Glossary

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Pages: 461-470

461

GLOSSARY

[Words in boldface within the def‌initions are def‌ined elsewhere in the

Glossary.]

Abridgment: In legal literature, a summary or digest of a court case.

Many publishers provide compilations of these summaries or digests

organized by topic or theme. A well-known case law digest in Canada

is Carswell’s Canadian Abridgme nt, available in print, on CD-ROM, and

on WestlawNext Canada (by subscription). It has summaries of Can-

adian court decisions, organized by topic. LexisNexis Quicklaw has

an online digest service in its Canada Digest database. See Chapter 2,

Section E, for more information on abridgments.

Bill: A draft piece of legislation introduced in the applicable legisl ature.

Most often, it is the ruling party that introduces draft legislation, but

members of the Opposition can also introduce bills; however, Oppos-

ition bills generally do not pass the requisite three readings needed to

become law if they are too controversial. Bills can be public (if they are

of general application) or private (if they affect only one organization

or entity). A bill must pass all three readings and come into force prior

to the proroguing of the legislature to become law. See also Prorogued.

Blog: Shorthand for “weblog,” a website containing posts or entries on

particular topics. Ent ries are usually displayed in reverse ch ronological

order and allow comments to be added to each post. The Canad ian Law

Blogs List (www.lawblogs.ca) lists hundreds of Canadian law-related

blogs.