Yolanda Koscielski (Burnaby) and Andrea Cameron
(Surrey), Liaison Librarians for Criminology
January 23rd and 24th, 2014
ysk6@sfu.ca
amcamero@sfu.ca
PART 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
Key terminology & concepts
Understanding a case citation
Noting up a case
Secondary legal literature
PART 2
4.
Experience searching 5 legal
databases/legal treasure hunt
Court Systems
Description
Superior
• Major civil and criminal cases heard in this
court. Most case law found in our in legal
databases originates from this court system.
Inferior
• A high volume of cases, including criminal
cases
• Often known as “provincial court”
• Typical jurisdiction: small claims, traffic
offences, criminal offences, family matters
Federal
• Some matters go to federal court: e.g.,
copyright, industrial design, patents, cases
around the legality of federal gov’t actions
Note: superior and inferior court structures and names will vary between
provinces. Check websites, e.g., Provincial Court of British Columbia
Table adapted from: Legal Research on the Web, Winter 2012 course
material, iSchool Institute, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Level of Court
Examples
1st level: Trial Court
British Columbia Supreme Court, Court
of Queen’s Bench (Alberta), Ontario
Superior Court of Justice
2nd level: Appellate Court
British Columbia Court of Appeal,
Alberta Court of Appeal, Ontario
Court of appeal
3rd level: Supreme Court of
Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
Table adapted from: Legal Research on the Web, Winter 2012 course material, iSchool
Institute, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
The terms Case Law, Reasons for
Decisions, Judgment (*no ‘e’!) are often
used interchangeably
 Main content of published case
law/judgments should be identical,
regardless of reporter
 Case law/judgments available through
both free and subscription sources

Significant overlapping coverage in case
law cases covered in various databases
 Free sources (e.g. CanLii) are easily
accessible
 Subscription sources often include:
value-added tools such as summarizing
headnotes, subject classification, and
research tools such as the Canadian
Abridgement Digest
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Style of cause = plaintiff and defendant
This report can be found in the 69th volume of the Dominion
Law Reports on page 433
The "2nd" tells you that the DLR has been published in
multiple series; the second series was 1956-68
SCBC indicates this was a Supreme Court of British
Columbia decision
Examples:
 LeBrun v High-Low Foods Ltd. (1968), 69
D.L.R. (2nd) 433 (S.C.B.C.)
 McLean v. Thompson (2009), 2009
CarswellBC 3712 (B.C. Prov. Ct.)
 R. v. Oakes, [1986] 1 S.C.R. 103, 26 D.L.R.
(4th) 200, 65 N.R. 87 (S.C.C.)
 Hopp v Lepp, [1980] 2 SCR 192, 112 DLR
(3d) 67
Wells v. Newfoundland (1997), 156 Nfld. &
P.E.I.R. 271, 483 A.P.R. 271, 5 Admin. L.R. (3d)
113, (N.L.C.A.)
The same citation as seen online in
LawSource:
1997 CarswellNfld 199
Wells v. Newfoundland (1997), 156 Nfld. & P.E.I.R.
271, 483 A.P.R. 271, 5 Admin. L.R. (3d) 113, (N.L.C.A.)
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Case name (Appellant + Respondent)
Year of decision
Volume number of law report
Law reporter name (Newfoundland and
Prince Edward Island Reporter)
Page number in law report volume
Other law reporters (aka parallel citations)
Series number of law report, as applicable
Court the case was heard in
Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation,
7th edition (2010)
 Also known as the McGill Guide
 The official source for legal citation in
Canada, used by the legal community
 See Queen’s Legal Citation web page for
more guidance on McGill style
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Means you are researching a case to see if…
› it has been cited, including “followed”, in
subsequent cases
› the decision has been overturned in a higher court

The note up tools have different names,
depending on the database you use

Process ensures you have found the most
recent (i.e., legally relevant) version of a case
using the note up tools
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Terminology for noting up a case differs
between databases
Quicklaw terms for judicial considerations:
› Distinguished — cited case is held to be inapplicable
due to a difference in fact or law.
› Explained — citing case adds to, expands upon, or
interprets cited case.
› Followed —The judge expressly relies on the cited
case as a precedent on which to base a decision.
› Also: Followed in Minority Opinion, Cited, Cited in
Dissenting Opinion, Mentioned, Not Followed,
Questioned

Searching primary sources directly for
case law by keyword is usually not
recommended
› Keyword = 1000s of unrelated hits
› Exception: very unique terminology
› Start with secondary legal sources and/or
specialized legal research tools, such as:
 Canadian Encyclopedia Digest
 Canadian Abridgment Digest
Examples: articles from academic legal
journals, case commentary, newsletters
and digests by legal experts
 Uses of secondary lit:

Current awareness of legal issues (e.g.,
weekly digests)
Efficient way to locate case law by topic
Provide understanding of legal issues and
case law in context
Case Law
Law Reports Articles and Journals
Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)
Canadian Abridgment Digest (CAD)
Multiple products on one platform that can
be browsed/searched separately
 Browse functions on the left, search on the
right
 Click on LawSource (or CriminalSource) tab
to revert to main search screen
 Quirk: default searching is for ANY of the
search terms entered, not ALL of them

› Solution: use quotation marks to search as a
phrase or add the word “AND” between each
search term

Less is more; re-search the most unique
words of your search string if you are not
getting results
› E.g., Instead of Toward a Proper and
Complete Instruction for Photo Lineups:
Preserving the Probative Value of
Identification Evidence, try, Photo Lineups

Relevancy ranking of results is less
intuitive
Case law
Canadian criminal legislation
Canadian Sentencing Digest
Criminal legal commentary and journals
Busy interface! Note Search Templates
for different products/info types on left,
including All CriminalSource Content
 CNTR + F to search full text in cases
 Browse a particular source with left-side
option of “other commentary”; an
empty search is possible if you’d like to
browse commentary sources by date
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Case Law
Martin’s Criminal Code
Drug Offences in Canada
Criminal Law Quarterly
Other legal commentary and texts
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Search on the right, browse on the left. Browsing is
particularly effective in legal databases
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Browse individual books/journals (e.g., Drug Offences
in Canada) in the Commentary section, left-hand
side
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Martin’s Criminal Code is found under
Commentary>Criminal Legislation>Martin’s Criminal
Code and Related Legislation
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Less can be more (in terms of search terms entered).
This is the case with most legal databases.
Case Law
Legislation
Canadian and international legal
journals
Other legal commentary and texts

Tab Searching option
› E.g., Legislation, Journals, etc. brings up
search templates
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Need to find a particular book, journal,
or other title?
› Enter keywords of source title in Find a
Source. Be exact!
› Beware Terms and Connectors Search

Many ways to get to the same content in
QuickLaw
 Legal
Information guide
 Browse
Law
databases by subject area –

Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison librarian for
Criminology at Burnaby ysk6@sfu.ca

Andrea Cameron, Liaison Librarian for
Criminology at Surrey amcamero@sfu.ca
General queries:
 AskUsDesk
 AskAway
 TextUs