Legal Research by Topic

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Pages: 211-332

211

CHA PTER 8

LEGAL RESEARCH

BY TOPIC

This chapter provides inform ation on Canadian legal resources, broken

down into the following forty-eight 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. Communications and media law

I. Competition, antitrust, and advertising law

J. Constitutional and human r ights law

K. Construction law

L. Contract and agency law

M. Corporate and partnership law

N. Criminal law

O. Crown law

P. Dam ages and remedies law

Q. Debtor/creditor law

R. Defamation law

S. Education law

T. Employment law

U. Environmental and natural resources law

LEGAL R ESEARCH AND W RITING212

V. Evidence law

W. Family law

X. Franchise law

Y. Health and medical law

Z. Immigration and refugee law

AA. Insurance law

BB. Intellectual property law/e-commerce law

CC. International and foreign law

DD. Introduction to law/legal systems

EE. Labour law

FF. Landlord and tenant law/commercial leasing

GG. Legal practice

HH. Legal research and wr iting

II. Legisl ation/statutory interpretation

JJ. Motor vehicle and transportation law

KK. Municipal and planning law

LL. Occupational health and safety

MM. Pension law

NN. Personal property security law

OO. Privacy law

PP. Property law (real and personal)

QQ. Securities law

RR. Sports and entertainment law

SS. Taxation law

TT. Tort law

UU. Trusts, wills, and estates law

VV. Workers’ compensation law

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

• Short scope note for the topic

• Librar y of Congress Subject Headings

• Leading treatises

• Journals, if any

• Encyclopedia tit les, as applicable1

• Case digests, as applicable

• Print case law reporters (full-text), if any

• Relevant online databases

• Relevant websites, if any

1 There are both print a nd online versions for each of the CED (WestlawNext

Ca nada), Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (Lexi sNexis Quicklaw), and JurisClasse ur

Québec (LexisNex is Quicklaw). The online versions were us ed to compile the

list of title s below. For the CED, where there is b oth an Ontario and a Western

title avail able, this is indicated.

Legal Rese arch by Topic 21 3

Readers should use this chapter when they are starting 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 overview of relevant resources

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

sources of informat 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 legislation: The major legal pub-

lishers annually publish a number of softcover book s 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 reg ulations

that you can otherwise f‌ind online.

• Casebooks inten ded for law school courses: A number of law school

professors have published “casebooks” intended primarily for teach-

ing the particular area of law under consideration (e.g., Private In-

ternational Law in Common Law Canada: Cases, Text, and Materials,

3d ed, published by Emond). Since the main purpose of these case-

books is to teach the topic, they tend to raise more questions than

they answer. As such, they tend to be less useful for legal research

and are therefore generally not included below.

• Canadian law-related blogs: 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 Association Jour-

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

• Olde r titles: Some older titles included in past editions of this book

have been dropped, although a few older titles are included in t he lists

in this chapter where the title is a classic and the topic is otherwise

under-represented in the literature (e.g., Waldron’s The Law of Interest

in Canada from 1992 remains in the list below despite its age).

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

major online publishers (discussed in Chapter 6) is included in t he 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 publ ishers for add itional m aterial.

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

2 Some of the books publi shed in late 2015 listed in this ch apter were not avail-

able for review at the ti me of publication of this book. Double-che ck the listing

on the publisher’s websit e to verify that the book wa s actually published.