Canadian legal resources

Use the Catalogue to find material in the University of Auckland Library’s collection of law reports, books, and journals.

Key databases

• Westlaw International
  Canadian legal resources including legislation, reported case law from Canada's federal and provincial courts, law reviews and journals, and legal commentaries.
• Lexis Advance
  Explore US Research > International > Canada to find Canadian legal resources including legislation, reported and unreported judgments from Canada's federal and provincial courts, and law reviews and journals.
• HeinOnline
  Includes Canada Supreme Court Reports and Revised Statutes of Canada.

Full list of library databases for Law.

Case law online | Federal law reports | Provincial case law | Case law by topic | Case citators

Case law online

• Westlaw International
  All Canadian Cases includes reported and unreported decisions from Canada's federal and provincial courts, selective coverage begins with 1825, comprehensive coverage begins 1977.
  Also explore Westlaw International > International Materials > Canada > All Canadian Cases to find reported and unreported decisions from Canada's federal and provincial courts.
• Lexis Advance
  Explore US Research > International > Canada > All Canada Cases to find Canadian cases including reported and unreported decisions from both federal and provincial courts.
• HeinOnline
  Includes page image PDF copies of Canada Supreme Court Reports.
• CanLII - The Canadian Legal Information Institute
  Includes court judgments and tribunal decisions from all Canadian jurisdictions.
• Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada
  Contains the Supreme Court of Canada judgments since 1876 and applications for leave since 2005.

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Federal law reports

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Provincial case law

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Case law by topic

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Case citators

• KeyCite on Westlaw International

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Official legislation | Unofficial legislation | Historic legislation | Bills

Official legislation

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Unofficial legislation

Historic legislation

• British North American Legislative Database, 1758-1867
  This database includes characteristics of all the legislation passed by the pre-Confederation assemblies of eastern British North America: Nova Scotia (1758-1867); Cape Breton (1785-1820); Prince Edward Island (1768-1867); New Brunswick (1786-1867); Lower Canada (1792-1838); Upper Canada (1792-1840), the United Canadas (1841-1867); and Newfoundland (1832-1867).

Bills

• Parliament of Canada website provides access to the LEGISinfo database where a wide range of information about individual bills is available.

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Judicial dictionaries | Law dictionaries | Encyclopedias | Commentaries

Judicial dictionaries

Judicial dictionaries provide definitions of words and phrases established in decided cases, legislation and other legal documents.

Available at the Davis Law Library:

• Words and Phrases
  Available in Westlaw International

Law dictionaries

• Dictionary of Canadian Law
• Irwin Law’s Canadian Online Legal Dictionary

Encyclopedias

• Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
  Provides a comprehensive statement of the law of Ontario and the four western provinces - provincial, federal and common law - as derived from the case law and legislation.

Commentaries

• Use the Catalogue to find books and loose-leaf commentaries within the University of Auckland Library’s collection.
  • The Canadian Charter of Rights: Annotated
  • Constitutional Law of Canada Peter W Hogg
  • Constitutional Remedies in Canada Kent Roach
  • The Law of Contract in Canada GHL Fridman
  • The Law of Damages SM Waddams
  • The Law of Evidence in Canada Sidney N Lederman, Alan W Bryant, and Michelle K Fuerst
  • The Law of Remedies: New directions in the Common Law Jeff Berryman and Rick Bigwood
  • The Law of Torts Philip H Osborne
  • Witnesses Alan W Mewett and Peter J Sankoff
    Chapter 10 of this loose-leaf text and The Portable Guide to Witnesses available on Westlaw International
     
• Westlaw International
  Explore Westlaw international > International Materials > Canada > All Canadian Treatises to find online versions of those authoritative legal commentaries.
   
• The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
  Free commentaries available on CanLII such as:
  • Wrongful Dismissal and Employment Law
  • The Supreme Court of Canada on s 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
     
• The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution
  provides an ideal first stop for Canadians and non-Canadians seeking a clear, concise, and authoritative account of Canadian constitutional law. 
   

Use the Catalogue to find Canadian legal journals in the University of Auckland Library’s collection. Or search the following databases when you are looking for Canadian legal journal articles:

Indexing databases

• Index to Legal Periodicals and Books
  Authoritative index of articles from law journals, law reviews, and yearbooks from 1981, including some Canadian titles.
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
  Multilingual index of journal articles, reports, collections of essays and books, covering public and private international law, comparative and foreign law topics, including some Canadian titles.
• LegalTrac
  Index of law reviews, international law journals, bar association journals and legal newspapers, including some Canadian titles.

Full-text databases

• Westlaw International
  Includes Canadian law reports articles, law reviews and journals, and newsletters (Explore Westlaw International > International Materials > Canada > All Canadian Journals).
• Lexis Advance
  Explore US Research > International > Canada > All Canada Law Reviews and Journals.
• HeinOnline
  Includes the full text of key law reviews and journals, including some Canadian titles.

Full list of library databases for Law.

Parliament | Government | Law reform bodies | Legal research guides | Miscellaneous

Parliament

• Parliament of Canada
  Official website of the Canadian parliament which provides links to Parliamentary business, a guide how Parliament works and LEGISinfo where you will find a wide range of information about individual bills.

Government

• Government of Canada - Department of Justice
  Access to the official Acts and regulations of Canada and a guide to Canada's court system.
• Canada Gazette

Law reform bodies

• Alberta Law Reform Institute
• British Columbia Law Institute
• Manitoba Law Reform Commission
• Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia
• Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General
• Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan
• Uniform Law Conference of Canada

Legal research guides

• Doing legal research in Canada
  By Ted Tjaden, 2010-2018.
• GlobaLex - Researching Canadian law
  By Ted Tjaden, 2019.
• Guide to Law Online - Canada
  By the Law Library of Congress.
• Canadian legal citation
• The Canadian Legal Research and Writing Guide
  published by the Canadian Legal Information Institute.
• Principles of Legal Research
  A collection of learning modules created by the Brian Dickson Law Library, the University of Ottawa to provide guidance for finding Canadian legal information.

Miscellaneous

• CanLII
  CanLII is a non-profit organisation managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. This website provides access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
• Supreme Court of Canada
• Legal Scholarship Network (LSN)
• Special Joint Committee on the Constitution
  Provides legislative history resources for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

New Zealand Law Style Guide

All written work completed for the Faculty of Law must comply with the New Zealand Law Style Guide (Rule 8.3 and Appendix 3 for citing Canadian cases and Rule 9.3 for citing Canadian legislation). The print copies are available on Short Loan in the Davis Law Library.

For further guidance on the citation of Canadian legal sources not covered by the New Zealand Law Style Guide, see the latest edition of McGill Law Journal's Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, published by Carswell.

Support

• Referencing
  Access a range of tools and support material to assist your referencing work.

Examples

• Quick©ite
  Use this interactive tool to view examples of references.
  Covers a range of styles used at the University of Auckland.