Yolanda Koscielski, Librarian for Criminology (Burnaby),
Psychology, and Philosophy
ysk6@sfu.ca
OBJECTIVES:
PART 1
Provide an introduction to legal research to
fulfill course needs:
Understand case citations
Use the legal databases CANLII and
Quicklaw to find case law and statutes
PART 2
Try out some legal databases!
COURT SYSTEMS
Court Systems
Description
Superior
• Major civil and criminal cases heard in this court.
Much of the 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
LEVELS OF COURT: SUPERIOR COURT
SYSTEM
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
COURT SYSTEMS: TRIBUNALS
Administrative Tribunals/Boards
BC Labour Relations Board
BC Human Rights Tribunal
Canada Industrial Labour Relations
Board
Canada Human Rights Tribunal
BC Employment Standards Tribunal
…
Administrative Tribunals are also a source of case law.
• Tribunals have adjudicative powers
• Are created by statute
• Regulate distinct areas
• Tribunal Board Members with area expertise
• Own rules of procedure
• Decisions formerly in print  moving online
TERMINOLOGY: CASE LAW
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 Encyclopedic Digest
UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS
UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS
UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS
UNDERSTANDING CASE CITATIONS
FIND A CASE!
You will most often search for a case on a website by either:
1) case name, or,
2) case citation
A case name is the name applied to a legal case and is based on the
abbreviated names of the parties involved in the case. Example case
names:
R v Sun Glow Foodservice Ltd
Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Minister of
Environment)
Moore v Bertuzzi
FIND A CASE!
A case citation refers to either the full case citation (including the case
name), or a portion of the citation. When searching legal databases,
the case citation search option usually means the latter. Example case
citations:
[1991] BCWLD 038
29 ACWS (3d) 43
110 OR (3d) 124
2005 BCSC 419 (a neutral case citation)
TRIBUNAL DECISIONS
• Available on both Quicklaw and CANLII
• Coverage on Quicklaw:
1. “Source Directory” tab  “Browse Sources”
2. “Administrative Boards and Tribunals” Tab
3. Pick individual source, example: British Columbia
Human Rights Tribunal
4. Look at “Coverage” note, example: “COVERAGE: From
July 1984 through current”
Quicklaw provides deeper historical coverage of tribunal
and quasi-judicial board decisions than CANLII.
DATABASES
 CanLII (Open Access)
 Westlaw Next Canada
 Quicklaw
TIPS FOR ALL LEGAL DATABASES
Legal databases tend to be less forgiving – more is less
Default (weird) search operators, but things are improving
Lots of overlap. Our various subscriptions based on exclusive access
to certain journals and other resources, and access to highly valuable
finding tools
For older cases, try a subscription database
A notable amount of content is not indexed in our library search tools
LEGISLATION
Like Case Law, available via multiple
sources:
•CANLII
•Quicklaw
•Websites (BC Laws, Justice Laws Website)
•Print
LEGISLATION
Considerations:
• Official version? Online Federal Laws and BC Laws are
now official sources of the law (e.g., admissible in court).
• Up-to-date?
•Changes coming into force?
• Annual Statutes versus Consolidated Statutes
KEY CONCEPT: SECONDARY LEGAL
LITERATURE
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
Academic Legal Journals
KEY CONCEPT: SECONDARY LEGAL
LITERATURE
• Primary legal literature: case law, statutes,
regulations. The sources of law.
• Secondary legal literature is writing about the law,
but not the source of the actual law itself (a few
exceptions, such as some often-cited legal treatises)
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
SOURCES FOR SECONDARY LEGAL LIT
Legal journals and books, case commentary, case digests, legal
encyclopedias, newsletters, etc.
•Quicklaw
•Westlaw Next Canada
•HeinOnline
•CBCA (Canadian content)
•Catalogue (ex: The law of search and seizure in Canada)
•Canadian Public Policy Collection
•Newspapers
SFU LIBRARY LEGAL RESEARCH
RESOURCES
Legal Information guide
Browse databases by subject area – Law
QUESTIONS?
Yolanda Koscielski, Librarian for Criminology, Psychology and
Philosophy ysk6@sfu.ca
Moninder Lalli, Liaison Librarian for Labour Studies at Burnaby,
moninder_lalli@sfu.ca