Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison Librarian for Criminology (Burnaby), Psychology and Legal Research

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 SystemsDescription 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 ColumbiaProvincial 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 CourtExamples 1 st level: Trial CourtBritish Columbia Supreme Court, Court of Queen’s Bench (Alberta), Ontario Superior Court of Justice 2 nd level: Appellate CourtBritish Columbia Court of Appeal, Alberta Court of Appeal, Ontario Court of appeal 3 rd 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 BoardBC 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

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 ACWS (3d) OR (3d) 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)The law of search and seizure in Canada Canadian Public Policy Collection Newspapers

SFU LIBRARY LEGAL RESEARCH RESOURCES Legal Information guideLegal Information guide Browse databases by subject area – LawLaw

QUESTIONS? Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison librarian for Criminology at Burnaby, Moninder Lalli, Liaison Librarian for Labour Studies at Burnaby,