LAW - Starting Points - Beginning Your Canadian Legal Research

This guide is intended to assist students and members of the public locate materials for their legal research projects.

Research Process

It is highly recommended that you begin your legal research by looking at materials that describe or explain the law. These materials will explain legal principles, and identify legal terms and keywords you could use in your further research. You are likely to find citations to related cases and statutes in the footnotes as well. These materials include encyclopedias, books, and articles.

Library Search Box
Search many of our databases and collections as well as from traditional bibliographic sources (journal articles, dissertations, newspapers, etc.). It does not search legal databases.

Legal Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia provide a brief discussion of a wide range of legal topics, with many footnotes referencing cases and some statutes. There are two Canadian legal encyclopedias: the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest and Halsbury’s Laws of Canada.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
Electronic access available through WestlawNext Canada. Available in print in the Reference area at KE 173 .C54.
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In print, start with the Key volume, which includes a Research Guide and Index.
Halsbury's laws of Canada
Electronic access available through Lexis Advance Quicklaw.
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Over 20 practice areas.

Books

Books provide a deeper discussion of the legal topics than encyclopedias. Most legal books discussion a broad area of law, such as criminal law or employment law. Scholarly books often focus on a narrower topic and provide a deeper analysis of the legal issues.

Use the library search box to find print or electronic books in our collection. Note the call number and the location (e.g., Law-1^st floor) of each print book. You will need to sign-on to access electronic books.

Library Search Box
Search many of our databases and collections as well as from traditional bibliographic sources (journal articles, dissertations, newspapers, etc.). It does not search legal databases.

Certain legal texts are published in binders for easy updating. These are called looseleaf sets. Looseleaf sets published by Carswell and Canada Law Book are available electronically on:

Westlaw Canada This link opens in a new window
- Access to subscribed content only
Platform for database products published by Thomas Reuters Canada. Includes primary sources, commentary, court documents, forms and precedents, and finding tools. Full text source for Canadian law resources. Includes the Canadian Abridgement Digests and Canadian Encyclopedic Digest; cases (reported and unreported), commentary, legislations, journal articles covering the areas of general law, family law and criminal law.

Selected looseleaf sets published by LexisNexis or Butterworths are available electronically on:

Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new window
Lexis Advances Quicklaw provides access to an extensive database of over 2 million cases, jurisdictional sources, including exclusive sources like Halsbury's Laws of Canada and Canadian Tort Law. This database includes QuickCite, which ensures decisions are based on good authority by cases. Lexis Advance QuickLaw provides access to Canadian law (legislation, jurisprudence, and doctrine) as well as law sources from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.

Articles

Journal articles provide in-depth information on narrow legal topics and, often, more current information than books provide. There are several ways of search for legal articles. The library search box and Google Scholar can both be used to find some articles. We subscribe to several databases that contain the full-text of law review articles from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries

See our research guide for links to open access and database sources for legal articles.

Finding Law Journal Articles
This guide is intended to help students and researchers in law by leading to information sources that will assist in finding articles.

There are also general full text sources that may provide legal articles.

Some sources may be restricted to University of Calgary users or to Faculty of Law users.

Library Search Box
Search many of our databases and collections as well as from traditional bibliographic sources (journal articles, dissertations, newspapers, etc.). It does not search legal databases.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
To set up Google Scholar to detect UofC subscribed resources, refer to Google Scholar setup (in the Natural Sciences Programme LibGuide)
A subset of Google that only indexes academic journals. Pros: searching is very easy - just like for regular Google. Covers journals in many disciplines. Cons: Limited functionality for filtering results. May include some journals of dubious quality.

Main legal article databases

Westlaw Canada This link opens in a new window
- Access to subscribed content only
Platform for database products published by Thomas Reuters Canada. Includes primary sources, commentary, court documents, forms and precedents, and finding tools. Full text source for Canadian law resources. Includes the Canadian Abridgement Digests and Canadian Encyclopedic Digest; cases (reported and unreported), commentary, legislations, journal articles covering the areas of general law, family law and criminal law.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Contains the full text of numerous legal journals and monographs, U.S. government documents, foreign and international law materials, legal classics, world trials and more.
Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new window
Lexis Advances Quicklaw provides access to an extensive database of over 2 million cases, jurisdictional sources, including exclusive sources like Halsbury's Laws of Canada and Canadian Tort Law. This database includes QuickCite, which ensures decisions are based on good authority by cases. Lexis Advance QuickLaw provides access to Canadian law (legislation, jurisprudence, and doctrine) as well as law sources from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
Lexis+ Canada This link opens in a new window
- Available to Faculty of Law students only
- Password access only
Content includes Canadian, US, UK, international and foreign legal materials, and Practical Guidance.
Westlaw Edge (UofC Law School only) This link opens in a new window
Faculty of Law students and faculty may obtain an individual password.
Westlaw Edge is a full text and indexing database that provides access to a variety of law and finding tools. It includes Canadian statutes and regulations, reported decisions from Canadian courts and tribunals, Canadian law journals and law reviews. Westlaw includes nearly 15,000 databases covering most US primary and secondary legal materials and legal research tools. It also includes over 700 full text law reviews and has legal material from the UK, Australia and the EU.

Libraries & Cultural Resources

Research Guides