1. By Annette Demers ademers@uwindsor.ca
Legislation Online
By Annette Demers

2. Legislative Research What you Need to Know
Supplementary Resources to Help
How a bill becomes law and bill tracking.
-bills
-legislative debates
-committee reports and related information
-status of bills
Where new statutes are published.
-annual statutes
How new statutes come into force.
-commencement info
How amendments to statutes are consolidated over time.
-revised statutes
-consolidated statutes
How to track amendments to statutes
-tools for tracking amendments
How to backdate a statute or locate prior versions.
-historical tools
-prior versions collections
How to locate judicial consideration of a statute.
-tools for Noting Up statutes
How to locate regulations.
-consolidated regulations and related tools

3. Sample Starting Point - Federal
Joe comes to your office seeking legal advice. He has set up a boxing ring in his garage and now has an expanding group of friends that comes over every Wednesday to compete and wager on boxing matches. Last Wednesday, the police showed up at his door and charged Joe under section 83(1)(a) and (b) of the Criminal Code.
In this example, you KNOW the statute (you won’t always know!)
Research Steps:
Determine the jurisdiction (remember in general that the constitution sets out the areas of jurisdiction that can be legislated by the feds v the provinces). This example? Criminal Code is FEDERAL.
For a consolidated version of the federal Criminal Code – visit the Justice Laws website at:

4. CITING FEDERAL STATUTES
Use the citation provided on Justice Laws:
Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46.
compare with:
Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, SC 2000, c 24.

5. Sample Research Approach
In this example, you KNOW the statute (you won’t always know!)
Research Steps:
Review the applicable section(s) carefully and note any missing facts to clarify with the client.
Review any related section(s) carefully (such as punishments and procedures).
Locate any governing regulations or rules of court.
Locate any cases that have interpreted the section (Westlaw or Quicklaw only).

6. Sample Starting Point - Ontario
Pete comes to your office seeking legal advice. After working on his farm all day yesterday, he was pulled over by an OPP officer and given a ticket under section 13 (2) of the Highway Traffic Act.
In this example, you KNOW the statute (you won’t always know!)
Research Steps:
Determine the jurisdiction (remember in general that the constitution sets out the areas of jurisdiction that can be legislated by the feds v the provinces). This example? The Highway Traffic Act is Ontario.
For a consolidated version of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act– visit the E-Laws website at:

7. CITING ONTARIO STATUTES
Use the citation provided on E-Laws:
Highway Traffic Act, RSO 1990, c H.8.
compare with:
Highway Memorials for Fallen Police Officers Act, 2002, SO 2002, c. 26.

8. Sample Research Approach
Pete comes to your office seeking legal advice. After working on his farm all day yesterday, he was pulled over by an OPP officer and given a ticket under section 13 (2) of the Highway Traffic Act.
Research Steps:
Review the applicable section(s) carefully and note any missing facts to clarify with the client.
Review any related section(s) carefully (such as punishments and procedures).
Locate any governing regulations or rules of court.
Locate any cases that have interpreted the section (Westlaw or Quicklaw only).

9. Legislative Research What you Need to Know
Supplementary Resources to Help
How a bill becomes law and bill tracking.
-bills
-legislative debates
-committee reports and related information
-status of bills
Where new statutes are published.
-annual statutes
How new statutes come into force.
-commencement info
How amendments to statutes are consolidated over time.
-revised statutes
-consolidated statutes
How to track amendments to statutes
-tools for tracking amendments
How to backdate a statute or locate prior versions.
-historical tools
-prior versions collections
How to locate judicial consideration of a statute.
-tools for Noting Up statutes
How to locate regulations.
-consolidated regulations and related tools

10. G102

11. Questions? Visit a reference librarian!
By Annette Demers