Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison Librarian for Criminology (Burnaby), Psychology and Legal Research Cristen Polley, Reference Librarian Natalie Rocheleau, Reference Librarian

OBJECTIVES: PART 1 1.Key terminology & concepts 2.Understanding a case citation 3.Find a case 4.Primary and secondary legal literature 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

TERMINOLOGY: CASE LAW The terms Case Law, Reasons for Decisions, Judgment (*no ‘e’!) are often used interchangeably Main content of published case law/judgments should be identical, regardless of reporter Case law/judgments available through both free and subscription sources

WHERE TO SEARCH Significant overlapping coverage in case law cases covered in various databases Significant overlap in Act and Regulation coverage as well amongst the database. There is the official source for the Acts and Regulations, and then the replicated content throughout the databases

WHERE TO SEARCH 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

KEY CONCEPT: PRIMARY LEGAL LITERATURE Primary legal literature: Case law, statutes, regulations. The actual sources of law. Canada (excluding Quebec) uses the common law system, where the law is based upon case law and legislation.

KEY CONCEPT: SECONDARY LEGAL LITERATURE Secondary legal literature is writing about the law, but not the source of the actual law itself (a few gray-area 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

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

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)

TIPS FOR ALL LEGAL DATABASES  Legal databases tend to be less forgiving – less is more  Default (weird) search operators (AND, OR), but things are improving

DATABASES Our major legal databases at SFU Library include:  CanLII (Open Access)  Westlaw Next Canada  Quicklaw  HeinOnline  DEMO  Where to find databases on Library homepage  Finding and Noting up a case, Wells v Newfoundland, [1999] 3 SCR 199

PRACTICE!

QUESTIONS? Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison librarian for Criminology at Burnaby Legal Research Guides