Pierre Issalys

Pierre Issalys is a legal scholar recognized for his expertise in several branches of public law and a highly respected author in the field of administrative law. He has also made major contributions as both a teacher and researcher to the development and knowledge of legislative technique, social law, and legal history.

A distinctive presence in the Faculty of Law

A versatile educator in the vast field of public law, Pierre Issalys has played an active role in the ongoing development of academic training objectives and methods for legal professionals. He has always been attentive to the human aspect of the educational relationships and the importance of exemplary teaching practices, carefully arranging lessons and updating them using the latest research. As an educator deeply interested in transmitting Québec's legal culture, he has always taught with an eye to the perspectives provided by history and political philosophy, but also contemporary debates. Having earned the trust of his peers, he was appointed to chair the university's sexual harassment inquiry committee, and has represented the Faculty of Law several times on the Research Board and the Academic Board. Professor Issalys has enriched Faculty life with his calm, reasoned judgement, humanist vision of the law, and ability to see the broader picture. He has contributed to the excellence and dynamism of UL's graduate programs in law, fostered cooperation with a Brazilian law school, and helped establish several research chairs, including the Louis-Philippe-Pigeon Chair in Legal Writing. Indeed, his interest in legal language and writing led the Faculty to begin offering a course in legislative drafting several decades ago. This undergraduate course helped the Faculty set itself apart. This interest has not waned: Professor Issalys, still an active researcher, is currently working with a team of colleagues on the issue of readability with respect to laws and contracts. 

An authoritative voice beyond the university

Continuing a tradition of excellence in public law established by other Université Laval professors emeriti (Patrice Garant, Henri Brun, Ivan Bernier, and the late Jacques L'Heureux and Denis Lemieux), Pierre Issalys has made valuable contributions to Québec legal scholarship through his publications. Since 1997, his analyses in L'action gouvernementale: précis de droit des institutions administratives, co-written with Professor Denis Lemieux and published in its fourth edition in 2020, have been repeatedly cited at every level of judicial and administrative jurisdiction in Québec, including the Supreme Court of Canada. This work, like others by Professor Issalys, testifies to his belief that our administrative law, as a vehicle and system of state power acting in the public interest, is both the product and manifestation of a particular legal and political culture. The link between law and society also appears in other aspects of Professor Issalys's career: his participation in the task force on transformational processes in law (known in French by the abbreviation GEPTUD) in the 1990s, his role as a citizen in pushing for the 2003 Act to combat poverty and social exclusion, and his original contribution to teaching and research in social law. The studies commissioned from him by a number of government departments and agencies bear witness to the interest in his publications. The scope and significance of his contributions to legal scholarship and Faculty life are ample justification for Pierre Issalys's appointment as professor emeritus.