114-594: The Competition Act ( French : Loi sur la concurrence ) is a Canadian federal law governing competition in Canada. The Act contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace . Along with the Competition Tribunal Act , the Competition Act forms the statutory basis of current federal competition policy in Canada. The Act
228-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
342-498: A broader sense. In some cases, these "defences" are really just an assertion that the Crown has not proven one of the elements of the offence. For example, the mistake of fact defence involves an assertion that the accused misunderstood some material factual matter that prevented him from forming the requisite mens rea for the offence. In the context of sexual assault, for example, a mistake of fact defence usually involves an assertion that
456-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
570-564: A conviction. Otherwise either party may appeal a verdict or sentence with leave of the Supreme Court of Canada. Mental health issues with a defendant in criminal proceedings are formally dealt with in two ways: whether the defendant is "fit to stand for trial", and the verdict of "not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder". Informally, mental health can also be dealt with by alternative measures, through "mental health diversion". Mental health diversion will usually require
684-443: A criminal state of mind (known as the mens rea or "guilty mind") on a standard of " beyond a reasonable doubt ". Exceptions to the mens rea requirement exist for strict and absolute liability offences. The specific elements of each offence can be found in the wording of the offence as well as the case law interpreting it. The external elements typically require there to be an "act", within some "circumstances", and sometimes
798-462: A defence if knowledge of that law is a relevant circumstance required to be proved as part of the actus reus and/or mens rea. A person who alleges an offence, generally a police officer, prepares an Information , swearing under oath the facts supporting the charge. The officer then lays the information before a Justice of the Peace, who then decides whether to issue process to summon the person named in
912-469: A defence. Another example of this more general kind of defence is the "i.d. defence", which is really just an assertion by the accused that the Crown has failed to prove the identity of the perpetrator of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. There are many other examples of this kind of defence. In reality they are just clusters of specific shortcomings that arise frequently in the prosecution of certain kinds of offences. All defences – whether one
1026-624: A few criminal offences, new civil provisions for misleading advertising , improvements to the merger prenotification process, and clarification of the provisions for regular price claims. In 2002, several changes were made to the Competition Act and the Competition Tribunal Act . For instance, private parties were given the right to initiate proceedings before the Competition Tribunal in certain cases. The Tribunal could also hear references filed pursuant to section 124.2 of
1140-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1254-465: A judge alone in the province's provincial court. All non-summary offences are indictable : the available penalties are greater for indictable offences than for summary offences. These in turn may be divided into three categories: 1. Very serious indictable-only offences including treason and murder (section 235) that are listed in section 469 of the Criminal Code . These can only be tried by
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#17327730729811368-452: A judge of the provincial court without a jury. 3. For all other indictable offences, the accused person can elect whether to be tried by: However, if the accused elects trial by a provincial court judge, that judge can decline jurisdiction and refer the case to the superior trial court (section 554). The Attorney General can also require a case to be tried by the superior trial court with a jury (section 568). For most offences defined by
1482-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1596-436: A question of law alone. The accused may appeal on a question of law, fact or mixed law and fact. Either party may appeal a sentence unless the sentence is one fixed by law. Either party is entitled to a further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada against a conviction or acquittal if a judge of the court of appeal dissented on a question of law or if the court of appeal allowed a Crown appeal against an acquittal and substituted
1710-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1824-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1938-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
2052-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
2166-545: A significant interest in all or part of a business. Since 2010, only two criminal-offence provisions exist in the Competition Act : conspiracy and bid-rigging, which are illegal per se (i.e., the effect that such conduct has on competition is irrelevant). The administration and enforcement of the Competition Act is done by the Competition Bureau , headed by the Commissioner of Competition. The Bureau
2280-410: A specific "consequence" that is caused by the action. For the Crown to prove the accused is guilty the actus reus and mens rea must be proven. Actus Reus + Mens Rea = Crime/ Guilty The mental or fault elements of an offence are typically determined by the use of words within the text of the offence or else by case law. Mens Rea in Canada typically focuses on the actual or 'subjective' state of mind of
2394-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
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#17327730729812508-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2622-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2736-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2850-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
2964-662: Is also responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (for non-food products), the Textile Labelling Act , and the Precious Metals Marking Act . The Competition Tribunal is a specialized administrative body that has exclusive jurisdiction to hear certain competition matters. During the 1980 and 1990s, fines in conspiracy cases (sections 45–47) increased greatly. A record fine
3078-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
3192-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
3306-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3420-704: Is enforced and administered by the Competition Bureau , and cases are adjudicated by the Competition Tribunal . The first legislation in Canada dealing with competition was the Anti-Combines Act , introduced in May 1889 as the first antitrust statute in the industrial world , preceding the American Sherman Antitrust Act . The legislation prohibited conspiracies and agreements by businesses in restraint of trade. Two years later, anti-combines provisions were mostly incorporated into
3534-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
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3648-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3762-499: Is not brought to trial within a reasonable time, the proceedings must be stayed for delay by virtue of ss. 11(b) and 24(1) of the Charter . Stays of proceedings can also take place in the absence of a Charter violation. For example, the familiar "defence" of entrapment is neither a true defence nor necessarily a Charter breach. When entrapment is successfully established, the proceedings are deemed to be an "abuse of process" for which
3876-406: Is not necessary for an accused to testify or call other evidence to raise a defence. If the evidence called by the Crown is sufficient to raise an air of reality to a defence, the jury must consider whether the defence applies, most on the standard of whether it raises a reasonable doubt. For example, in an assault case it may be that one of the Crown's eyewitnesses testifies that it looked to him like
3990-405: Is not really a defence at all, since the accused must establish it in a separate pre-trial application. Nevertheless, lawyers often refer to such applications as a " Charter defence" in reference to the Charter of Rights . Other forms of Charter defence can lead not to the exclusion of evidence but to the termination of the proceedings, known as a stay of proceedings. For example, if the accused
4104-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
4218-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
4332-410: Is speaking of true defences or defences in the broader sense – can arise from the evidence called by the Crown or the accused. A defence can only be left with the jury (or considered by a judge trying the case without a jury) where there is an "air of reality" to the defence on the evidence. That air of reality can arise from the Crown's case and/or from the defence case if one is called. It
4446-403: Is sufficient evidence for a jury, acting reasonably and judicially, to convict the accused. The judge may neither weigh the evidence nor determine whether the evidence is admissible. If the judge determines there is sufficient evidence for a jury acting reasonably and judicially to convict the accused, the judge must commit the accused to stand trial. If not, the judge must discharge the accused and
4560-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4674-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
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4788-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4902-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
5016-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
5130-433: Is tried at this stage. Where the accused is charged with an offence and has elected to be tried in provincial court, the judge may decide that the matter ought to be dealt with in the superior court and treat the trial as a preliminary inquiry and demand the accused to stand trial in the superior court. At this stage the trial court has all the authority to determine matters such as bail, preliminary motions, trial matters and
5244-713: The Combines Investigation Act, 1923 and 1937 . The anti-trust provisions incorporated into the Criminal Code in 1891 would remain until 1960 with an amendment to the Combines Investigation Act . In 1985, the conservative government of Brian Mulroney replaced the Combines Investigation Act, 1923 , with the Competition Act , which came into effect on June 19, 1986. The provisions in this Act regarding civil mergers, which deal with both horizontal and vertical mergers, replaced
5358-737: The Criminal Code , as well as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act , Youth Criminal Justice Act and several other peripheral statutes. A person may be prosecuted criminally for any offences found in the Criminal Code or any other federal statute containing criminal offences. In all Canadian provinces and territories , criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the " King in Right of Canada ". There are two basic types of offences. The most minor offences are summary conviction offences . They are defined as "summary" within
5472-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5586-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
5700-636: The Canadian Criminal Code . In 1912, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Weidman v Shragge that the purpose of the anti-combines provisions in the Criminal Code was to protect public interest in free competition . Canadian competition and anti-combines laws since 1889 would go through several different iterations, starting with the Combines Investigation Act, 1910 , which replaced the 1889 Anti-Combines Act , eventually leading to
5814-666: The Competition Act and award costs of proceedings before it. Significant amendments to the Act in March 2009 and March 2010 led to several criminal offences being repealed and/or converted into reviewable practices. As a result, only two criminal-offence provisions exist in the Competition Act: conspiracy and bid-rigging , which are illegal per se . The Act was again amended on June 23, 2022, as part of Canada's Budget Implementation Act, 2022 (Bill C-19). On November 17, 2022, with
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#17327730729815928-445: The Criminal Code the Crown has the option to elect to proceed by summary conviction or by indictment and are sometimes known as hybrid offences . In these offences, the level of court and whether the accused has an option over their mode of trial will be determined by how the Crown elects to proceed. Criminal offences require the Crown to prove that there was criminal conduct (known as the actus reus or "guilty act") accompanied by
6042-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
6156-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
6270-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
6384-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
6498-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6612-1012: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6726-543: The marketplace . The Act applies to all economic activities (both goods and services ) except those specifically exempted—e.g., collective bargaining , amateur sports , securities underwriting , or activities subject to other legislation (such as industries where price or output, or both, are regulated by federal or provincial governments). The Competition Act defines a " merger " as the acquisition or establishment—whether by purchase or lease of shares or assets, or by amalgamation, combination or otherwise—of control over or
6840-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
6954-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
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#17327730729817068-400: The Act and, unless otherwise stated, are punishable by a fine of no more than $ 5,000 and/or six months in jail. Examples of offences which are always summary offences include trespassing at night (section 177), causing a disturbance (section 175) and taking a motor vehicle without the owner's consent (section 335) (an equivalent to the British TWOC ). Summary conviction offences are tried by
7182-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
7296-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
7410-425: The Crown elects to proceed by summary conviction if the accused is charged with a hybrid offence, the accused is not entitled to a preliminary inquiry and is immediately committed to trial. Section 536(4) of the Criminal Code , proclaimed in force in 2004, indicates a preliminary inquiry is no longer automatic after an accused elects to be tried in a superior court. The Attorney General may also, in rare cases, bypass
7524-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
7638-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
7752-560: The United States. The true defences include duress , automatism , intoxication , or necessity . There is also a partial defence of provocation, which has the effect of reducing what would otherwise be murder to manslaughter. This partial defence is provided by s. 232 of the Criminal Code . Some defences are provided for by statute and some defences are provided for solely by the common law. In some cases common law defences are superseded by statutory enactment, for example duress, self-defence and as mentioned above, extreme intoxication. In
7866-400: The accused did not realize the complainant was not consenting. Since the mens rea for sexual assault includes a subjective appreciation of the fact that the complainant is not consenting, the "defence" of mistake of fact in this context is thus properly understood as a failure on the part of the Crown to prove its case. In practical terms and common parlance, however, it is still considered to be
7980-406: The accused. Where no standard is explicitly stated conduct must typically be proven to have been done with a general intent (i.e. intent to act in a certain way irrespective of the action's outcome). Where certain circumstances are part of the offence, the accused must have had knowledge of them, which can be imputed based on conduct and other evidence. When the Crown is able to prove the elements of
8094-411: The case of duress the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the statutory provision as violative of s. 7 of the Charter , leaving the broader common law defence instead. Statutory encroachments on the scope of common law defences can violate s. 7 of the Charter if they unacceptably reduce the fault requirement of offences. In addition to the true defences as mentioned above, there are other "defences" in
8208-604: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Criminal law of Canada The criminal law of Canada is under the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada . The power to enact criminal law is derived from section 91(27) of the Constitution Act, 1867 . Most criminal laws have been codified in
8322-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
8436-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
8550-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
8664-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
8778-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
8892-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
9006-644: The ineffectual Criminal Code provisions under which only a handful of cases were brought between 1910 and 1976. In April 1996, a set of amendments to the Competition Act was introduced into Parliament, but died on the Order Paper . The bill was changed and reintroduced as Bill C-20 on 20 November 1997, and after being amended, received third reading in the House of Commons on 23 September 1998. The proposed amendments dealt with deceptive telemarketing , judicially-authorized interception of private communications for
9120-469: The information, by a summons or an arrest warrant. Private individuals can also prepare an information, but private prosecutions are rare. The Attorney General of the province in which the proceedings are taking place may intervene and take over the case, or issue a stay of proceedings. Private prosecutions in Canada are usually restricted to regulatory offences such as practicing law without a licence and cruelty to animals. Most accused persons are released at
9234-479: The intention to modernize the Act, François-Philippe Champagne , Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry , commenced a review of the Competition Act . The Affordable Housing and Groceries Act (Bill C-56), tabled on 21 September 2023, proposes three Competition Act changes including removal of the "efficiencies defence" in merger cases. The Competition Act contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in
9348-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
9462-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
9576-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
9690-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
9804-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
9918-412: The offence beyond a reasonable doubt, the defence may still avoid conviction by raising a positive defence. A true defence arises when some circumstances afford the accused a partial or complete justification or excuse for committing the criminal act. In Canada, the defences are generally similar to standard and popularly understood defences of other common law jurisdictions such as the U.K., Australia and
10032-652: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
10146-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
10260-414: The parties to adduce additional evidence concerning disputed facts which may form the basis for finding aggravating or mitigating circumstance ( i.e. , the extent of injuries sustained by a victim). The Crown must prove an aggravating fact beyond a reasonable doubt while the accused bears a burden on a balance of probabilities to prove a mitigating fact. The Crown may appeal against a verdict of acquittal on
10374-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
10488-622: The preliminary inquiry and issue a direct indictment. This may occur even where the accused has requested a preliminary inquiry, or even when the accused has been discharged by a preliminary inquiry. As of June 21, 2019, the coming into force of the Liberal government's Bill C-75 restricts the availability of the preliminary inquiry to offences punishable by 14 years imprisonment or more. Previously, anyone punishable by an indictable offence punishable by five or more years imprisonment would have been able to elect to have such an inquiry. The accused
10602-410: The proceedings end. However, if at a later date the Crown tenders further evidence, the Crown may recommence the proceedings. A discharge at a preliminary inquiry does not constitute double jeopardy. There is no appeal from an order of a judge. However, either party may seek leave to review the order in the superior court. If the accused is charged with an offence punishable by summary conviction or if
10716-409: The remedy is a stay of proceedings. Cases of abuse of process arise in certain other circumstances, and they can also can involve Charter breaches, and there is significant overlap. Finally, ignorance of the law is not a defence. Section 19 of the Criminal Code specifically prohibits this defence. However, in rare cases, ignorance of a law other than the one under which the accused is charged can be
10830-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
10944-489: The superior trial court of the province with a jury unless both the accused person and the Attorney General consent to trial by a superior trial court judge alone (section 473). 2. Offences of absolute jurisdiction include theft and fraud up to the value of $ 5,000 and certain nuisance offences. These are listed in section 553 of the Criminal Code . The accused person does not have an election and must be tried by
11058-448: The termination of the proceedings or the exclusion of evidence. For example, in a drug case the accused might argue that the search warrant by which the police entered his house and seized the drugs was defective and that his constitutional rights were therefore violated. If he is successful in establishing such a violation, the evidence can be excluded, and usually the Crown cannot otherwise prove its case. When this sort of thing happens, it
11172-453: The time of arrest on a promise to appear. Where the police decide to hold the accused, the police must produce the accused before a Justice of the Peace within 24 hours. At that point a bail hearing will be held. An accused person generally does not bear the onus justifying release, subject to a few exceptions, such as if the accused is charged with murder, trafficking in narcotics, terrorism offences. An accused may be released or detained pending
11286-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
11400-406: The trial and, if found guilty, the passing of sentence. An order made by a Justice may be appealed to a superior court by either the Crown or the accused. Where the accused is charged with an indictable offence, the Crown must prove a prima facie case before a judge of a provincial court. This process must be requested by the defence or the Crown. The presiding judge must determine whether there
11514-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
11628-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
11742-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
11856-407: The verdict. If the trial is by judge and jury, the jury has the ultimate authority to render a verdict but the trial judge has the authority over bail, pretrial motions and jury instructions. If the accused is found guilty the trial judge must determine a fit sentence. See Criminal sentencing in Canada . Where the trial is by judge alone, the judge will determine all facts which were proven and allow
11970-407: The victim punched the accused first and that the accused was defending himself. In such a case, even if all the other eyewitnesses saw the accused punch first, the jury must consider whether on all of the evidence it has a reasonable doubt that the accused acted in self-defence. There is an even broader sense of the word "defence". Sometimes the defence will raise an issue capable of leading either to
12084-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
12198-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
12312-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
12426-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
12540-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
12654-652: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
12768-445: Was obtained on 27 May 1998 when US-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) pleaded guilty and paid $ 14 million in fines for a conspiracy involving lysine and $ 2 million for one involving citric acid . The fines amounted to 29.2% and 11.8% respectively of ADM's sales in Canada during the conspiracy. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
12882-594: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
12996-570: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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