Researching Legislation

• Author: Ted Tjaden
• Pages: 83-112

83

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCHING

LE GISL ATION

A. INTRODUCTION

Legislative materials, in the form of statutes, regulations, and statutory

instruments, are an important source of law. While some citizens may

not realize the power of judge-made case law to a ffect their rights, most

citizens do realize that statutes and regulations have the power to af-

fect them legally. Created by or through elected politicians, legislation

consists of written rules that govern or prescribe the conduct of the

citizens who elected the government off‌icials. Despite the importance

of legislation to our legal system and to legal rese arch, few people enjoy

conducting legislative research.

There are several reasons why legi slative research can be a challenge:

• Until recent ly, legislation was mired in nineteenth-century print tech-

nology, replete with publishing delays, p oor consolidation of amended

provisions, and awkward “tables” for updating changes to legislative

text.

• The legislative process is still somewhat mysterious to most people,

involving a sense of back-room lobbying and various tech nical legis-

lative rules, such as the need for bill s to progress through three read-

ings before becoming law.

• Legislation involves a fairly obscure vocabulary and literature unfamil-

iar to the uninitiated, including such concepts or terms as prorogation,

LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING84

Royal Assent, proclamations, and orders in council (these terms are

explained below in this chapter).

Fortunately, legislators are improving access to legi slation on their web-

sites. Although some governments have been slow to make thei r online

versions of legislation off‌icial, the federal,1 Ontario,2 New Brunswick,3

Nova Scotia,4 and Québec5 governments have done so, and it is reason-

able to assume that the other Canadian jurisdictions will do so in the

near future. The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) (www.

canlii.org) is also an excellent central “clearing house” for recent fed-

eral, provincial, and territorial legislation.

Although the emphasis in this chapter will be on using online re-

sources for legislative research, t here will also be a brief review of print

resources because sometimes there is no choice but to use print re-

sources. Since online legislative databases tend to emphasize current

content, it may still be necessary when conducting historical legisla-

tive research to use print material. In addition, since not all Canadian

provincial jurisdictions have moved as quickly in making the online

versions of their legislation off‌icial, it may be necessary to obtain print

copies of legislation when off‌icial copies are needed for court. Learn-

ing how to conduct legislative research in print can also provide valu-

able context for understanding the legislative proce ss and what is being

viewed online.

What, then, is the best way to learn how to research legislation?

This chapter proposes that most legislative research can be successful-

ly, and somewhat enjoyably, undertaken using the following f‌ive-step

Legislative Research Checklist:

Legislative Research Checklist

Step 1: Identify which level of government has jurisdiction over the

subject matter of your research.

1 By s 31(1) of the Legislation Rev ision and Consolidation Act, R SC 1985, c S-20, all

consolidated Act s and regulations on the Just ice Laws website are “off‌icial,” as

of 1 June 2009.

2 Section 35(1)(b) of the Legislation Act, 2006, SO 2006, c 21, Schedule F, made

legislation on e-L aws (www.ontario.ca/laws) off‌icia l, effective 30 November 2008.

3 Queen’s Printer Act, R SNB 2011, c 214.

4 Eviden ce Act, RSNS 1989, c 154, s 3.

5 An Act respecting the Compilat ion of Québec Laws and Regulati ons, SQ 2009, c 40,

makes Québe c statutes published in print a nd online by Publications du Q uébec

off‌icial, as of 1 Ja nuary 2010, with Québec regulation s made off‌icial as of 12 July

2012.