Detailed table of contents

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Profession: National Director of Knowledge Management McMillan LLP
• Pages: vii-xv

LIST OF FIGURES xvii

LIST OF TABLES xix

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xxi

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING 1

1. The Importance of Legal Research and Writing Literacy 2

   1) Competent Lawyers Know How to Research 3

   2) Legal Information Literacy 4

2. Some Basic Legal Research Techniques 6

3. The Recovery of Online Legal Research Costs 11

4. Legal Citation 21

5. Copyright Issues Affecting Legal Research and Writing 27

6. Conclusions 33

7. Legal Research and Legal Citation Guides 34

   CHAPTER 2:

   SECONDARY LEGAL RESOURCES 36

1. Textbooks 37

2. Law Journals 42

3. CLE/Seminar Papers 45

4. Legal Encyclopedias 48

   1) Canadian Encyclopedic Digest 49

   2) Halsbury’s Laws of Canada 50

   3) JurisClasseur Québec 51

   4) Encyclopedias for Other Jurisdictions 51

5. Case Law Digests 53

6. General Legal Reference Resources 57

   1) Legal Dictionaries 57

   2) Legal Citation Guides 58

   3) Legal Directories 59

   4) Forms and Precedents 60

   5) Court Rules 61

   6) Current Awareness Tools 61

   7) Web Guides 64

7. Conclusions 65

   CHAPTER 3:

   RESEARCHING LEGISLATION 66

1. Introduction 66

2. Identifying the Relevant Jurisdiction (Step 1) 68

3. Accessing Statutes (Step 2) 70

   1) Finding Current Statutes (Online) 70

   2) Finding Older Statutes (in Print) 72

   3) Reading Legislation 73

4. Bills: Checking for Amendments (Step 3) 74

   1) The Legislative Process 75

   2) Types of Bills 77

   3) Coming into Force 77

   4) Confirming Your Statute Is Up to Date 78

5. Understanding and Researching Regulations (Step 4) 79

6. Statutory Interpretation (Step 5) 82

   1) Statutes Judicially Considered 82

   2) Interpretation Statutes 84

   3) Hansard Debates 85

   4) Traditional Approaches to Statutory Interpretation 85

   1. The Ordinary Meaning Rule 86

   2. The Purposive Analysis Rule 86

   3. The Contextual Analysis Rule 86

   4. The Consequential Analysis or Absurdity Rule 86

   5. The Plausible Meaning Rule 87

   6. The Original Meaning Rule 87

   7. The Modern Principle 87

7. Citation of Legislation 89

8. Conclusions 89

   I. Additional Resources 90

   CHAPTER 4:

   RESEARCHING CASE LAW 94

1. Introduction 94

2. The Judicial System 95

   1) United Kingdom 98

   2) United States 99

   3) Australia 101

3. Stare Decisis and the Role of Precedent 101

4. How Case Law Is Published 102

   1) Published Print Case Law Reporters 104

   2) Unpublished Cases 106

5. Finding Case Law 108

6. Noting Up Case Law 110

7. Conclusions 111

   CHAPTER 5:

   LEGAL RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET 113

1. Introduction 113

2. Evaluating Web Information 114

3. Search Engines 116

4. Finding People 120

5. Finding Companies and Private Organizations 121

6. Finding Reference Materials 122

7. Finding Governments 123

8. Finding Legislation 124

   I. Finding Case Law 126

10. Finding International and Foreign Law Materials 127

11. Using Discussion Groups and Social Networks for Legal Research 129

    L. Law-Related Current Awareness on the Internet 130

13. Citing Material Found on the Internet 131

14. Using E-mail and Solicitor-Client Privilege 132

15. Confidentiality: Avoiding Electronic Footprints 132

16. Conclusions 133

17. Additional Resources 134

    CHAPTER 6:

    LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES AND CD-ROMS 136

1. Introduction 136

2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Commercial Databases 138

3. Comprehensive Services 140

   1) LexisNexis Quicklaw (www.lexisnexis.ca) 140

   2) Westlaw Canada (http://canada.westlaw.com) 144

4. Canadian and Civil Law Services 147

   1) CCH Online (www.cch.ca) 148

   2) Canada Law Book/BestCase (www.canadalawbook.ca) 148

   3) Droit civil en ligne (DCL) (www.dcl.editionsyvonblais.com) 148

   4) Maritime Law Book (www.mlb.nb.ca) 149

   5) Répertoire électronique de jurisprudence du Barreau (REJB)...