The legal dispute over Quebec's language policy began soon after the enactment of Bill 101, establishing the Charter of the French Language, by the National Assembly of Quebec in 1977. The Charter, enacted under the Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque, expanded upon Quebec's previous language legislation, Bill 22, also known as the Official Language Act, enacted in 1974 under the Liberal Party of Quebec government of Robert Bourassa. Earlier language legislation in Quebec had included Bill 63 in 1969, and the La Vergne Law of 1910. Both statutes were drafted in an attempt to follow the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on the Situation of the French Language and Linguistic Rights in Quebec (the Gendron Commission). Unlike the (Quebec) Official Language Act of 1974 (not to be confused with the federal Official Languages Act), the Charter of the French Language was a legal framework defining the linguistic rights of Quebecers, and a language management policy giving the Government of Quebec the power to intervene in many sectors of public life to promote French as the common language of all citizens. Its enactment by the National Assembly sparked a legal battle that still goes on today. Before 1982 In 1867, the British Parliament passed the British North America Act, 1867, now known as the Constitution Act, 1867, which became the supreme law of the Dominion of Canada (although it was modified several times, it is still part of the Constitution of Canada). This act contains only one section (section 133) dealing with language. It reads: "Either the English or the French Language may be used by any Person in the Debates of the Houses of the Parliament of Canada and of the Houses of the Legislature of Quebec; and both those Languages shall be used in the respective Records and Journals of those Houses; and either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec." "The Acts of the Parliament of Canada and of the Legislature of Quebec shall be printed and published in both those Languages." Language of legislation and justice Three Quebec Lawyers, Peter Blaikie, Roland Durand and Yoine Goldstein first challenged the constitutionality of the Charter of the French Language under section 133. In 1979, the