Legal Research by Topic

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Profession: National Director of Knowledge Management McMillan LLP
• Pages: 186-286

186

CHAPTER 8

LEGAL R ESEARCH

BY TOPIC

This chapter provides informat ion on Canadian lega l resources, broken

down into the following forty-f‌ive law-related topics:

A. Aboriginal law

B. Administrative law

C. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

D. Banking law

E. Bankruptcy and insolvency law

F. Char ities and not-for-prof‌it law

G. Civil procedure

H. Communication s law

I. Competition and antitrust law

J. Constitutional and human rights law

K. Construction law

L. Contract and agency law

M. Corporate and partnership law

N. Criminal law

O. Crow n law

P. Damages and remedies law

Q. Debtor/creditor law

R. Education law

S. Employment law

T. Environmental and natural resources law

U. Evidence law

Legal Rese arch by Topic 187

V. Family law

W. Health and medical law

X. Immigration and refugee law

Y. Insurance law

Z. Intellectual property law/e-commerce law

AA. International and foreign law

BB. Introduction to law/legal systems

CC. Labour law

DD. Landlord and tenant law/commercial leasing

EE. Legal practice

FF. Media law/defamation

GG. Motor vehicle and transportation law

HH. Municipal and planning law

II. Occupational health and safety

JJ. Pension law

KK. Personal property security law

LL. Privacy law

MM. Property law (real and personal)

NN. Securities law

OO. Sports and entertainment law

PP. Taxation law

QQ. Tort law

RR. Trusts, wills, and estates law

SS. Workers’ compensation law

Included for each topic is a list of the following information:

Short scope note for the topicUÊ

Library of Congress Subject HeadingsUÊ

Leading treatisesUÊ

Journals, if anyUÊ

Encyclopedia titles, as applicableUÊ 1

Case digests, as applic ableUÊ

Print case law reporters (full-text), if anyUÊ

Relevant online databases or CD-ROMsUÊ

Relevant websites, if anyUÊ

1 References to titles for the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) were taken from the

online version on West law Canada. Where ther e is both an Ontario and Weste rn

version of the CED ava ilable, this is indic ated. There are both print and onl ine

versions for each of t he CED and Halsbury’s Laws of Canada. At t he time of publica-

tion of this book there were a number of titles from Halsbury’s Laws of Canada that

were scheduled for publicat ion but that were not yet published. Those yet-to-be

published title s have been marked with an a sterisk (*) in the list b elow.

LEGAL R ESEARCH A ND WRITING188

Readers should use this chapter when they are st arting a new legal

research project. Once the applicable broad area of law has been iden-

tif‌ied for the problem (e.g., “evidence law”), consult that particular

section of this chapter to gain a quick overv iew of relevant resources

for that topic to help reduce the risk of missing any obvious possible

sources of i nformat ion.

Due to lack of space, the following categories of law-related ma-

terial were not included in the lists below:

Annual “desk copies” of consolidated legislationUÊ : The major legal pub-

lishers have a number of softcover books published annually of

consolidated legislation (e.g., Carswell’s Consolidated Bank Act and

Regulations). While these are convenient for some lawyers, they are

not included below since they are often only a reprint of statutes and

regulations that you can otherwise f‌ind online.

Casebooks inten ded for law school coursesUÊ : A number of law school

professors have published “casebooks” intended primarily for teach-

ing the particul ar area of law under consideration (e.g., Marvin Baer’s

Private International Law in Common Law Canada: Cases, Text, and

Materials, 2d ed., published by Emond Montgomery). Since the main

purpose of these casebooks is to teach the topic, they tend to raise

more questions than they answer. As such, they tend to be less use-

ful for legal research and are therefore not included below.

Canadian law-related blogsUÊ : Chapter 10 discusses law-related blogs

(there are hundreds of them). To f‌ind law-related blogs by topic, go to

Lawblogs (www.lawblogs.ca) or the American Bar Associat ion Jour-

nal Blawg Directory (www.abajournal.com/blawgs/).

In addition, not every possible online “library” or “database” of the

major online publishers (discussed in Chapter 6) is included in the ma-

terials below (since there are hundreds of such databases for each pub-

lisher). As such, always check the source directory provided by these

online publishers to check for additional material.

Every effort has been made in the list below to include the most

recent editions of books listed at the time of publication of this book.2

Inevitably, publishers will issue new editions or publish previously un-

published titles. To check for newer materials, consult one of the online

library catalogues listed in Chapter 2 or visit the websites of the major

Canadian legal publishers (listed in Table 9.1 in Chapter 9).

2 Some of the book s published in 2010 listed in this chapte r were not available for

review at the ti me of publication of this book. Double-c heck the listing on the

publisher’s website to ver ify that the book was act ually published.