« Bricolage » as Critical Comparative Method: An Ode to Creativity

Law and Methods Seminar

Speaker: Marie-Claire Belleau, Full Professor of Law at Laval University.

Comparative law incentivize imagination to create new solutions to social problems intrinsically linked to different parts of the world. It consists in the analysis of multiple legal solutions revealed by research. Meanwhile, the understanding of the documentation put forward is influenced by the social, cultural, linguistic, political, and economic context where it evolved in the first place. Consequently, the interpretation of those elements leads to varying results. 

In response to this reality, I offer a modest comparative methodology rooted in creativity inspired by the concept of “bricolage” for the purpose of legislative innovations. In light of some descriptive examples pertaining to the imposition of mandatory mediation, I examine the gaps related to the use of comparative law while recognizing its fruitful potential.  

Marie-Claire Belleau is Full Professor of Law at Laval University.  She has an LLB from Laval. She was called to the Québec Bar in 1986. She received the Advocatus Emeritus distinction of the Barreau du Québec in 2010 and she was elected member of the Royal Society of Canada in 2015. She clerked for the Supreme Court of Canada. She pursued her graduate work at Harvard Law School, receiving both her LLM and SJD.  She also obtained a D.E.A. from Paris II. 

Since 2001, she practises mediation in the fields of family law, civil and commercial law, harassment, sports and Small Claims. She has been accredited by EquiJustice in restorative justice to intervene in cases of sexual abuse and crimes. The goal of her part-time interventions in ADR is to link theoretical ideas to practical insights to her teachings and research projects. She is also the strategic consultant on ADR to the deputy minister responsible for access to justice of the Québec government. 

Frequently invited to teach abroad (Spain, Belgium, France), she has wide ranging interests and expertise in legal theory, judicial decision-making process, history of legal thought, comparative law, feminist legal theory, identity theory and critical legal studies.