Legal System in Canada

A Guide to Canadian Law

Published June 2015
See the archive version!

Table of Contents

1.	The Canadian Legal System
2.	Legislation
3.	Case Law
4.	Law Schools and the Legal Profession
5.	Law Libraries
6.	Secondary Literature 6.1 Canadian Law Journals 6.2 Canadian Legal Encyclopedias 6.3 Canadian Law Books
7.	Legal Publishers
8.	Law Dictionaries
9.	Law Directories
10.	Legal Citation
11.	Legal Research in Québec
12.	Legal Classification in Canada
13	Law Reform in Canada
14.	Discussion Lists and Blogs
15.	Miscellaneous Legal Sites

1. The Canadian Legal System
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which means Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, is recognized as the head of state. This is now largely a symbolic gesture with the Queen having no real juridical power. However, laws are still enacted in the name of the Queen, who is represented in Canada federally by the Governor-General and provincially by Lieutenant-Governors.

The Canadian legal system was established under the British North America Act, 1867, with the creation of a federal government and various provincial governments and various court systems. That Act, since renamed to the Constitution Act, 1867, sets out, for example, the powers of the federal government (section 91) and the powers of the provincial government (section 92).

Under section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the federal government of Canada is given exclusive power to “make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good Government of Canada, in relation to all Matters not coming within the Classes of Subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the Legislatures of the Provinces.” Some of the federal powers to legislate cover such topics as:

the regulation of trade and commerce
unemployment insurance
postal service
militia, military and naval service, and defence
navigation and shipping
banking
patents and copyright
marriage and divorce

Under section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, the provincial governments have exclusive power over such areas as:

direct taxation within the province to raise revenue for provincial purposes
prisons (but not penitentiaries)
the incorporation of companies with provincial objects
the solemnization of marriage in the province
property and civil rights in the province and generally all matters of a merely local or private nature in the province.

Parliament and the provincial legislatures both have power over agriculture and immigration, and over certain aspects of natural resources; but if their laws conflict, the national law prevails. Parliament and the provincial legislatures also have power over old age, disability and survivors’ pensions; but if their laws conflict, the provincial power prevails.

Generally speaking, everything not mentioned as belonging to the provincial legislatures comes under the powers of the national Parliament (opposite to the same situation in the United States).

Canada’s constitution is not found in only one document but comprises a series of British and Canadian legislation. In 1982, the Trudeau government initiated steps to “repatriate” Canada’s constitution. At the same time, Canada introduced the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter“), a constitutional document that guarantees certain basic rights and freedoms, subject only “to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society” (section 1). The equality provisions in the Charter (section 15) came into force in 1985.

The federal Parliament of Canada, modeled after the British Parliament, has two “chambers”: (i) the House of Commons, comprising 308 elected politicians (with that number to increase to 338 after the 2015 federal election due to a mandatory redistribution of seats based on population increases), and (ii) the Senate, comprising 105 unelected Senators, appointed by the Prime Minister. Either chamber can initiate bills, but the Senate cannot initiate financial legislation. At the provincial level, there is only a single chamber for each of the provinces and territories.

The Government of Canada website is linked here.

The Constitution Act, 1867, also establishes the various court systems in Canada. Simply put, there is a matrix of three different court systems (largely depending on whether the federal or provincial government appoints the judge): (1) Superior courts, where the judges are appointed by the federal government. These judges generally have unlimited jurisdiction. (2) Provincial courts, where the judges are appointed by the provincial government. These judges generally only have the powers given to them by provincial statute. (3) Federal courts, where the judges are appointed by the federal government. Federal Court of Canada judges have a jurisdiction limited to matters involving federal law, including intellectual property disputes, maritime law and claims against the government. Compared to the American federal court system, the Canadian Federal Court system has a much more limited case load, in part because there is no direct equivalent here of federal court “diversity” jurisdiction (involving claims by persons from “diverse” or different states or countries).

In addition to these three systems of courts, there are also generally three levels of court in Canada: (i) a trial court, sitting with a single judge who hears live witnesses, (ii) a provincial or federal appeals court, sitting usually with three judges who hear the appeal based on a written trial record, and (iii) our national Supreme Court of Canada, who generally sit as either seven or nine judges, depending on the matter being heard. The Supreme Court of Canada is our “top” court (although prior to 1949, it was possible to appeal a non-criminal law decision of this court to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, but that avenue of appeal was removed in 1949).

The Charter had a dramatic effect on Canadian jurisprudence, an effect that cannot be ignored in any matter of Canadian public law. The Supreme Court of Canada, the highest appellate court, has issued a large number of Charter decisions in recent years on a wide range of issues that receive page one newspaper coverage. Because courts are given the power (if not the obligation) to strike down unconstitutional laws, some critics are alleging that Canadian judges are becoming too judicially active and doing the job that should be done by elected politicians. Despite these concerns, the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada are highly regarded throughout the world. In certain cases, Canadian courts look to decisions under American constitutional law, but differences in the constitutions of both countries must always be kept in mind.

Judges in Canada are appointed by the government and generally must have been a member of the Bar for at least 10 years prior to their appointment. Federal judges are given tenure until age 75.

Canada has ten provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador – and three territories – Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

Canada has two official languages: English and French. As such, federal legislation is published in both English and French, as are decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. At the provincial level, legislation from Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, and New Brunswick is also published in both official languages. At a practical, day-to-day level, most Canadians outside of Québec use English.

The online version of Eugene Forsey’s How Canadians Govern Themselves (8th ed) provides a more detailed explanation of the governmental process in Canada.

American lawyers, law librarians and legal researchers should be aware of some general differences between Canadian laws and American laws. Some of these differences include the following points:

Criminal law: In Canada, criminal law is a matter of federal law under the federal Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, whereas in the United States, criminal laws are largely a matter of state law, except for matters falling under US federal jurisdiction. Thus, in Canada, most criminal laws are uniform across the countries (some offences, such as motor vehicle offences, may also fall under provincial jurisdiction).
Residual federal powers: As mentioned above on this page, there is a constitutional principle in Canada of residual federal power that states that any matter of jurisdiction not assigned to the provinces under the Constitution Act, 1867, resides with the federal government, at least in matters of national concern. This is opposite to the American situation where residual powers are given to the States.
Legislation: Canadian federal and provincial legislation is generally not consolidated by subject matter but is instead published in its official version alphabetically by name of the statute or regulation, unlike the situation with the United States Code and many state codes. Some Canadian legal publishers publish unofficial consolidated or annotated editions of Canadian legislation
Crown copyright: The notion of Crown copyright exists in Canada, unlike the situation in the United States (see Chapter 4 of my thesis where I provide a more detailed overview of Crown copyright in Canada and compare our regime to the situation in the United States). Although many Canadian governments are increasing the amount of publishing on the Internet, one wonders if the differences in copyright law in this area between the two countries explains the large amount of American government information on the Internet compared to the amount of Canadian government information on the Internet (once differences in population and culture have been taken into account).
Employment law: Employment at will is not a concept recognized by Canadian courts or federal or provincial legislation in Canada, unlike the situation in the United States. Thus, in most cases, Canadian employees are entitled to receive either “reasonable notice” of termination or the amount of “statutory notice” set out in the applicable employment legislation.
Constitutional rights: Canada’s recent Charter (1982) has some similarities to the (much older) American Constitution. Among other things, the Canadian Charter guarantees “right to life, liberty and security of the person” (section 7) and the “right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment” (section 12). One major difference, however, is section 1 of the Canadian Charter which “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”. In Canada, therefore, the courts must explicitly balance the rights guaranteed in the Charter against the right of the government to reasonably limit those rights as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Recommended further reading on the Canadian legal system:

Fitzgerald, Patrick & Barry Wright. Looking at Law: Canada’s Legal System. 6th ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2010.
Forcese, Craig & Aaron Freeman. The Laws of Government: The Legal Foundations of Canadian Democracy. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Gall, Gerald. The Canadian Legal System. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2004.
Waddams, SM. Introduction to the Study of Law. 7th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.

2. Legislation
Legislation in Canada is officially published in print by the applicable federal or provincial Queen’s Printer. Increasingly, Canadian governments are putting their legislative materials online, although most governments also include stark disclaimers stating that the online versions are not official. Despite these warnings, many persons use the online versions of legislation, although care must be taken as to how current the online information is. The Ontario government, for example, promises legislation to be current within 48 hours on its e-Laws website. The Bora Laskin Law Library has a nice online chart of links to online federal and provincial and territorial legislation. The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) also provides access to online Canadian legislation and is now one of the primary ways legal researchers conduct their research for current legislation.

At the federal and provincial levels, the political party holding the most number of seats controls the legislative process through their majority control of the legislature. As such, the party in power will introduce legislation that supports their political policies. Quite often, legislation and policies will be discussed by Cabinet and then the details of the legislation will be worked upon by the deputy minister and his or her staff for the relevant ministry most closely associated with the subject matter of the legislation.

Once the draft legislation has been prepared, it will be introduced into the legislature as a bill and must pass through three stages or “readings” before it can become law (federal legislation must pass through three readings in both the House of Commons and the Senate; at the provincial level there is only a single legislature through which bills must pass only three readings). The procedure below describes the process for Ontario provincial legislation (similar procedures apply in other Canadian jurisdictions):

First reading: The bill is introduced by the Minister responsible, who also explains its objectives and makes a motion for its formal introduction. If the members vote in favour of the bill, it is assigned a number, printed and given to each member of the legislative assembly and scheduled for future debate.

Second reading: The bill is debated in the House. There is then a vote whether the bill will proceed to the committee stage (or directly to third reading stage, in some cases).

[Committee stage]: If the bill was “sent to committee” this means it will be examined in detail by the committee for that subject matter or ministry (one of eleven standing committees in Ontario) or by a specially created committee (a select committee). The committee will usually be made of members from all political parties but controlled by the party with majority power. The bill is discussed section by section. This is the stage where changes are made, sometimes as a result of political compromise, sometimes because of a change in policy by the majority, and sometimes simply to improve clarity.

The committee process may last a few days or a few months, depending on the bill. The committee will then debate whether to send the bill to the Committee of the whole House (for more study by the entire legislature) or directly into final debate.

Third reading: This is the final debate on the bill. If the vote carries, the bill is sent to the Lieutenant-Governor for approval (called “Royal Assent”) (Federal bills are sent to the Governor General for Royal Assent). The bill is also given a chapter number at this time.

Federally, a bill must also pass through three readings in the House of Commons but it then must also pass three readings through the Senate. Alternatively, the Senate itself can introduce legislation (but not money bills). In this case, the bill must pass three readings in the Senate and then pass three readings by the House of Commons. The federal government has a Web page explaining how a federal bill becomes law.

Most bills are public bills — these are typically introduced by a member of Cabinet and relate to laws of general application throughout the jurisdiction. There are also private member bills — these can be introduced by any Member and are often introduced by members of the opposition party. If they are too controversial, they often do not pass third reading. In addition, there are also private bills — these can be introduced by any member and are not of general application but typically relate to a particular organization or individual.

When is a statute in force? Once a bill has received Royal Assent, it may not yet be in force. A statute may come into force in one of three ways:

1) The statute will state when it comes into force (usually at the end of the statute).
2) The statute will state it comes into force upon Royal Assent.
3) The statute will state it comes into force upon “proclamation”. The date of proclamation is usually given in the Gazette, a publication used by the government to publish regulations and other notices.

Federal bills must be published in the Canada Gazette, Part III, before they are official. The advantage to the government for having a law come into force upon “proclamation” is that they may not know at the time the bill passes third reading when they and the relevant ministry will be ready for the new legislation. Brochures may be required to be printed, staff may need training, and so on. A proclamation date therefore provides flexibility since the government can cause the Lieutenant Governor (or Governor General, federally) to announce the proclamation date whenever its suits the needs of the government.

The Ontario government has published an informative guide called “How an Ontario Bill Becomes Law,” a process which is very similar for the other provinces.

Provincial bills are assigned a (consecutive) number depending whether they are public bills (Bill 76) or private bills (Bill Pr 7). Federal bills are also assigned numbers in addition to a letter signifying where the bill originated: bill C-5 signifies the bill originated in the House of Commons (C); bill S-11 signifies the bill originated in the Senate (S).

For Canadian historical online legislation, click here for a listing from the Bora Laskin law Library or see the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Canadian Legislation page.

For historical federal Parliamentary debates and journals dating from 1867 to the early 1990’s, see Canadian Parliamentary Resources.

Recommended further reading on Canadian legislation:

Appleby, Eric. Legal Research Guide to Statutes. Fredericton, NB: Maritime Law Book, 2007.
Bédard, Michel. Coming into Force of Federal Legislation (15 May 2009). Ottawa: Library of Parliament, 2009.
Guide to Making Federal Acts and Regulations. 2d ed. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2001.
McCormack, Nancy & Melanie Bueckert. Introduction to the Law & Legal System of Canada. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
O’Brien, Audrey & Marc Bosc, eds. House of Commons Procedure and Practice. 2d ed. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2009.
Sullivan, Ruth. Statutory Interpretation. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2007.
Sullivan, Ruth. Sullivan on the Construction of Statutes. 6th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.

3. Case Law
Case law in Canada has proliferated in recent years. For access to free, online Canadian case law, the best site is the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). CanLII even provides a basic noter-upper to see whether decisions on CanLII have been appealed or cited by another decision. In recent years the depth and breadth of cases on CanLII has increased dramatically, including, for example, all judgments published in the Canada Supreme Court Reports (SCR) since its inception in 1875. CanLII has also created CanLII Connects, a site which allows registered users to “bring together lawyers, scholars and others with professional competency in legal analysis to share their insights and form collective opinions.”

The traditional method of finding relevant cases on a particular topic is to use a case law digest service, with the most well known being Carswell’s Canadian Abridgment, now in a 3rd edition. The Canadian Abridgement, which is also available on WestlawNext Canada and on CD-ROM, provides digests or summaries of cases, organized into discrete topics (e.g., “Constitutional Law – Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Nature of Rights and Freedoms – Mobility Rights – General Principles”). LexisNexis Canada has developed on online “Canada Digest” on LexisNexis Quicklaw; in addition, Martime Law Book has long had its own key-number classification system.

Carswell’s Canadian Case Citations is a print publication that shows a case’s judicial history (i.e., whether the case was appealed to a higher court or not) and its judicial consideration (whether later decisions cited or applied your case), also available on WestlawNext Canada. More generally, there are excellent online “noter-uppers” on LexisNexis Quicklaw andWestlawNext Canada for Canadian court decisions, along with the more basic noter-uppers on CanLII.

In Canada, the Supreme Court Reports and the Federal Court Reports are technically the only official reporters. Most print-based case law reporters, such as the Dominion Law Reports(Canada Law Book) are “unofficial” but are still widely used by most lawyers and judges. There are many case law reporters in print, ranging from regional reporters (e.g., British Columbia Law Reports) to topical reporters (e.g., Canadian Cases on the Law of Insurance). Increasingly though, lawyers and judges are using online versions of case law in their books of authorities.

There are a number of commercial providers in Canada of online law-related information, for a fee. The major Canadian online providers include LexisNexis Quicklaw, Martime Law Book, the Société québécoise d’information juridiques (SOQUIJ), and WestlawNext Canada. Most of these databases have extensive full-text Canadian case law searchable by keyword on various fields or segments within the judgments. These commercial databases usually have much more depth and scope than what is freely available on Canadian Legal Information Institute in addition to often also having full-text legislation, journals, textbooks and newspapers.

The decisions of administrative tribunals are sometimes difficult to track down. The Canadian Legal Information Institute provides access to some decisions of administrative tribunals and it is also possible to check the website of the particular tribunal to see what, if any, access is provided to their decisions. LexisNexis Quicklaw, probably has the most extensive online access to administrative tribunal decisions among the commercial vendors.

Finally, compared to the United States, access to Canadian courthouse dockets online is rudimentary at best with no comparable service to Pacer or other commercial services. The author’s website provides more information here about accessing Canadian court dockets.

4. Law Schools and the Legal Profession
There are 23 law schools in Canada. Canadian law schools operate in a similar manner to American law schools, except there are no “private” law schools in Canada. To enter Canadian law school, one usually needs strong undergraduate marks and a high Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score. Canadian law school is a 3-year program with mandatory first-year courses and a combination of electives in second and third year. Graduates of Canadian law schools earn an LL.B. degree (although increasingly Canadian law schools are changing the name of their degrees to “J.D.” to mirror the name of the degree granted by American law schools). The Council of Canadian Law Deans website provides a nice list of Canadian law schools.

Graduation from a Canadian law school does not guarantee the right to practice law in Canada. To practice law, the Canadian law school graduate must “article” (or “apprentice”) in the province in which he or she wishes to practice law. Although articling requirements can vary slightly from province to province, it generally involves working for one year under the supervision of a qualified lawyer, followed by passing the bar examination for that province (there is no “federal” bar examination in Canada).

It is not mandatory for Canadian lawyers to join the Canadian Bar Association, but many lawyers do join for the benefits. There is an online version of the CBA Code of Professional Conduct, although most provincial law societies are adopting a relatively uniform version of the Model Code of Professional Conduct by the Federation of Canadian Law Societies (FCLS). The FCLS is also responsible for overseeing and regulating the admission of foreign-trained lawyers through the NCA Accreditation process.

Most Canadian law firms have websites. Some of these sites are a valuable source of information where lawyers at the firm have published law-related articles on their websites. The author has created a customized Google search engine to search major Canadian law firm websites, similar to the various “country”search engines at Fee Fie Foe Firm. Unfortunately, Canadian law firm websites are not well indexed on the Internet, so it is difficult to find one comprehensive list. Set out below, therefore, are two ways of finding Canadian law firms: (i) using existing “meta” lists of law firms, or (ii) browsing through a select list of some of the larger Canadian law firms (the head office of the firm is indicated in parentheses after the firm name; most of the larger firms have offices or affiliations across Canada and it is often no longer appropriate to speak of a “head office”):

“Meta” lists of Canadian law firms:

The Canadian Law List
Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory
Law Society of Upper Canada: Lawyer and Paralegal Directory

Select list of larger Canadian law firms

Aird Berlis (Toronto)
Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang (Vancouver)
BCF (Québec)
Bennett Jones (Calgary)
Blake Cassels & Graydon (Toronto)
Blaney McMurtry (Toronto)
Borden Ladner Gervais (Toronto)
Burnet Duckworth & Palmer (Calgary)
Cain Lamarre Casgrain Wells (Québec)
Cassels Brock (Toronto)
Clark Wilson (Vancouver)
Cox & Palmer (Atlantic Canada)
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg (Toronto)
Dentons (Montréal)
DLA Piper (Canada) (Vancouver)
Farris (Vancouver)
Fasken Martineau (Toronto)
Field Law (Edmonton)
Goodmans (Toronto)
Gowlings (Toronto)
Lavery de Billy (Québec)
Lawson Lundell (Vancouver)
Lerners (London, Ontario)
MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman (Regina/Saskatoon)
McCarthy Tétrault (Toronto)
McInnes Cooper (Atlantic Canada)
McMillan (Toronto)
Miller Thomson (Toronto)
Norton Rose Fullbright (Montréal)
Osler Hoskin & Harcourt (Toronto)
Owen Bird (Vancouver)
Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall (Ottawa)
Pushor Mitchell (Kelowna, BC)
Richards Buell Sutton (Vancouver)
Robic (Montréal)
Stewart McKelvey (Atlantic Canada)
Stikeman Elliottc (Toronto)
Torys (Toronto)
Weir Foulds (Toronto)

5. Law Libraries
Law libraries in Canada are generally publicly accessible (except for some of the law society law libraries which may restrict access to members). They include large academic law libraries, courthouse libraries, legislative law libraries and law society libraries. The Canadian Association of Law Libraries/Association Canadienne des Bibliotheques de Droit (CALL/ACBD)represents the interests of a wide variety of law libraries and legal information professionals across Canada.

The author’s website has a list of the major Canadian law library online catalogues.

Academic law libraries in Canada generally offer interlibrary loan services to other libraries (i.e., they will loan books to other libraries).

6. Secondary Literature
Secondary literature in Canadian legal research generally comprises journals, encyclopedias, books and web-sites. These materials are not binding on courts but can sometimes be persuasive, depending on the nature of the work cited and the reputation of the author or publisher.

6.1 Canadian Law Journals
Law journals in Canada range from academic and scholarly to more practitioner-based. Until recently, Canadian law journals were print-based but can increasingly be found online in full-text on commercial databases such as WestlawNext Canada, LexisNexis Quicklaw and HeinOnline. The Bora Laskin Law Library at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, has a nice list of law journals available online (the list includes journals from all jurisdictions).

There are two major journal indices in Canada: the Index to Canadian Legal Literature (on WestlawNext Canada and LexisNexis Quicklaw), and the Index to Canadian Legal Periodical Literature (print only). In addition, LexisNexis Quicklaw has a unique database called the Canadian Legal Symposium Index (CLSI) that indexes papers presented at symposia, seminars and legal education workshops in Canada since January 1986. Increasingly, Canadian providers of continuing legal education (CLE) are making their seminar paper available online for a fee, such as the Law Society of Upper Canada’s AccessCLE service (but which includes older CLE articles for free) or the subscription service provided by the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC and the Legal Education Society of Alberta.

6.2 Canadian Legal Encyclopedias
There are now three major legal encyclopedias in Canada:

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) (Carswell / WestlawNext Canada): In print, there is a Western and an Ontario version. Both versions are available on WestlawNext Canada with links provided to corresponding case digests for the particular topic on the Canadian Abridgment on WestlawNext Canada).
Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (LexisNexis Quicklaw): This set was completed in 2013, with 117 legal subjects spread across 77 volumes. It is available in print and on LexisNexis Quicklaw and is similar in scope to the Halsbury ‘s encyclopedias for other commonwealth countries.
JurisClasseur Québec (LexisNexis Quicklaw): There are currently five collections in this large set focusing on the civil law of Québec: Collection droit civil, Collection droit du travail, 3) Collection droit des affaires, 4) Collection droit public, and 5) Collection droit penal. It is available in loose-leaf print and on LexisNexis Quicklaw, by subscription.

6.3 Canadian Law Books
There is a relatively healthy market for Canadian law-related books covering all legal topics. Many practitioner-oriented law books are published as loose-leaf publications so that individual pages can be easily updated, as needed. Library and Archives Canada provides a free, online catalogue called AMICUS that is a union catalog for all books published in Canada and can be searched to verify the existence of a particular item (and its location). In addition, the Bora Laskin Law Library has a list of Canadian law schools providing links to Canadian law library catalogues. Alternatively, the individual legal publishers listed in the next section below provide online catalogues to their own publications.

Note: There has been recent consolidations within the legal publishing industry with Thomson Reuters Canada (i.e., Carswell) acquiring Canada Law Book. More recently, LexisNexis Canada acquired most of the CCH Canadian titles. Increasingly, Canadian legal publishers are making their legal treatises available as e-books, either through WestlawNext Canada,Carswell’s eReference Library (ProView), LexisNexis Quicklaw, and Irwin Law’s Digital Books service, to name a few of the Canadian e-books services.

Set out below is an extremely limited list of some of the leading textbooks on major areas of law. This list is very selective; for a complete listing of legal research resources by topic, including legal treatises, see “Chapter 8: Legal Research by Topic” in Ted Tjaden, Legal Research and Writing, 3d ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010) or visit the websites of the major Canadian legal publishers.

Aboriginal Law

Macaulay, Mary Locke. Aboriginal & Treaty Rights Practice. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2000.
Woodward, Jack. Native Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1989.

Administrative Law

Blake, Sara. Administrative Law in Canada. 5th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
Brown, Donald & John Evans. Judicial Review of Administrative Action in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2009.
deBeer, Jeremy et al. Standards of Review of Federal Administrative Tribunals. 4th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Garant, Patrice. Droit administratif. 6e éd. Cowansville, QC: Éditions Y Blais, 2010.
Jones, David Phillip & Anne S. de Villars. Principles of Administrative Law. 6th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Macaulay, Robert & James Sprague. Practice and Procedure Before Administrative Tribunals. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1991.
Régimbald, Guy. Canadian Administrative Law. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2015.

Banking Law

Crawford, Bradley. Law of Banking and Payment in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2008.
Gowling Lafleur Henderson. Marriott and Dunn Practice in Mortgage Remedies in Ontario. 5th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1991.
McGuinness, Kevin. The Law of Guarantee. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
Ogilvie, Margaret. Bank and Customer Law in Canada. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.

Bankruptcy Law

Bennett, Frank. Bennett on Bankruptcy. 17th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2015.
Houlden, Lloyd & CH Morawetz. Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law of Canada. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1992.
McElcheran, Kevin. Commercial Insolvency in Canada. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
Sarra, Janis. Rescue! The Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. 2d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
Wood, Roderick. Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2009.

Civil Procedure

Abrams, Linda & Kevin McGuinness. Canadian Civil Procedure Law. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2010.
Perell, Paul & John Morden. The Law of Civil Procedure in Ontario. 2d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
Sopinka, John & Mark Gelowitz. The Conduct of an Appeal. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Walker, Janet & Lorne Sossin. Civil Litigation. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010.
Watson, Garry & Craig Perkins. Holmested and Watson: Ontario Civil Procedure. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1984.

Competition Law

Affleck, Don and Wayne McCracken. Canadian Competition Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1990.
Facey, Brian & DH Assaf, eds. Competition and Antitrust Law: Canada and the United States. 4th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.
Goldman, Calvin & John Bodrug, eds. Competition Law of Canada. Loose-leaf. Huntington, NY: Juris, 1988.
Musgrove, James. Fundamentals of Canadian Competition Law. 2d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.

Constitutional Law

Funston, Bernard & Eugene Meehan. Canada’s Constitutional Law in a Nutshell. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
Hogg, Peter. Constitutional Law of Canada. 5th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2007.
Lokan, Andrew & Christopher Dassios. Constitutional Litigation in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2006.
McLeod, Roderick et al, eds. The Canadian Charter of Rights: The Prosecution and Defence of Criminal and Other Statutory Offences. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1983.
Monahan, Patrick & Byron Shaw. Constitutional Law. 4th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.
Régimbald, Guy & Dwight Newman. The Law of the Canadian Constitution. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.
Roach, Kent. Constitutional Remedies in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2013.
Roach, Kent & Robert Sharpe. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 5th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.

Construction Law

Bristow, David et al. Construction Builders’ and Mechanics’ Liens in Canada. 7th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2005.
Goldsmith, Immanuel & Thomas Heintzman. Heintzman and Goldsmith on Canadian Building Contracts. 5th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Sandori, Paul & William Pigott. Bidding and Tendering: What is the Law? 5th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2015.
Wise, Howard. The Manual of Construction Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1994.

Contract Law

Elderkin, Cynthia & Julia Shin Doi. Behind and Beyond Boilerplate: Drafting Commercial Agreements. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Fridman, GHL. The Law of Contract. 6th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Hall, Geoff. Canadian Contractual Interpretation Law. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
McCamus, John. The Law of Contracts. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Snyder, Ronald & Harvin Pitch. Damages for Breach of Contract. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1989.
Swan, Angela. Canadian Contract Law. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Waddams, SM. The Law of Contracts. 6th ed. Aurora: Canada Law Book, 2010.

Corporate Law

Gray, Wayne. The Annotated Canada Business Corporations Act. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto, ON: Carswell 1995.
Hansell, Carol. Directors and Officers in Canada: Law and Practice. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1999.
Martel, Paul. Business Corporations in Canada – Legal and Practical Aspects. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2004.
McGuinness, Kevin. Canadian Business Corporations Law. 2d.ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2011.
Peterson, Dennis. Shareholder Remedies in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1989.
Quinn, Jack. Canada Business Corporations Manual. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Sarna, Lazar & Hillel Neuer. Directors and Officers: A Canadian Legal Manual. Rev ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1990.
VanDuzer, Anthony. The Law of Partnerships and Corporations. 3d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2009.

Criminal Law

Atrens, Jerome & Donald Egleston. Criminal Procedure: Canadian Law & Practice. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1981.
Bala, Nicholas & Sanjeev Anand. Youth Criminal Justice Law. 3d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Coughlan, Stephen. Criminal Procedure. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Ewaschuk, Eugene. Criminal Pleadings & Practice in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 1987.
Fontana, James & David Keeshan. The Law of Search and Seizure in Canada. 8th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2010.
Gibson, John & Henry Waldcock. Canadian Criminal Code Offences. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Greenspan, Edward & Marc Rosenberg. Martin’s Annual Criminal Code. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1955 [annual].
Hubbard, Robert et al. Wiretapping and Other Electronic Surveillance: Law and Procedure. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2000.
Hutchison, Scott. Search and Seizure Law in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1991.
MacFarlane, Bruce et al. Drug Offences in Canada. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 1996.
Manning, Morris & Peter Sankoff. Manning, Mewett & Sankoff – Criminal Law. 4th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2009.
Roach, Kent. Criminal Law. 5th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Rodrigues, Gary. Crankshaw’s Criminal Code. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1993.
Ruby, Clayton et al. Sentencing. 8th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Salhany, Roger. Police Manual of Arrest, Seizure and Interrogation. 10th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Segal, Murray. Disclosure and Production in Criminal Cases. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1996.
Stuart, Don. Canadian Criminal Law: A Treatise. 7th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.

Crown Law

Boghosian, David. The Law of Municipal Liability in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1999.
Emanuelli, Paul. Government Procurement. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Hogg, Peter & Patrick Monahan. Liability of the Crown. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Horsman, Karen & Gareth Morley. Government Liability: Law and Practice. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2007.
Meunier, Pierre. Lobbying in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2003.

Damages / Remedies

Berryman, Jeffrey. The Law of Equitable Remedies. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.
Cassels, Jamie & Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey. Remedies: The Law of Damages. 3d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014.
Feldthusen, Bruce. Economic Negligence: The Recovery of Pure Economic Loss. 6th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2012.
Maddaugh, Peter & John McCamus. The Law of Restitution. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2004.
McInnes, Mitchell. The Canadian Law of Unjust Enrichment and Restitution. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.
Sharpe, Robert. Injunctions and Specific Performance. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2002.
Snyder, Ronald & Harvin Pitch. Damages for Breach of Contract. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1989.
Waddams, SM. The Law of Damages. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 1991.

Debtor/Creditor Law

Bennett, Frank. Bennett on Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights and Remedies. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2006.
Meehan, Eugene et al. Creditors’ Remedies in Ontario. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.
Olivo, Laurence & Deeann Gonsalves. Debtor-Creditor Law and Procedure. 4th ed. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2012.
Springman, Melvin. Fraudulent Conveyances and Preferences. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1994.
Tweedie, Michael. Debt Litigation. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2004.

Defamation Law

Brown, Raymond. Defamation Law: A Primer. 2d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
Brown, Raymond. Brown on Defamation. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1994.
Downard, Peter. Defamation. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2009.
Downard, Peter. Libel. 3d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
Pepper, Randy et al. Canadian Defamation Law and Practice. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2012.
Potts, David. Cyberlibel: Information Warfare in the 21st Century? Toronto: Irwin Law, 2011.

Education Law

Brown, Anthony & Marvin Zuker. Education Law. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2007.
Sarna, Lazer & Noah Sarna. The Law of Schools and Universities. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2007.

Employment Law

Aust, Edward et al, eds. Executive Employment Law. Loose-leaf. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 1993.
Ball, Stacey Reginald. Canadian Employment Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1996.
Casey, James & Ayla Akgungor. Remedies in Labour, Employment and Human Rights Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 1999.
D’Andrea, James. Employee Obligations in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2003.
England, Geoffrey et al. Employment Law in Canada. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Markham: LexisNexis Canada, 2005.
Harris, David. Wrongful Dismissal. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1984.
Knight, James et al. Employment Litigation Manual. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2007.
Levitt, Howard. The Law of Dismissal in Canada. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2003.
Pentney, William. Discrimination and the Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1982.
Sproat, John. Employment Law Manual: Wrongful Dismissal, Human Rights and Employment Standards. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 1990.

Environmental Law

Benidickson, Jamie. Environmental Law. 4th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.
Berger, Stanley. Prosecution and Defence of Environmental Offences. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1993.
Carter-Whitney, Maureen. Environmental Regulation in Canada. Loose-leaf. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2008.
Coburn, Frederick & Garth Manning. Toxic Real Estate Manual. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1994.
Estrin, David. Business Guide to Environmental Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1993.
Hobby, Beverly et al. Canadian Environmental Assessment Act: An Annotated Guide. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1997.
Lucas, Alastair & Roger Cotton. Canadian Environmental Law. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2004.
Mahoney, Dennis, ed. The Law of Climate Change in Canada. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2010.

Evidence Law

Anderson, Glenn. Expert Evidence. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2009.
Atkinson, Paul. Proof: Canadian Rules of Evidence. 3d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
Cudmore, Gordon. Civil Evidence Handbook. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1987.
Delisle, Ronald & Lisa Dufraimont. Canadian Evidence Law in a Nutshell. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2009.
Hubbard, Robert et al. The Law of Privilege in Canada. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2006.
Lederman, Sidney et al. The Law of Evidence in Canada. 4th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.
Mewett, Alan & Peter Sankoff. Witnesses. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1991.
Paciocco, David & Lee Stuesser. The Law of Evidence. 6th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2011.
Underwood, Graham & Jonathen Penner. Electronic Evidence in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.

Family Law

Hainsworth, Terry. Divorce Act Manual. Loose-leaf. Aurora: Canada Law Book, 1994.
Hainsworth, Terry. Ontario Family Law Act Manual. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2007.
Holland, Winifred & Barbro Stalbecker-Pountney. Cohabitation: The Law in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1990.
Kirwin, Lynn. Child Protection Law in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.
LexisNexis Canada. Canadian Family Law Guide. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1976.
MacDonald, James & Lee Ferrier. Canadian Divorce Law and Practice. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
McLeod, James & Alfred Mamo. Matrimonial Property Law in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Payne, Julien & Marylin Payne. Canadian Family Law. 5th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.
Stark, Hugh & Kirstie Maclise. Domestic Contracts. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2004.
Wilson, Jeffrey. Wilson on Children and the Law. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1994.
Wilton, Ann & Noel Semple. Spousal Support in Canada. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2015.

Health Law

Berry, Marie. Canadian Pharmacy Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1995.
Downie, Jocelyn. Canadian Health Law and Policy. 4th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
Downie, Jocelyn et al. Dental Law in Canada. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2010.
Dykeman, Mary Jane. Canadian Health Law Practice Manual. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2000.
Robertson, Gerald & Ellen Picard. Legal Liability of Doctors and Hospitals. 4th ed. Carswell: Toronto, 2007.
Sneiderman, Barney et al. Canadian Medical Law: An Introduction for Physicians, Nurses and other Health Care Professionals. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
Steinecke, Richard. A Complete Guide to the Regulated Health Professions Act. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1995.

Immigration Law

Bagley, Sasha & Martin Jones. Refugee Law. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2007.
Bart, Jacqueline & Austin Fragomen. Canada/US Relocation Manual: Immigration, Customs, Employment and Taxation. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1998.
Botting, Gary. Canadian Extradition Law Practice. 5th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2015.
Kranc, Benjamin. North American Relocation Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2007.
Waldman, Lorne. Immigration Law and Practice. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto, Butterworths, 2005.

Insurance Law

Billingsley, Barbara. General Principles of Canadian Insurance Law. 2d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.
Brown, Craig & Thomas Donnelly. Insurance Contract Interpretation. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Brown, Craig and Julio Menezes. Insurance Law in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1999.
Hilliker, Gordon. Insurance Bad Faith. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2015.
Hilliker, Gordon. Liability Insurance Law in Canada. 5th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
Lichty, Mark & Marcus Snowden. Annotated Commercial General Liability Policy. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1997.
Winsor, Roderick. Good Faith in Canadian Insurance Law. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2007.

Intellectual Property Law

Blanchard, Adrienne & Jane Steinberg. Life Sciences Law in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2006.
Cameron, Donald. Canadian Patent Law Benchbook. 2d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Cameron, Donald. Canadian Trade-Mark Law Benchbook. 2d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Dimock, Ronald. Intellectual Property Disputes: Resolutions & Remedies. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2002.
Fairbairn, Keith & Julie Thorburn. The Law of Confidential Business Information. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 1998.
Gahtan, Alan et al. Electronic Commerce: A Practitioner’s Guide. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2003.
Gill, Kelly. Fox on Canadian Law of Trade-Marks and Unfair Competition. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2002.
Harris, Lesley-Ellen. Canadian Copyright Law. 4th ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2014.
Hughes, Roger & John Woodley. Hughes and Woodley on Patents. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1984.
Hughes, Roger. Hughes on Copyright and Industrial Design. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1984.
Hughes, Roger. Hughes on TradeMarks. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1984.
Limpert, Brad. Technology Contracting: Law, Precedents and Commentary. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2005.
MacOdrum, Donald. Fox Canadian Law of Patents. 5th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.
McKeown, John. Fox on Canadian Law of Copyright and Industrial Designs. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2003.
Odutola, Bayo & Sylvie-Émanuelle Bourbonnais. Odutola on Canadian Trade-Mark Practice. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson-Carswell, 2005.
Perry, Stephen & Andrew Currier. Canadian Patent Law. 2d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
Ramsay, John. Ramsay on Technology Transfer. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.
Sookman, Barry. Sookman: Computer, Internet and Electronic Commerce Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto, ON: Thomson Carswell, 2000.
Vaver, David. Intellectual Property Law: Copyright, Patents, Trademarks. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2011.

International Law

Currie, John. Public International Law. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2008.
Currie, Robert & Joseph Rikhof. International and Transnational Criminal Law. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013.
Hayden, Peter. Foreign Investment in Canada: A Guide to the Law. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 1996.
Herman, Lawrence. Export Controls and Economic Sanctions: A Guide to Canadian Trade Restrictions. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.
Kindred, Hugh. International Law, Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada. 8th ed. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2014.
Laviolette, Nicole & Craig Forcese. Human Rights of Anti-Terrorism. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2008.
Pitel, Stephen & Nicholas Rafferty. Conflict of Laws. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010.
Prabhu, Mohan. Canada’s Laws on Import and Export: An Overview. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014.
van Ert, Gibran. Using International Law in Canadian Courts. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2008.
Walker, Janet. Castel & Walker: Canadian Conflict of Laws. 6th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2005.

Labour Law

Adams. George. Canadian Labour Law. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1993.
Andrew, Jeffrey. Labour Relations Board Remedies in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2009.
Brown, Donald & David Beatty. Canadian Labour Arbitration. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2006.
Corry, David. Collective Bargaining and Agreement. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 1997.
Rayner, Wesley. Canadian Collective Bargaining Law. 2d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2007.
Snyder, Ronald. Collective Agreement Arbitration in Canada. 5th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2013.

Legal Research and Writing

Fitzgerald, Maureen & Susan Barker. Legal Problem Solving: Reasoning, Research and Writing. 6th ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2013.
Kerr, Margaret et al. Legal Research: Step by Step. 3d ed. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2010.
Kierstead, Shelley. The Law Workbook: Developing Skills for Legal Research and Writing. 2d ed. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2012.
Lemay, Denis. The Civil Code of Québec in Chart Form. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2006.
Lemay, Denis & John Eaton. Essential Sources of Canadian Law / Les références essentielles en droit Canadien. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2009.
Lemay, Denis et al. La recherche documentaire en droit. 6e éd. Montréal: Wilson & Lafleur, 2008.
Macellven, Douglass et al. Legal Research Handbook. 6th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.
McCallum, Margaret et al. Synthesis: Legal Reading, Reasoning and Writing in Canada. 3d ed. Toronto: CCH Canadian, 2012.
McCarney, Moira et al. The Comprehensive Guide to Legal Research, Writing & Analysis. Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications, 2013.
McCormack, Nancy et al. The Practical Guide to Canadian Legal Research. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2015.
McCormack, Nancy & Nathalie Léonard. Updating Statutes and Regulations for all Canadian jurisdictions / Mise à jour des lois et règlements à travers le Canada. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2012.
Tjaden, Ted. Legal Research and Writing. 3d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2010.
Whitehead, Philip & Anne Matthewman. Legal Writing and Research Manual. 7th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2012.

Municipal Law

Boghosian, David & Murray Davison. The Law of Municipal Liability in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1999.
McGuinness, Kevin & Stephen Bauld. Municipal Procurement. 2d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2009.
Rogers, Ian. The Law of Canadian Municipal Corporations. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Rogers, Ian & Alison Scott Butler. Canadian Law of Planning and Zoning. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2005.
Whicher, Gordon James. Ontario Planning Law & Practice. Loose-leaf. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005.

Privacy Law

McIssac, Barbara et al. The Law of Privacy in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2000.
Power, Michael. The Law of Privacy. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2013.

Real Estate

DiCastri, Victor. The Law of Vendor and Purchaser. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Dicastri, Victor. Registration of Title to Land. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Donahue, Donald et al. Real Estate Practice in Ontario. 7th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. Ontario Residential Real Estate Practice Manual. Loose-leaf. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 1992.
La Forest, Anne Warner. Anger and Honsberger: Law of Real Property. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2006.
Lamont, Donald. Lamont on Real Estate Conveyancing. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1976.
McCallum, Margaret & Alan Sinclair. Introduction to Real Property Law. 6th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
McDermott, Jim et al. Canadian Commercial Real Estate Manual. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1990.
Perell, Paul. Real Estate Transactions. 2d ed. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2014.
Ziff, Bruce. Principles of Property Law. 6th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.

Secured Transactions

Cuming, Ronald et al. Personal Property Security Law. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Legge, Jennifer & Daphne MacKenzie. Personal Property Security Law in Ontario. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
MacDougall, Bruce. Canadian Personal Property Security Law. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
McLaren, Richard. Secured Transactions in Personal Property in Canada. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1989.

Securities Law

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Securities Law and Practice. 3d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Gillen, Mark. Securities Regulation in Canada. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2007.
Groia, Joseph & Pamela Hardie. Securities Litigation and Enforcement. 2d ed. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2012.
Grottenthaler, Margaret & Philip Henderson. The Law of Financial Derivatives in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1999.
Johnston, David & Kathleen Rockwell. Canadian Securities Regulation. 5th ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2014.
Keith, Norm. Insider Trading in Canada – A Practical Guide to the Law. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2012.
Roddey, Robin. The Law Relating to Investment Advisors. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2015.

Tax Law

Cook, Ted. Canadian Tax Research: A Practical Guide. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.
Duff, David et al. Canadian Income Tax Law. 4th ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2012.
Hogg, Peter et al. Principles of Canadian Income Tax Law. 8th ed. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2013.
Innes, William & Ralph Cuervo-Lorens. Tax Evasion. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1995.
Keey, Ryan. Canada Tax Manual. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1990.
Krishna, Vern. Income Tax Law. 2d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Li, Jinyan et al. International Taxation in Canada: Principles and Practices. 3d ed. Markham, ON: LexisNexis, 2014.
Tari, Christina. Federal Income Tax Litigation in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Butterworths, 1997.
Tobias, Norman. Taxation of Corporations, Partnerships and Trusts. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2013.

Tort Law

Burns, Peter & Joost Blom. Economic Interests in Canadian Tort Law. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2009.
Ellis, Mark Vincent. Fiduciary Duties in Canada. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1988.
Fridman, GHL. The Law of Torts in Canada. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2010.
Harrison, Douglas. The Law of Product Warnings and Recalls in Canada. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.
Kerr, Margaret et al. Canadian Tort Law in a Nutshell. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2014.
Kirwin, Lynn. Canadian Civil Remedies for Torts in Novel Situations and Special Circumstances. Toronto, ON: Carswell, 2012.
Klar, Lewis. Tort Law. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2012.
Klar, Lewis et al. Remedies in Tort. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1987.
Linden, Allen. Canadian Tort Law. 9th ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 2011.
Osborne, Philip. The Law of Torts. 4th ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2012.
Pun, Gregory & Margaret Hall. The Law of Nuisance in Canada. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada 2010.
Theall, Lawrence et al. Product Liability: Canadian Law and Practice. Loose-leaf. Aurora, ON: Canada Law Book, 2001.
Waddams, SM. Products Liability. 5th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.

Wills

Allen, John & Brian Quinlan. Estate Planning Handbook. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2012.
Gillese, Eileen. The Law of Trusts. 3d ed. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014.
Kessler, James & Fiona Hunter. Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Canada. 3d ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2011.
MacKenzie, James. Feeney’s Canadian Law of Wills. 4th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Butterworths, 2000.
Pavlich, Dennis. Trusts in Common-Law Canada. Markham, ON: LexisNexis Canada, 2014.
Schnurr, Brian. Estate Litigation. 2d ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 1994.
Sweatman, Jasmine. Powers of Attorney and Capacity: Practice and Procedure. Toronto: Canada Law Book, 2014.
Thériault, Carmen, ed. Widdifield on Executors and Trustees. 6th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2002.
Waters, Donovan et al. The Law of Trusts in Canada. 4th ed. Toronto, Carswell, 2012.

6.7 Legal Publishers
There are a number of major publishers of Canadian legal materials in print:

Carswell (Thomson Reuters)
Emond Montgomery
Irwin Law
Lancaster House
LexisNexis Canada
Maritime Law Book
Wilson & LaFleur
Yvon Blais

In recent years, there have been mergers in the Canadian legal publishing industry, with Carswell (Thomson Reuters) acquiring Canada Law Book (but still using the imprint of Canada Law Book) and LexisNexis Canada acquiring CCH Canadian.

There are also a number of commercial providers in Canada of online law-related information. The major Canadian online providers include:

Droit civil en ligne (DCL)
LexisNexis Canada
Maritime Law Book
Répertoire électronique de jurisprudence du Barreau (REJB)
Société québécoise d’information juridiques (SOQUIJ)
WestlawNext Canada

6.8 Law Dictionaries
There are a number of Canadian legal dictionaries, all available only in print:

Dukelow, Daphne & Betsy Nuse. The Dictionary of Canadian Law. 4th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2011.
Reid, Hubert. Dictionnaire de droit québécois et canadien : avec table des abréviations et lexique anglais-français. 4th ed. Montréal: Wilson & LaFleur, 2010.
Yogis, John. Canadian Law Dictionary. 6th ed. New York: Barron’s, 2008.

In addition, there are two major “words and phrases” services in Canada (these materials provide multiple examples of definitions drawn from court cases where the court has defined or explained the word or phrase in question):

Carswell. The Canadian Abridgment: Words and Phrases. 3d ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2003 [updated periodicall].
Gardner, John. Sanagan’s Words and Phrases, Legal Maxims. 5th ed. Loose-leaf. Toronto: Carswell, 2008.

6.9 Law Directories
There are a number of legal directories (telephone books for lawyers and legal institutions). The major ones include:

Canada Legal Directory. Toronto: Carswell. Published Annually.
Canadian Law List. Aurora: Canada Law Book. Published Annually. Modified form available online.
Lexpert.ca. Available online.
Martindale-Hubbell International Law Directory. Published Annually. Modified form available online.
Ontario Legal Directory [the “orange book”]. Toronto: Distributed by University of Toronto Press. Published Annually.
The Ontario Legal Desk Book. Toronto: Carswell. Published Annually.

6.10 Legal Citation
Legal citation in Canada is generally governed by the red-coloured Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (8th ed, Carswell, 2014). This guide is usually referred to as the “McGill Guide” because it is edited by the publishers of the McGill Law Journal. The McGill Guide provides comprehensive rules for citing case law, legislation, secondary material, parliamentary material for Canada, the UK, the US and other jurisdictions and also international documents.

McGill Guide rules are very technical and quite detailed. Case names in a style of cause, for example, are always italicized (e.g., Smith v Jones), as is the title of legislation (e.g., Family Law Act). Somewhat controversial to some researchers is the trend to remove “periods” or “full stops” after the “v” for “versus” in the style of cause, as well as removing the periods in abbreviations in names and case reporters (e.g., “D.L.R.” for Dominion Law Reports now becomes “DLR”).

The 8th edition is now available on WestlawNext Canada (by subscription). The William R Lederman Law Library at Queen’s University has a nice chapter on Canadian legal citation that includes examples.

6.11 Legal Research in Québec
Québec is unique in Canada not only for its language and culture but also for its legal system. Unlike the other Canadian provinces, which draw upon the British common law tradition, the roots of Québec’s private law stem from the civil law and the Napoleonic Code from France. But the common law influence has penetrated into the Québec legal system, making it a unique hybrid, influenced both by the civil law and the common law. The website of the Québec Department of Justice has a nice overview of the history of the legal system in Québec and an explanation of the court system in Québec.

The current Civil Code of Québec came into force on January 1, 1994, and contains 3,168 articles divided into ten sections or “books.” For lawyers and librarians trained in the common law system, it may help to think of the Civil Code of Québec as a systematic codification of the “headnotes” or principles arising from the case law. As such, in a common law system, there are a whole series of court rulings from which one could synthesize general principles (such as the “duty of care” principle arising from Donoghue v. Stevenson that a person will be held liable for the damages caused by his or her negligence when it is reasonably foreseeable that a breach of duty of care by that person would cause injury to the other person). If one were to systematically codify these principles arising from the case law, one might start to approach a code of law resembling a civil code, although such a simplistic view overlooks the fact that a civil code is not actually developed in such a manner.

There are six law schools in Canada that provide a civil law course for persons to become lawyers in Québec:

University of Ottawa – Faculty of Law
McGill University – Faculty of Law
l’Université de Sherbrooke – Faculté de droit
l’Université Laval – Faculté de droit
l’Université de Montréal Faculté de droit
l’Université du Québec à Montréal Département des sciences juridiques

Of the foregoing schools, McGill’s program including instruction in English and both McGill and Ottawa also provide a joint common law/civil law degree upon completion of an extra fourth year of law at either of these schools. Admission to the practice of law in Québec, like the other provinces in Canada, requires writing and passing provincial bar exams and then articling for a requisite period of time. Québec notaries, however, have a different status and play a more elevated role than notaries in other provinces. Hence, graduates from civil law schools in Canada have an option of attending the professional schools of either the Barreau du Québec or the Chamber des notaires du Québec.

In Chapter 10 of MacEllven et al, Legal Research Handbook (6th ed., LexisNexis Canada, 2013), Denis Le May describes some of the similarities between Québec and the common law provinces, despite the civil code tradition in Québec:

Like the other provinces, Québec is bound by Canadian federal laws, such as the Criminal Code or the Copyright Act. As a result, the crime of breaking and entering is the same whether it is committed in Alberta or Québec. Hence, case law regarding matters of federal jurisdiction that apply in Québec is relevant no matter where it originates.
Judges in Québec are appointed in the same manner as judges in the other provinces in Canada. Thus, judges in Québec resemble their counterparts in other provinces more so than their counterparts in other civil law systems, such as France.
Québec, like other provinces, also has provincial statutes and regulations of general application in the province. The Revised Statutes of Québec was last revised in 1977 (RSQ 1977). They are kept current by the annual Statutes of Québec (SQ). The Revised Regulations of Québec 1981 are kept current by the Gazette officielle du Québec: Part 2, Laws and Regulations. The government of Québec provides Internet access to Québec legislation. Québec legislation and case law are also available on the web-site of La société québécoise d’information juridique (SOQUIJ).

It is conceptually a little bit confusing for lawyers or librarians trained in a common law system to understand the interplay between the Civil Code of Québec and the Revised Statutes of Québec since both are statutes. Perhaps the simplest way to understand their relationship is to regard the Civil Code of Québec as stating the general principles by which the specific remedial measures set out in the Revised Statutes of Québec are governed. As such the Revised Statutes of Québec will usually legislate at a much more specific level of detail than the Civil Code of Québec.

The following resources discuss Québec’s legal system in more detail:

Brierley, John & Roderick Macdonald. Québec Civil Law: An Introduction to Québec Private Law. Toronto: Emond Montgomery Publications, 1993.
Gall, Gerald. The Canadian Legal System. 5th ed. Chapter 8 (by Pearl Eliadis and revised by France Allard). Toronto: Carswell, 2004.
Le May, Denis. The Civil Code of Québec in Chart Form. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2006.
Le May, Denis & John Eaton. Essential Sources of Canadian Law / Les références essentielles en droit canadien. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2009.
Le May, Denis, Dominique Goubau & Marie-Louise Pelletier. La recherche documentaire en droit. 6th ed. (Montréal: Wilson & Lafleur, 2008).
Macellven, Douglass et al. “Chapter 10” in Legal Research Handbook. 6th ed. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2013.

6.12 Legal Classification in Canada
In the early 1970s, before the KE Class for the Law of Canada was created, several large Canadian academic law libraries made a decision to adapt the KF Class for the Law of America (created in 1968) for Canadian and commonwealth materials. Shih-Sheng Hu, the law librarian at Manitoba, devised a way of modifying the KF class for American materials to the Canadian context that would also allow all materials on a subject from different jurisdictions to be shelved together. Other members of the KF Modified School were Roger Jacobs (Windsor), and Balfour Halévy and Judith Ginsberg (York) and Diana Priestly (then of York).

For some KF classes, there is little modification: Family Law is KF 501-505 for both Canadian and U.S. family law materials. Other KF classes were modified by adding “geographical divisions” (GD) such that materials from the US have no GD (and hence would be shelved first in that subject) and with all other countries being “cuttered” with “Z”; thus, KF6499 would be the range for an American book on income tax, while a Canadian book on the same subject would fall within the range KF6499 ZA2 and an Australian text would be KF6499 ZD2.

The KF Class was also modified through the use of tables for several areas of Canadian law where the American classification was not well-suited, such as constitutional law (KF 4480-4496), legal history of Commonwealth countries (KF345-349), and the Québec Civil Code. Tables assign specific numbers for this material. Cataloguers use a textbook (in a blue three-ring binder) called KF Classification, Modified for Use in Canadian Law Libraries to catalog legal materials for those Canadian law libraries using KF Modified as its classification scheme. This text contains a list or chart of legal subjects organized by classification number. For certain classes, the user is told to finish building the number using the tables of the back of book depending on the type of resource being catalogued and the size of the number range given for that topic.

By 1975, use of KF Modified had increased among Canadian law libraries and was in use by many of the common law Canadian academic law libraries. In April 1987, the National Library of Canada added KF Modified numbers to its CIP (Cataloging in Publication) data.

Despite this use of a special KF Modified by Canadian law libraries, the Library of Congress started to develop the KE Class (for the Law of Canada) through the help of Ann Rae, former Chief Librarian of the Bora Laskin Law Library, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, who was seconded to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in the 1970s to develop the current KE Class for the Law of Canada.

Thus, the current situation in Canada for law library classification is that a mixed system: some law libraries use KF Modified, while others (particularly the “civil law” academic law libraries in Québec) use “pure” KE for the Law of Canada. Some law libraries, including the University of Victoria and the University of Toronto, that initially adopted the KF Modified form of classification are now moving towards “pure KE,” primarily on the grounds that it is easier to buy cataloging records that use pure Library of Congress classification instead of the relatively unique KF Modified form of classification.

The following articles discuss the history and use of KF Modified cataloging in Canada for legal materials:

Abols, Edite. “The Los Angeles County Law Library K Classification and the Department of Justice’s Library Collection, Ottawa” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 399.
Beresford, Anne. “Why Moys?” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 393.
Ginsberg, Judith. “KF Classification Modified for Use in Canadian Law Libraries” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 392.
Ginsberg, Judith. “A Note on the KF Classification Modified for Use in Canadian Law Libraries” in Joan Fraser, ed, Law Libraries in Canada (Toronto: Carswell, 1988) at 159.
Inselberg, Diana. “Home-Grown Classification Schemes: The Russell & DuMoulin Experience” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 396.
Knight, Tim. “The Future of KF Modified in Canadian Law Libraries” (2002) 27 Can L Libr Rev 20.
MacKellar, Marilyn. “Use of Dewey Decimal Classification for Tax Law Collections” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 395.
Rae, Ann. “The Development of the KE Classification Schedule for Canadian Law: The Politics of Expediency” in Joan Fraser, ed, Law Libraries in Canada (Toronto: Carswell, 1988) at 147.
Rapkin, Lenore. “Classification of Books in McGill University Law Library” (1988) 13:5 CALL Newsl 396.
Rashid, Humayun. “One Decade Later: KF Canadian Adaptation Scheme” (1984) 41 Canadian Library Journal 75.

6.13 Law Reform in Canada
Although law reform commissions in Canada were much more active in the 1970’s, some reform work continues to be done, despite government cutbacks and the lack of funding for this sort of important work:

Alberta Law Reform Institute
British Columbia Law Institute
Manitoba Law Reform Commission
Law Commission of Ontario
Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia
Uniform Law Conference of Canada

The BC Law Institute has a useful Law Reform Database of law reform commission reports from the major Commonwealth countries, including Canada. Where listed reports are available online in full-text, links are provided.

6.14 Discussion Lists, Legal Newspapers, and Blogs
One of the main online discussion lists is the one unofficially associated with the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, being CALL-L. It is an un-moderated listserv used primarily by Canadian law librarians but also includes subscribers generally interested in legal research and the Canadian legal system. To subscribe to CALL-L, send an e-mail message in the following format to call-l- [email protected]:

subscribe call-l First_Name Last_Name

For example: subscribe call-l Wayne Gretzky

There are two major print law newspapers in Canada, both offering current or recent content for free online:

The Lawyer’s Weekly (LexisNexis Canada)
Law Times (Carswell/Thomson Reuters)

Law-related blogs in Canada have started to proliferate and are listed on Lawblogs.ca.

One of the oldest and most active Canadian law blogs devoted to legal research and technology is SLAW.ca.

6.15 Miscellaneous Legal Sites
Set out below in alphabetical order are a number of the more frequently used websites for conducting legal research in Canada, some of which have already been mentioned above:

BC Courthouse Library – Practice Portals
Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research
Bibliothèque de droit Michel-Bastarache: Legal Research Guides
Bora Laskin Law Library Links
Canadian Association of Law Libraries
Canadian Association of Law Teachers
Canadian Bar Association
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
Centre d’accès à l’information juridique (CAIJ)
Law Society of Upper Canada: Legal Research Guides
Osgoode Hall Law School Law Library Research Guides
Ted Tjaden, Legal Research and Writing

Source - PTI

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