Principles of Legal Research
Fall 2008
Week 3: September 22-26
Cecilia Tellis, Law Librarian
Brian Dickson Law Library
Outline
 Jurisprudence
– how case law is published
 Anatomy of a case
– Exercise
 Case law reporters
 How to find cases
– Various methods
– Introduction to the Canadian Abridgment
– Exercise
Jurisprudence
 Definition: the body of case law on a topic
 Judicial decision rendered by a judicial or
administrative court is always documented but
not necessarily published
 Reported = published in a case law reporter
 Unreported = will not appear in a printed
format in a reporter
Unreported decisions
 Often available in online legal research
services like Quicklaw and
WestlaweCarswell
 Can sometimes be obtained from the
specific court
How are cases selected for publication?
 Criteria can vary from publisher to publisher
 E.g. the Ontario Reports cases are selected
based on whether the case:
– Makes new law by dealing with a novel situation or by
extending the application of existing principles
– Includes a modern judicial restatement of established
principles
– Clarifies conflicting decisions of lower courts, etc.
Case law reporters
 extensive duplication between report
series (i.e. the same case may be
reported in several law report series)
– Parallel citations
R. v. Sparrow,
7 citations to the same case
46 B.C.L.R. (2d) 1, [1990] 4 W.W.R. 410,
56 C.C.C. (3d) 263, 70 D.L.R. (4th) 385,
[1990] 1 S.C.R. 1075, 111 N.R. 241,
[1990] 3 C.N.L.R. 160
Case law reporters
Two main categories:
1) General law reports:
•
•
•
Decisions from a specific court
Several courts w/in a specific jurisdiction
Several courts w/in several jurisdictions
2) Specialized law reports
•
Include decisions discussing specific subjects of
law independent of court or jurisdiction
Anatomy of a case
Typically a published case consists of the following
sections:
 Style of Cause: e.g. R. v. Casarello – names of
the parties to the legal dispute
 Preliminary information: court name,
judge(s) who heard the case, date of the
decision's release
 Catchlines/Catchwords: phrases and key
words separated by dashes that describe the
legal issues and the facts of the case
Anatomy of a case (cont’d)
 Headnote: summary of the facts, issues and
reasons for the decision
 Authorities referred to: cases, statutes and
secondary sources consulted or referred to
 History of the case: if this is not the first hearing
of the case, prior history will be given
 Decision(s): decisions or written reasons of the
judges who heard the case appear following all
of the above preliminary information.
Exercise – Anatomy of a case
 Work in groups of 2 or 3
How do I find cases?
 Consult secondary sources
– Textbooks
• Table of cases
– Encyclopedias
• e.g. Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
– Annotated codes
• e.g. Modern First Nations legislation annotated
How do I find cases? (cont’d)
 Using the Canadian Abridgment and
similar research tools that list cases by
style of cause or subject
 Read summaries or digests of cases
What about
?
 Sometimes works
–
–
for very famous cases
to verify a citation
 But…
–
–
–
depends on the jurisdiction
depends on year of decision
usually too many hits
 Better to try a legal database
•
•
•
Canadian Legal Information Institute: Canlii.org
Other Legal Information Institutes
Quicklaw or WestlaweCarswell or relevant DB for your jurisdiction
Digests
 A digest is a short concise summary of
the court decision made soon after its
release.
 Commonly used digest services:
–
–
–
–
–
All Canada Weekly Summaries
Weekly Criminal Bulletin
Lawyers' Weekly case digests
Canadian Case Summaries
Canadian Abridgment case digests
Case digests
 Read the 'digest' or
summary of the case
then note the citation
to the full-text
Introduction to the
Canadian Abridgment
 Published by Thomson Carswell, the
Canadian Abridgment is a
comprehensive multi-volume research
tool for Canadian Law
 includes all reported decisions, as well
as some unreported ones
 Does not include decisions on Quebec
Civil Law
What can I find by using the Abridgment?
 Case Digests
– To find case law by legal issues / topics
 Consolidated Table of Cases
– Case law by the case name
What can I find by using the Abridgment?
(cont’d)
 Canadian Case Citations
– contain the citations, history, and judicial treatment of
cases by Canadian courts and tribunals
 Canadian Statute Citations
– judicial considerations of statutes and rules of practice
 Words & Phrases Judicially Defined in
Canadian Courts and Tribunals
– judicial interpretation of words and phrases from all areas
of law
What can I find by using the Abridgment?
(cont’d)
 Canadian Current Law
– To find the legislative history of statutes,
regulations and bills
 Index to Canadian Legal Literature
– books, articles, case comments
To find your legal issue in the Digests
 The Key & Research
Guide is the
Abridgment’s Table of
Contents
 The General Index lists
the key legal concepts
arising out of the digests
Classification Scheme: example
 Torts
– XX.
Trespass
• 2.
Trespass to land
– C. Particular situations of trespass
» i. Landlord and tenant
Volume 115
(3rd edition)
How is the General Index organized?
 This is organized alphabetically by
keyword, with citations to the
corresponding key numbers in the main
work.
Excerpt from the General Index
Certified cheque – see Cheques, accepted or certified
cheques
Cross-reference
Certiorari
Main topic
in civil matters
Sub-topic
discretion of court to refuse
Subdivision of sub-topic
availability of other remedy,
Further subdivision
ADM 1.3470-3501
key number
with locators
Case Law: by case name
1. Consolidated
Table of Cases 
main volumes
2. Consolidated
Table of Cases –

supplement volumes
3. Canadian Current
Law: Case digests

monthly issues
Case Law: by legal issue / topic
 Case Digest Search
1
2
1
2
1. Main Case Digest
volumes
2. Case Digest
supplement volumes
3. Canadian Current
Law: Case Digests
monthly issues (not
shown)
3rd edition
2nd edition
Summary
 Cases – reported or unreported
 General & specialized reporters
 Canadian Abridgment
– comprehensive research tool
– complex, but worth understanding
Canadian Abridgment Exercise
 Work in groups of 3
 Work with one part of the Abridgment for
5-10 minutes
 Swap volumes with another group to
finish up the other questions
 Will continue exercise the following
week