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Essential Legal Research with the Law Society Library
Alan Kilpatrick, Reference Librarian Law Society Library (Regina)
Ken Fox, Reference Librarian Law Society Library (Saskatoon)
Overview
• Introduction Alan Kilpatrick
• Exploration of Secondary Sources
Alan Kilpatrick
• Break 10:30 – 10:50
• Online Research Skills
Ken Fox
Why Legal Research?
http://legalresearch.org/essentials/importance-of-legal-research/
• Legal research is essential. It will help you find, understand, and apply the law
• “A litigator who has not conducted sufficient research faces the possibility of being sued by his client, and also censure by the court itself through an award of costs … Failure to understand the law or conduct the research necessary … will result in personal liability to the client.”
• Lougheed Enterprises v ArmBruster, [1992] 63 (2d) 316 • World Wide Treasure v Trivia Games, [1987] 16 BCLR 135 • Gibb v Jiwan [1996] OJ No 1370
Who Are We?
• A tool to enhance lawyer competence, which is a part of the mandate of the Law Society
• A key component in maintaining administration of justice by collecting, cataloging, creating, and distributing legal information
• Our goal is to facilitate access to legal resources, no matter the location
Law Society Library Services
• Members and articling students can access: • Comprehensive collection of texts, loose-leafs, journals,
statutes, and other legal reference materials • Online subscription resources through the Law Society
Members’ Section • High-quality research services from experienced research
librarians
• Saskatchewan-focused legal publications
lawsociety.sk.ca
lawsociety.sk.ca/library
lssmember Btdtgats
lsslib.wordpress.com
• Phone: 306-569-8020 306-933-5141 (Regina) (Saskatoon)
• Email: [email protected]
• In person: Regina Library Saskatoon Library
2425 Victoria Ave 520 Spadina Cres E
Questions?
Exploration of Secondary Sources
Alan Kilpatrick, Reference Librarian Law Society Library (Regina)
Overview
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
• The Canadian Abridgment Digests
• Source Products and Commentary
• Legislation – Important Tools
Overview
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
• The Canadian Abridgment Digests
• Source Products and Commentary
• Legislation – Important Tools
What is the CED?
• Comprehensive legal encyclopedia
• Excellent starting point for legal research
• Broad overview, leading cases, and current legislation
• The CED is made up of over 200 subject titles
• Each title covers a broad topic like Children or Banking
Paragraph
Footnote
Canadian
Abridgment Link
CED Strategies
• Three Strategies:
• Browsing
• Keyword Searching
• Through Case Law
Overview
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
• The Canadian Abridgment Digests
• Source Products and Commentary
• Legislation – Important Tools
What is the Abridgment?
• Collection of case law digests
• Covers almost every reported decision since the 1800s
• Locate digests of every case dealing with a particular legal topic
Abridgment Classification
• A topical classification system
• Digests are organized across fifty broad subject areas • Locate digests on a point of law by identifying where the topic
lies in the classification
Digest
Full Text
Link
Citations
Abridgment Strategies
• Three Strategies:
• Through the CED
• Through Case Law
• Searching or Browsing
Abridgment Strategies
• Three Strategies:
• Through the CED
• Through Case Law
• Searching or Browsing
Secondary Sources Scenario
Scenario 1:
Two undercover police constables enter a bar where they believe drugs are being sold. They notice two young men (the accused and a friend) who look suspicious, approach them and ask to buy some cocaine. The accused them sells them a small amount of power cocaine. The next day the constables arrest the accused and charge him with drug trafficking. Given that the police asked to buy drugs, is entrapment a viable defence?
Overview
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
• The Canadian Abridgment Digests
• Source Products and Commentary
• Legislation – Important Tools
Source Products
• CriminalSource, FamilySource, and LabourSource
• Collections of case law, annotations, and commentary
• Practice-specific “one-stop shop”
• Over 30 ebooks and online loose-leafs on your desktop
• Browsing
• Keyword Searching
Overview
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
• The Canadian Abridgment Digests
• Source Products and Commentary
• Legislation – Important Tools
Saskatchewan Legislation
• Qp.gov.sk.ca
• Online access to Saskatchewan legislation
• Growing collection of historical legislation
• Maintain legislative tables – important finding aid for legislation
Legislative Table of Acts
• Lists all public acts and regulations alphabetically
• Provide an overview of the status of Acts and Regulations, including name, chapter number, CIF date, amendments, and effective date
• The last statute revision was RSS 1978
s.72, 2001, c.33 ……………….May 17/2002 s.43, 2011, c.1 (new) ….Oct 1/2011
2000, c A-5.3, s13; 2015, c.24, s.9
Federal Legislation
• Laws.justice.gc.ca
• Online access to official Federal legislation
• Consolidated, bilingual, and point-in-time legalisation
• Maintain legislative tables – important finding aid for legislation
S. 17, 2001, c 32, s. 52
S. 57, 2005, c 10, s. 16
CIF, 1996, c.19, in force 14.05.97 CIF, 2001, c.32, ss 47, 49 to 53 in force 07/01/2002
• Phone: 306-569-8020 306-933-5141 (Regina) (Saskatoon)
• Email: [email protected]
• In person: Regina Library Saskatoon Library
2425 Victoria Ave 520 Spadina Cres E
Questions?
