Best Guide to
Canadian Legal Research
Copyright © 1995-2008
Catherine P. Best
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Best Guide to
Canadian Legal Research
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IntroductionEnglish case law is still applied frequently by Canadian courts, particularly older English cases. If you cannot find relevant Canadian law the next step is usually to look for English law. English law has had a profound influence on Canadian law. The Privy Council was the court of last resort for Canadian law until 1949. The law of the United Kingdom was imported into the Canadian colonies and remained the law until replaced by local law. Much of Canadian statute and case law is therefore derived from English law.
Court structure
Narrative secondary sources
Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th edition
Halsbury's is the UK equivalent to the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED). The 4th edition is the most recent version of Halsbury's Laws of England.
Halsbury's Laws of England, 3rd editionThe 3rd edition of Halsbury's is preferred by some Canadian researchers because its contents are less affected by recent statutory changes to the English common law, and by the influence of the European Union on English law. Also, it can be used with the Canadian Converter. Halsbury's Canadian Converter provides references to Canadian cases on the legal issues covered in Halsbury's (3rd), and is shelved with that collection. Canadian references are listed according to the volume, paragraph and note numbers in Halsbury's (3rd). Although Halsbury's (3rd) is several decades out of date, the Canadian Converter volumes are current.
Periodicals Research
Finding toolsDigests
The digests are organised according to legal topic, with cross-references to Halsbury's Laws of England. You can locate case digests using the Table of Cases volume, the Index volume, or the Table of Contents appearing at the beginning of each title. The Index is poor, so you may find it easier to start by reviewing the Table of Contents for relevant titles. To update your research in the main volume of The Digest, use the most recent Cumulative Supplement. Depending on the date of the supplement, you may need to update further using the Quarterly Survey.
Current Law consists of bound index volumes and year books, and monthly soft cover volumes for the current year. Look up your subject in the index volumes, and then locate the text of the digests you are referred to in the appropriate year books. In addition to cases, you will find references to journal articles.
Case Reporters
The Law Reports refers to several reporter series published since 1865, organised by court. The series currently includes
The Law Reports Index is a series of red-bound volumes containing indices and tables for these reporters. In addition to these reporters the Law Reports Index covers several other series, including the Weekly Law Reports (W.L.R.). The subject index in the Law Reports Index is a useful research tool for finding cases on a particular topic.
The bound indices should be updated using the soft cover cumulative indexes. The bound volumes are not cumulative, so you must look into each one in order to carry out comprehensive research.
There is a separate 36 volume series, called All England Law Reports Reprint, that contains selected cases decided between 1558 and 1935.
Between 1535 and 1865, English cases were reported in the Nominate Reports. There were many different reporter series during this period. These reports were each named after the private reporter who produced them.
There is no subject index for the English Reports. If you are researching English case law from this period, use The Digest and Halsbury's to identify relevant cases. The Digest summarises many of the older cases, and provides annotations with judicial consideration references.
Electronic Research
CD ROM
QuicklawQuicklaw has some coverage of United Kingdom case law, but it is limited:
All of these databases can be searched in global database UKJ.
LexisLexis has the most comprehensive on-line coverage of case law and statutes from the United Kingdom. It includes coverage of reported cases from 1945, and unreported cases from 1980. All of this material can be searched at once in the CASES file in the ENGGEN library.
InternetLinks to the leading Internet sites for conducting UK research are published at infolaw. The headings "Legal Reference" go to lists of links to primary sources available on the Internet. The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) has been launched. It contains a growing volume of cases and legislation, but is far from comprehensive. For a summary of its coverage, see Case law on BaiLII. Digests of recent decisions selected for publication in the UK Law Reports can be searched at the ICLR website. More comprehensive collections of UK case law on the Internet require a subscription.
Updating your research
LexisLexis has the most current UK case law. Check the ENGGEN library, CASES file to find out if there are any new cases, or unreported cases, on your topic. For summaries organised by topic of the most current legal developments, check the UKCURR library.
Current Law
To use the Current Law Case Citator, follow these steps:
Older volumes are called the Scottish Current Law Case Citator. The contents in these volumes are split into 2 parts, one covering English cases and one covering Scottish cases. Make sure you are in the right section.
The DigestIndividual case digests are followed by an annotation listing judicial consideration of the digested case. Because other noting-up services are more comprehensive, you should not rely exclusively on these annotations. However they can be useful, particularly for older English cases.
Case Reporter IndexesThe indexes for various reporter series, including the Law Reports series and the All England Law Reports, have tables listing judicial consideration of cases reported in those series. These sources are not comprehensive.
Consideration by Canadian Courts
Statutory research
Halsbury's Statutes
Other useful components of the set include the
Halsbury's publishes a similar research tool for researching UK regulations, called Halsbury's Statutory Instruments.
Public StatutesThe official version of the UK statutes is the Public General Statutes. They are published in chronological order and are unconsolidated. Before you start looking in the Public General Statutes, ascertain the name and citation for the statute you are trying to find. Use the chronological Table of Statutes to help you research the Public General Statutes. It lists the statutes by year, and within the year by chapter number. It contains amendment and in force information similar to the Table of Public Statutes for Canadian legislation. Statutes are cited to the Public General Statutes citation. Statutes enacted prior to 1963 are cited by regnal year (name of monarch and year of reign). Statutes enacted during or after 1963 are cited by calendar year. Some citation examples are as follows:
LexisLexis provides access to full text statutes and regulations for the United Kingdom in the following databases:
The consolidations of the statutes and statutory instruments do not contain repealed legislation. However, legislative history is covered in the annotations segment at the end of each document. In force information is provided at the beginning of each document.
InternetAccess is available on the Internet to
Judicial Consideration of LegislationHalsbury's Statutes and the Current Law Statute Citator are the best print tools for researching judicial consideration of UK legislation. For the most current information, check the ENGGEN library, CASES file on Lexis.
ReferencesResearch Guides and Sites on the InternetBora Laskin Law Library Guide to Legal Research, British Legal Resources. Queen's University Faculty of Law, Legal Research Materials, United Kingdom Legal Materials. Tarleton Library, University of Texas, UK Case Law Guide.
Research Guides in PrintDane & Thomas, How to Use a Law Library (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1996). Holborn, Butterworths Legal Research Guide, 2nd ed. (London: Butterworths, 2001). Jeffries & Miskin, Legal Research in England and Wales (London: Legal Information Resources Limited, 1992). Tunkel, Legal Research: Law-Finding and Problem-Solving (London: Blackstone Press Limited, 1992). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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However, English
law must now be used with caution because the law of England and the law of Canada have
diverged in recent years. Recent English law is heavily influenced by England's membership
in the European Union: Canadian law is increasingly influenced by the law of the United
States of America.
If you
have access to English legal treatises, they are usually the best place to start your UK
research. In the absence of a good text, the starting point for most UK research is Halsbury's
Laws of England.
The leading
tool for finding UK periodical articles is the Legal Journals Index.
However, references to UK periodicals can be located in several other sources. Most
of these sources are available in print and CD ROM format:
There is a
limited collection of UK journals available in full text on Lexis in the UKJNL library,
ALLJNL file.
The
Digest is the English equivalent to the Abridgment's Canadian Case Digests. It
provides case digests for English, Scottish, Irish, Commonwealth, European Court of
Justice, and European Court of Human Rights cases.
Volumes of the Law
Reports Index published prior to 1950 contain case digests and judicial consideration
tables. Volumes published after 1950 include subject indices to cases reported in the UK
Law Reports series, and tables of cases judicially considered. A list of subject
headings appears at the beginning of each volume. The subject headings and overall
organisation differ substantially from those in Halsbury's and The Digest. 
Lexis
is also the most current way to check for judicial consideration of a UK
case. As there is no citator on Lexis for UK cases, no treatment codes are assigned. Given
the cost of on-line research and the lack of a proper citator, you will probably want to
use other tools for most of your judicial consideration research, and use Lexis to check
for unreported and very recent decisions citing your case.