Discussing the Values: Retrieving Use Value of Property in Housing Contexts

The purpose of this article is to show that glimpses of the use value of property exist in the civil law of property alongside exchange value and that use value would benefit from being rehabilitated for some essential property such as housing. While the notion of value in the Civil Code of Québec is generally analyzed as constituting a monolith built around exchange value, it is important to rediscover use value in the Civil Code of Québec – and beyond in civil law – in order to take into account all aspects of value. Recognizing the use value of property opens the door to functional ownership as a vehicle for personal and social development, associated with a valorization through use that some new models – and recent public interventions – in housing are imbued with. After having considered the notion of value contemporary Property Law (I), we will examine the place of use value in property law, more specifically in the context of housing (II).