 2012, they deal with various topics of general interest, such as rental issues, family law, human rights, civil liability, insurance, dealings between spouses and social aid. They are intended to inform and to prevent undesirable situations.
Legal Briefs 2022
December
Elliot wants his red bicycle
Last week, Elliot's dad went to a big box store and bought the red bike his son had been dreaming about.
The bike was discounted to $100, instead of the regular price of $240. What a bargain!
However, the store could not deliver the bicycle right away, because it had not yet been assem
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November
Discharges: Who, What, Why... and why not?
Discharge—a sentence that is not a sentence. Indeed, the law provides that a person who receives a discharge is deemed never to have been convicted. But who can benefit from such a discharge?
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Octobre
The Hospital Won’t Let Me Go. What Are My Rights?
You’ve been brought to the hospital without your consent and your doctor refuses to let you leave. Or, perhaps you came to the hospital voluntarily, but now they won’t let you leave. You’ve probably been placed under preventive confinement.
Indeed, the law1 allows a physician, usually a psychiatrist, or a specialized nurse practitioner to keep a person in the hospital without their consent for up to 72 hours under the following conditions: if their mental state presents a grave and immediate danger to themselves or to others.
You may therefore have been placed under preventive confinement, without prior court authorization being required and even before a medical examination was performed. However, the physician or specialized nurse practitioner cannot keep you in the hospital for more than 72 hours without your consent or without prior court authorization.
Subsequently, you may be asked to undergo psychiatric assessments. If you refuse to undergo these assessments, the physician may file a court application for temporary confinement for purposes of a psychiatric assessment. At that time, the physician must prove that they have serious reasons to believe that your mental state presents a danger to yourself or to others. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE REPRESENTED BY A LAWYER AT THIS HEARING.
If the judge grants the hospital’s application, i.e., the judge orders the temporary confinement for purposes of a psychiatric assessment, you will undergo a first examination within 24 hours of the judgment. If the conclusion of this assessment is that confinement is necessary, you will undergo a second examination by a second psychiatrist within 48 hours of the order.
Lastly, even if both examinations conclude that confinement is necessary, the court can only authorize confinement in an institution if the court itself has serious reasons to believe that you present a danger and that confinement is necessary.
Here, too, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE REPRESENTED BY A LAWYER AT THIS HEARING.
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Don’t hesitate to have your eligibility for legal aid evaluated by making an appointment at a legal aid office near you. You can also check your eligibility online here.
To find the contact information for your legal aid office, please click on the following link www.csj.qc.ca.
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1 Act respecting the protection of persons whose mental state presents a danger to themselves or to others, CQLR, c. P-38.001, ss. 6 to 8.
Legal brief *
Octobre
2022
Number
8
Text prepared by Me Audrey Lajoie
* The information set out in this document is not a legal interpretation.
The masculine is used to designate persons solely in order to simplify the text.
August - September
Types of indemnities from the SAAQ
The public automobile insurance plan provides for compensation, under certain conditions, to people who have been involved in automobile accidents.
The following are some possible indemnities:
(1) Income replacement indemnity
This is an indemnity paid to any
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March
Breaking and entering
Remy and his friends decide to meet in an old dilapidated building to party. They climb the fence, rip off the plywood covering the door and party into the wee hours of the morning.
The next day, Remy and his friends are awakened by the police who had been alerted by the neighb
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February
Protection orders in civil matters
Since January 1, 2016, individuals whose life, health or safety is threatened have had access to a tool to protect them—a tool that is still not well known or understood: the protection order. This tool is even more relevant in the current context where there is a growing social awareness of the imp
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January
Abuse of Vulnerable Persons
With the aging of our population, the abuse of elderly and vulnerable individuals is undoubtedly an extremely important societal issue. It is essential that safety nets be put in place in order to prevent abuse and to be able to identify who the victims might be so as to intervene in order to protec
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