E. Case Law Digests

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Profession: National Director of Knowledge Management McMillan LLP
• Pages: 53-56

Page 53

Case law digests contain summaries of court cases, usually organized by topic, that allow the researcher to locate relevant case law within the jurisdiction. Unlike legal encyclopedias, which may only refer the reader to significant or leading cases, case law digests usually attempt to provide an exhaustive list of cases for the particular jurisdiction. In print, these case law digests can be quite formidable, due to the volume of case law, which is always increasing with time. Fortunately, there are also a number of case law digests in electronic format that can be searched by keyword or sometimes browsed by topic.

In Canada, the most comprehensive print case law digest is the Canadian Abridgment (3d ed.), a multi-volume green and blue set published by Thomson Reuters, which is also available on CD-ROM and as "Canadian Case Digests" on LAWSOURCE through Westlaw Canada. The Canadian Abridgment in print is in fact more than just a service providing digests of case law; there are various components:

· Canadian Case Citations: in print, this red, multi-volume component acts as a "note-upper" for Canadian cases, providing case history, judicial treatment and citation information.

· Canadian Statute Citations: in print, this grey, multi-volume component provides citations to Canadian cases that have considered or applied particular sections of Canadian federal and provincial statutes and rules of practice (and selected international treaties).

· Index to Canadian Legal Literature: in print, this green, multi-volume component - discussed above in more detail - provides an index to major Canadian law journal articles and other Canadian legal literature.

· Words & Phrases: in print, this blue, multi-volume component - discussed in more detail in Section F(1), below in this chapter - provides extensive definitions of words and phrases as defined by Canadian courts.

It is possible to buy individual components or even individual volumes of the Canadian Abridgment only on specific legal topics. The case law coverage in the Canadian Abridgment dates back to the 1800s. Access is primarily by topic using the Key and Research Guide or by keyword using the General Index. Once the topic is found using either resource, the user is led to the main volume for that topic and paragraph number range; to update the research, the user then consults the paper supplements, which typically include a cumulative supplement and individual monthly supplements...