Catherine Valcke
Education
Overview
Catherine Valcke (LL.B. Civil Law, University of Sherbrooke; LL.B. Common Law, University of Toronto; LL.M. University of Chicago; S.J.D. Columbia) is Professor at University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where she served as Associate Dean from 1997 to 2000. Professor Valcke has lectured on contract law, the civil law of obligations, comparative law, and comparative legal theory in North America, Europe, and North Africa, and published in those fields nationally and internationally, in such journals as Nomos, the American Journal of Comparative Law, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Yale Journal of International Law, European Review of Private Law, and Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. An elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Professor Valcke as acted on several occasions as National Reporter for Canada to the Congress of the Academy. Her recent book Comparing Law: Comparative Law as Reconstruction of Collective Commitments (Cambridge University Press, 2018) draws on legal theory to develop an interpretive conception of, and analytic framework for, comparative legal studies. That analytic framework finds application in her current SSHRC-funded project -- French and English Private Law Paradigms -- which seeks to provide a deep comparative understanding of the French and English legal rules governing contract, tort, and property. A new author of the forthcoming 2021 edition of Pineau et al, Théorie des Obligations (Thémis, Montréal), a prominent treatise on the law of obligations of Quebec, Professor Valcke also is a co-editor of the forthcoming 2023 edition of the prestigious Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law.
Areas of Interest
- Comparative Law
- Contract Law
- Legal Theory
- Private Law
Teaching
Winter Session
books
Théorie des obligations (with J. Pineau, D. Burman & S. Gaudet), 5th edition (Thémis, Montreal), approx. 1006 pages. (forthcoming 2022)
Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law (co-editor with J. Smits, J. Husa & M. Narciso) (Elgar Publishing, London, UK, 3rd ed, 4 volumes—350 entries. (forthcoming 2023)
Articles and Book Chapters
Comparing Legal Styles in P. Cserne, ed., THE MANY FACES OF STYLE IN LAW AND LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP (2019) 15 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW IN CONTEXT pp. 274-96 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1744552319000284).
Legal Traditions or Legal Systems?, in H. Dedek and W. Twining, eds.,SUSTAINABLE DIVERSITY IN LAW. ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF H. PATRICK GLENN (forthcoming 2018).
Les différentes configurations de l’espace juridique contractuel en droit français et en droit anglais (2015) 7 Droit et philosophie--Annuaire de l’Institut Michel Villey, pp. 47-81.
United Rentals v. RAM Holdings as Transplant Failure: Strategic Ambiguity, Good Faith and the Forthright Negotiator Principle in US Contract Law (2015) XV Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, pp. 57-85.
Review Essay of J. Bomhoff, Balancing Constitutional Rights: The Origins and Meanings of Postwar Legal Discourse (CUP, 2013), (2014) 62 American Journal of Comparative Law, pp. 809-810.
Comparative Law and Legal Diversity—Theorising about the Edges of Law (2014) V Transnational Legal Theory, pp. 557-576 (with Matthew Grellette).
Three Perils of Legal Pluralism, in S.P. Donlan and L. Heckendorn Urscheler, eds., CONCEPTS OF LAW: COMPARATIVE, JURISPRUDENTIAL, AND SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVES (Ashgate: October 2014), pp. 123-135.
Three Functions of Function in Comparative Legal Studies, in M. Adams and D. Heirbaut, eds., The Method and Culture of Comparative Law—Essays in Honour of Mark Van Hoecke (Hart Publishing, 2014), pp. 99-111 (with Matthew Grellette).
English Consideration and French Causa: The Best of Faux Amis, in O. Kresin, ed., Comparativistica Yearbook 2012: Comparative Jurisprudence, Comparative State Studies, Comparative Political Studies (Moscow, Infra M, 2013), pp. 120-25.
Reflections on Comparative Law Methodology-Getting Inside Contract Law, in M. Adams and J. Bomhoff, eds., PRACTICE AND THEORY IN COMPARATIVE LAW (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 53-105.
La greffe juridique en droit comparé, TROISIÈME CONGRÈS DE L'AHJUCAF: INTERNATIONALISATION DU DROIT, INTERNATIONALISATION DE LA JUSTICE (2011) 86-95.
Partial reprint and favourable commentary in L'Express, Toronto, September 15, 2010.
"Theory, Explanation, and Comparison in Comparative Law—A Review Essay of Elements of Quebec Civil Law: A Comparison with the Common Law of Canada/Éléments de Common Law canadienne: comparaison avec le droit civil québécois edited by Aline Grenon and Louise Bélanger-Hardy", (2010) 58 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW, pp. 737-750.
"The French Response to the World Bank’s Doing Business Reports," in “Symposium in Honour of Michael Trebilcock,” (2010) 60 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LAW JOURNAL, pp. 197-217.
"Les deux couleurs de l’offre—l’appel d’offres en droit civil et en common law", in G. Miranda and B. Moore, eds., MÉLANGES EN L’HONNEUR DU PROFESSEUR ADRIAN POPOVICI (Thémis, 2010), pp. 339-356.
"On Comparing French and English Contract Law: Insights from Social Contract Theory", (2009) IV JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW, pp. 69-95.
Cited and described as an “illuminating article” by the House of Lords
in Chartbrook Ltd. v. Persimmon Homes Ltd. et al., [2009] UKHL 38, at
para. 39.
"Introduction" to "Focus: Economics and Comparative Law" 59 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LAW JOURNAL (2009), pp. 179-183.
Le système de droit en droit comparé—Réflexions sur l'épistémologie d'une définition, in P. Legrand, ed., COMPARER LES DROITS, RÉSOLUMENT (Presses Universitaires de France, 2009), pp. 99-121.
"The Different Rhetorics of the French and English Law of Contractual Interpretation", in J. Neyers, ed., EXPLORING CONTRACT LAW (Hart Publisher, 2008), pp. 77-114.
"Divergence and Convergence among English, French, and German Conceptions of Contract", 16 EUROPEAN REVIEW OF PRIVATE LAW (2008), pp. 29-62.
"'Precedent' and 'Legal System' in Comparative Law—A Canadian Perspective", in E. Hondius, ed. PRECEDENT IN COMPARATIVE LAW (Amsterdam: Bruylant, 2007), pp.85-110.
"Some Thoughts on the Comparative Jurisprudence of Mistakes in Assumption", in M. Bryan and A. Robertson, eds., PRIVATE LAW IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (London: Cavendish, 2006), pp. 165-175.
"Comparative History and the Internal View of French, German, and English Private Law", XIX CANADIAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE (2006), pp. 133-160.
"Consensualisme et objectivisme dans le droit français de l'erreur dans les conventions", 2 REVUE DE LA RECHERCHE JURIDIQUE (2005), pp. 661-684.
"Comparative Legal Education in Canada", 39 THÉMIS (2005), pp. 483-505.
"Comparative Law as Comparative Jurisprudence-The Comparability of Legal Systems," 52 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW (2004), pp. 713-740.
"Global Law Teaching", 54 JOURNAL OF LEGAL EDUCATION(2004), pp. 160-182.
"L'enseignement du droit comparé à l'ère de la mondialisation--les yeux plus grands que la panse?" in Y. Gendreau, ed., DROIT ET SOCIÉTÉ (Thémis, 2004), pp. 169-190.
"Le contrat en tant qu'instrument de justice privée: possibilités et limites" in N. Kasirer and P. Noreau, eds., SOURCES ET INSTRUMENTS DE JUSTICE EN DROIT PRIVÉ (Thémis, 2002), pp. 39-69.
"The Unhappy Marriage of Corrective and Distributive Justice in the New Civil Code of Quebec" 46 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LAW JOURNAL (1996), pp. 539-648.
"Quebec Civil Law and Canadian Federalism", 21 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW(1996), pp. 67-121.
"Legal Education in a 'Mixed Jurisdiction': The Quebec Experience" 10 TULANE EUROPEAN AND CIVIL LAW FORUM (1996), pp. 61-140.
"Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law - A Lockean Insight" in I. Shapiro, ed., THE RULE OF LAW, NOMOS XXXVI (New York University Press, 1994), pp. 45-62.
"Locke on Private Property: A Deontological Interpretation", 12 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY (1989), pp. 941-1008.
"Hercules Revisited: An Evolutionary Model of Judicial Reasoning", 59 MISSISSIPPI LAW JOURNAL (1987), pp. 1-69.
Selected Publications
Comparing Law: Comparative Law as Reconstruction of Collective Commitments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) 232 pp., reviewed: S. Seppänen, 14 Asian J. Comp. Law 382-84 (2019); E. Robson Taylor & P. Taylor, “The Barrister”, Spring 2019;
Comparing Legal Styles in P. Cserne, ed., The Many Faces of Style in Law and Legal Scholarship (2019) 15 International Journal of Law in Context pp. 274-96 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1744552319000284).
Les différentes configurations de l’espace juridique contractuel en droit français et en droit anglais (2015) 7 Droit et philosophie--Annuaire de l’Institut Michel Villey, pp. 47-81.
“Reflections on Comparative Law Methodology—Getting Inside Contract Law” in Maurice Adams & Jacco Bomhoff, eds, Practice and Theory in Comparative Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) 53-105.
“On Comparing French and English Contract Law: Insights from Social Contract Theory” (2009) 4 Journal of Comparative Law 69-95 (cited and described as “illuminating article” by the English House of Lords (Lord Hoffmann) in Chartbrook Ltd. v. Persimmon Homes Ltd. et al., [2009] UKHL 38, [39]; also cited by the Scottish Law Commission (Review of Contract Law, Discussion Paper 147, [4.13]).
“Le système de droit en droit comparé—Réflexions sur l’épistémologie d’une définition” in Pierre Legrand, ed, Comparer les droits, résolument (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2009) 99-121.
“Convergence and Divergence among English, French, and German Conceptions of Contract” (2008) 16 European Review of Private Law 29-62.
“Comparative Law as Comparative Jurisprudence—The Comparability of Legal Systems” (2004) 52 American Journal of Comparative Law 713-740 (reprinted in Maksymilian Del Mar, William Twining & Michael Giudice, eds, The Library of Essays in Contemporary Legal Theory—Legal Theory and the Legal Academy (Ashgate Publishing, 2010).
See also Professor Valcke's SSRN page.