Guibord case

Guibord Case
Court	Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Full case name	Brown v. Les Curé et Marguilliers de l'oeuvre et de la Fabrique de la Paroisse de Montréal
Date decided	21 November 1874
Citation(s)	(1874), L.R. 6 P.C., [1874] UKPC 70 (P.C.)
Judges sitting	Lord Selborne Sir James W. Colvile Sir Robert J. Phillimore Sir Barnes Peacock Sir Montague E. Smith Sir Robert P. Collier
Decision by	Sir Robert J. Phillimore
Appealed from	Quebec Court of Queen's Bench (Appeal Side)
Keywords
Church and State

Brown v. Les Curé et Marguilliers de l'oeuvre et de la Fabrique de la Paroisse de Montréal, better known as the Guibord case, was a famous decision in 1874 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in an early Canadian legal dispute over the relationship between church and state. At that time the Judicial Committee was the court of last resort for Canada within the British Empire, the Supreme Court of Canada not yet having been created. The controversial decision by the British law lords led to Quebec finally accepting the creation of a Canadian appeal court, the Supreme Court of Canada as the case demonstrated to them that the Judicial Committee would not always be sensitive to Quebec's religious culture.^{[citation needed]}

Background

The case centred on a man named Joseph Guibord, a member of the Institut Canadien. The Institut was a liberal association with a public library and debating room for the literary and scientific society. The views of its members, who tended to support the Rouges in Quebec politics, eventually brought them into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, which at that time had significant influence in Quebec society and with the Quebec government. Eventually, the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget, issued a pastoral letter forbidding membership in the Institut, "même à l'article de la mort."

Entrance to Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery

Hence, when Guibord died in 1869, the Church opted not to give him a religious burial. The Church’s decision allegedly contradicted its role under the civil law to give burial, but the Church argued it would carry out the burial anyway and that Guibord not being buried in holy ground was a question of religious freedom.

Decisions of the Quebec Courts

Guibord's widow, Henrietta Brown, applied to the Superior Court of Quebec for an order compelling the church officials to provide a religious burial for her husband in the Côte des Neiges Cemetery in Montréal. On 2 May 1870, Mr Justice Mondelet granted her petition and ordered the burial of the deceased by the church officials, according to customs and law in the same way as any other parishioner who dies with the status of Roman Catholic.

The church officials then appealed to the Court of Review. On 10 September 1870, that Court allowed the appeal and dismissed the widow's petition.

Brown then appealed to the Quebec Court of Queen's Bench (Appeal Side). On 7 September 1871, the Queen's Bench upheld the decision of the Court of Review, but on divided grounds. The Court ordered Brown to pay the church's court costs.

Brown then applied successfully for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, at that time the court of last resort within the British Empire. However, before her appeal could be heard, Madame Brown died. In her will, she left all that she had to the Institut Canadien. The Institut then applied to be allowed to prosecute the appeal.

Decision of the Judicial Committee

The Judicial Committee heard the appeal in the early summer of 1874, devoting seven sitting days to the hearing. On 21 November 1874, the Judicial Committee gave its decision, allowing the appeal and ordering the church officials to provide a burial for the deceased.

Analysis

Professor Rainer Knopff argues the Judicial Committee compromised between two decisions of the lower courts: that the religious freedom argument was frivolous on one hand; or that the courts, not being a Catholic leadership, could not rule on whether a burial should be carried out in accordance with religious procedure on the other. The Judicial Committee, conversely, concluded that while the courts were not Catholic leaders, they could uphold the people's rights and Guibord was entitled to a burial in holy ground. However, the Court did not compel other religious ceremonies to be performed because it was not a Catholic institution. Although burial anywhere could theoretically be justified under the law, the Judicial Committee ruled burial in holy ground was appropriate in this case and advised the other ceremonies to be performed. The reasoning was that if Guibord was not buried in holy ground, his reputation would be damaged. As Guibord was a good person, he should not be defamed while a terrible person, on the other hand, probably could be denied religious burial.

Following the court ruling, Ignace Bourget, the Bishop of Montreal, went to Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery and deconsecrated the burial plot where Joseph Guibord was to be buried. Twelve hundred soldiers were needed to escort Guibord's body into the cemetery because of the angry mob gathered to oppose the burial.

His coffin was encased in a mixture of cement and metal scraps to prevent disinterment by irate Catholics.