The ''Act to Protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda'' (french: Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande communiste), commonly known as the "Padlock Law" or "Padlock Act" (french: La loi du cadenas), was a law in the province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

that allowed the Attorney General of Quebec to close off access to property suspected of being used to propagate or disseminate

communist propaganda Communist propaganda is the artistic and social promotion of the ideology of communism, communist worldview, communist society, and interests of the communist movement. While it tends to carry a negative connotation in the Western world, the t ...

. The law was introduced by the Union Nationale government of

Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A conservative, nationalist, anti-Communist, anti-unionist and fervent Catholic, he and hi ...

and made it illegal to "use houseor allow any person to make use of it to propagate

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...

by any means whatsoever". This included printing, publishing or distributing of "any newspaper, periodical, pamphlet, circular, document or writing, propagating Communism or Bolshevism". Violations of the Act subjected such property to closure by the Attorney General, including the locking of access doors with padlocks, against any use whatsoever for a period of up to one year and any person found guilty of involvement in prohibited media activities could be incarcerated for three to thirteen months. News

The law was extremely vague; it did not define Communism or Bolshevism in any concrete way. It denied both the

presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must presen ...

and freedom of speech to individuals. There were also concerns that the law would be used in order to arrest individual activists from international

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s. Two union leaders were nearly arrested in that period. Reports that it was used against the Jehovah's Witnesses are incorrect: the authorities typically used municipal by-laws, such as the one featured in '' Saumur v City of Quebec''. The federal government under

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

could have used its power of disallowance to nullify the Padlock Law, as it had done to overturn equally controversial laws that had been passed by

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

's Social Credit government around the same time. However, King chose not to intervene in Quebec. The Supreme Court of Canada's 1957 decision in '' Switzman v Elbling'' struck down the law as ''

ultra vires ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act which requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed ...

'' of the provincial government because it was an attempt by the province to enact a statute respecting criminal law, which is the exclusive domain of the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

under the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

. In their concurrence, justices

Ivan Rand Ivan Cleveland Rand (April 27, 1884 – January 2, 1969) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, academic, and justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He has been described as 'probably the greatest judge in Canada's history'. Early life and ca ...

, Roy Kellock and

Douglas Abbott Douglas Charles Abbott, (May 29, 1899 – March 15, 1987) was a Canadian Member of Parliament, federal Cabinet Minister, and justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Abbott's appointment directly from the Cabinet of Canada as Finance Minister to ...

also argued the law was ''ultra vires'' because it contravened an

implied bill of rights The Implied Bill of Rights () is a judicial theory in Canadian jurisprudence that recognizes that certain basic principles are underlying the Constitution of Canada. The concept of an implied bill of rights develops out of Canadian federalism. ...

that underlies the Canadian constitution, but this view was not shared by the rest of the majority.{{cite book , last1=MacLennan , first1=Christopher , title=Toward the Charter: Canadians and the demand for a national bill of rights, 1929-1960 , date=2003 , publisher=McGill–Queen's University Press , location=Montreal & Kingston , isbn=077352536X , pages=109–125 , chapter=The decade of human rights and the bill of rights movement

References

External links

Documents on the Padlock Law from Marianopolis College
1937 in Canadian law 1937 in Quebec Anti-communism in Canada Censorship in Canada History of human rights in Canada History of mass media in Canada Media legislation Political history of Quebec Political repression in Canada Quebec provincial legislation Real property law Repealed Canadian legislation