Legal Research at SFU Library / LBST 313

Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison Librarian for Criminology (Burnaby), Psychology and Legal Research

ysk6@sfu.ca

OBJECTIVES:PART 1

Provide an introduction to legal research to fulfill course needs:Understand case citationsUse the legal databases CANLII and Quicklaw to find case law and statutes

PART 2Try out some legal databases!

COURT SYSTEMS

Court Systems Description

Superior • Major civil and criminal cases heard in this court. Most case law found in our in legal databases originates from this court system.

Inferior • A high volume of cases, including criminal cases

• Often known as “provincial court”• Typical jurisdiction: small claims, traffic

offences, criminal offences, family matters

Federal • Some matters go to federal court: e.g., copyright, industrial design, patents, cases around the legality of federal gov’t actions

Note: superior and inferior court structures and names will vary between provinces. Check websites, e.g., Provincial Court of British Columbia Table adapted from: Legal Research on the Web, Winter 2012 course

material, iSchool Institute, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

LEVELS OF COURT: SUPERIOR COURT

SYSTEMLevel of Court Examples

1st level: Trial Court British Columbia Supreme Court, Court of Queen’s Bench (Alberta), Ontario Superior Court of Justice

2nd level: Appellate Court British Columbia Court of Appeal, Alberta Court of Appeal, Ontario Court of appeal

3rd level: Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

Table adapted from: Legal Research on the Web, Winter 2012 course material, iSchool Institute, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

COURT SYSTEMS: TRIBUNALS

Administrative Tribunals/Boards

BC Labour Relations Board BC Human Rights Tribunal

Canada Industrial Labour Relations Board

Canada Human Rights Tribunal

BC Employment Standards Tribunal

…

Administrative Tribunals are also a source of case law.• Tribunals have adjudicative powers• Are created by statute• Regulate distinct areas • Tribunal Board Members with area

expertise• Own rules of procedure• Decisions formerly in print moving online

TERMINOLOGY: CASE LAW

Significant overlapping coverage in case law cases covered in various databases

Free sources (e.g. CanLii) are easily accessible

Subscription sources often include: value-added tools such as summarizing headnotes, subject classification, and research tools such as the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest

UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS

UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS

UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS

UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS

FIND A CASE!

You will most often search for a case on a website by either:

1) case name, or,

2) case citation

A case name is the name applied to a legal case and is based on the abbreviated names of the parties involved in the case. Example case names:

R v Sun Glow Foodservice Ltd

Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Minister of Environment)

Moore v Bertuzzi

FIND A CASE!

A case citation refers to either the full case citation (including the case name), or a portion of the citation. When searching legal databases, the case citation search option usually means the latter. Example case citations:

[1991] BCWLD 038

29 ACWS (3d) 43

110 OR (3d) 124

2005 BCSC 419 (a neutral case citation)

TRIBUNAL DECISIONS

• Available on both Quicklaw and CANLII

• Coverage on Quicklaw:1. “Source Directory” tab “Browse Sources”2. “Administrative Boards and Tribunals” Tab3. Pick individual source, example: British

Columbia Human Rights Tribunal 4. Look at “Coverage” note, example:

“COVERAGE: From July 1984 through current”

Quicklaw provides deeper historical coverage of tribunal and quasi-judicial board decisions than CANLII.

DATABASES

CanLII (Open Access)

Westlaw Next Canada

Quicklaw

TIPS FOR ALL LEGAL DATABASES

Legal databases tend to be less forgiving – more is less

Default (weird) search operators, but things are improving

Lots of overlap. Our various subscriptions based on exclusive access to certain journals and other resources, and access to highly valuable finding tools

For older cases, try a subscription database

A notable amount of content is not indexed in our library search tools

LEGISLATION

Like Case Law, available via multiple sources:

•CANLII

•Quicklaw

•Websites (BC Laws, Justice Laws Website)

•Print

LEGISLATION

Considerations:• Official version? Online Federal Laws and BC Laws are now official sources of the law (e.g., admissible in court).

• Up-to-date? •Changes coming into force?

• Annual Statutes versus Consolidated Statutes

KEY CONCEPT: SECONDARY LEGAL LITERATURE Searching primary sources directly for case law by keyword is usually not recommendedKeyword = 1000s of unrelated hitsException: very unique terminologyStart with secondary legal sources and/or specialized legal research tools, such as:Canadian Encyclopedia Digest Canadian Abridgment DigestAcademic Legal Journals

KEY CONCEPT: SECONDARY LEGAL LITERATURE•Primary legal literature: case law, statutes, regulations. The sources of law.

•Secondary legal literature is writing about the law, but not the source of the actual law itself (a few exceptions, such as some often-cited legal treatises)

Uses of secondary lit: Current awareness of legal issues (e.g., weekly digests)

Efficient way to locate case law by topicProvide understanding of legal issues and case law in context

SOURCES FOR SECONDARY LEGAL LIT Legal journals and books, case commentary, case digests, legal encyclopedias, newsletters, etc.

•Quicklaw

•Westlaw Next Canada

•HeinOnline

•CBCA (Canadian content)

•Catalogue (ex: The law of search and seizure in Canada)

•Canadian Public Policy Collection

•Newspapers

SFU LIBRARY LEGAL RESEARCH RESOURCES

Legal Information guide

Browse databases by subject area – Law

QUESTIONS?

Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison librarian for Criminology at Burnaby, ysk6@sfu.ca

Moninder Lalli, Liaison Librarian for Labour Studies at Burnaby, moninder_lalli@sfu.ca