Law Guide Ask Us

Find Reference Sources

The following electronic and print resources will assist in answering many basic law-related questions.

Print materials are located in the reference section of the Gerard V. La Forest Law Library, located on the second floor of the Law Building on UNB Fredericton's campus. To find additional reference materials, check the UNB Libraries WorldCat Catalogue.

Key Resources

Dictionaries

• Barron's Canadian Law Dictionary
  • Available via Lexis Advance Quicklaw (law students only), the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students), and in print on the reference desk and in the reference section (available to all students)
• Dictionary of Canadian Law
  • Available in print on the reference desk (available to all students)
• Black's Law Dictionary (American)
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only; click the International tab) and in print on the reference desk (available to all students)
• A Dictionary of Law (Oxford University Press)
• Duhaime's Law Dictionary  

Words & Phrases

• Words & Phrases Judicially Defined in Canadian Courts and Tribunals (Canadian Abridgment)
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
• Canadian Legal Words & Phrases
  • Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students)
• Sanagan’s Encyclopedia of Words and Phrases
  • Available in print on the reference desk (available to all students)

Legal Encyclopedias

• Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
• Halsbury's Laws of Canada
  • Available via Lexis+ (law students only), the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students), and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
• JurisClasseur Quebec
  • Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students)
  • Note that it is in French only, with no English translation.
• American Jurisprudence (2d) (American)
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• Corpus Juris Secundum (aka: Corpus Juris) (American)
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• Halsbury's Laws of England
  • Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students)

Find Books

To search for print and eBooks at UNB Libraries, use UNB WorldCat. UNB WorldCat contains records of materials held at the Harriet Irving, Science and Forestry, Engineering, Hans W. Klohn, and Law libraries.

Items shown as LAW-RESERVE may be requested at the circulation desk on the first floor of the Law Library. Bring the book's call number with you to the desk. Items shown as LAW-STACKS are on the second floor, and LAW-REF materials are on the first floor in the reference section.

Find Articles

The Gerard V. La Forest Law Library subscribes to a wide variety of law journals and legal periodicals, both online and in print.

If you already know the journal title, year, volume number and page number for an article, you may be able to access it electronically by searching for the journal's title in the UNB e-journals database. If we have the journal electronically or in print, it will be listed. You can also look up the journal title in UNB WorldCat.

Keep in mind that it can be best to start with an index rather than a full-text database. An index is essentially a list of articles by topic. Sometimes the article will be available full-text, but often you'll just be given a citation that you can use to track it down somewhere else.

Key Databases

• Index to Canadian Legal Literature
  • Available via Lexis+ (non-law UNB/STU use the campus-wide version of Quicklaw)
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text
• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective
• LegalTrac
• Lexis+ (non-law students use the campus-wide version of Quicklaw)
  • Click Law Reviews & Journals
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
  • Click Articles and Newsletters
• HeinOnline
  • Click Law Journal Library

If you need help locating an article, contact a librarian for assistance.

Find Cases & Legislation

The Law Library's print collection includes Canadian cases from courts, boards, and commissions, as well as legislation passed by Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments. If you need to find cases or legislation in print, please visit the Law Library on the second floor of the Law Building.

Some resources (Westlaw Edge, Lexis+) are for law students and faulty only. However, all UNB and STU students and faculty have access to the campus-wide version of Quicklaw, a comprehensive legal research database that provides access to cases, legislation, journals, newsletters, and other legal commentary.

Key Resources

The following databases and websites provide access to legislation and case law.

• Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Non-law students: use the campus-wide version of Quicklaw
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• CanLII  
• Justice Laws   (Government of Canada federal legislation)
• LEGISinfo  (Parliament of Canada)
  • Includes information on federal bills, including status, speeches, links to Hansard debates, full-text versions of bills, and more from 35th Parl, 1st Sess (January 1994) to the current session
• Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick  
• New Brunswick Acts and Regulations  (NB Attorney General)
  • Includes current legislation, rules of court, the Royal Gazette, the status of bills, and more
• New Brunswick Court Index  (Justice and Public Safety)
• New Brunswick Courts  
• JustisOne (UK statutes and case law)
• ICLR.3 (UK case law)
• British and Irish Legal Information Institute  (BAILII) (UK case law and legislation)

Find Government Documents

Government departments and agencies publish a great deal of important law-related information. The Law Library's collection of printed government documents is located on the library's third floor. Use UNB WorldCat to search, or ask a library staff member for help.

The Harriet Irving Library also has government documents, which can be located through UNB WorldCat.

For government documents that are available online, try using UNB Libraries' Government Documents Search.

Note: if you include site:canada.ca (and/or site:gc.ca) and filetype:pdf in a Google search, you will retrieve PDF documents from Government of Canada websites. This is a good way to find government reports, as they are usually in PDF format.

Key Resources

• UNB Libraries' Government Documents Search
• Government of Canada Publications Search
  • Federal search engine for government publications
• Library of Parliament Research Publications
  • Non-partisan, reliable, and timely information and analysis on current and emerging issues, legislation, and major public policy topics from the Library of Parliament

Citing Your Sources

Accurate, properly formatted footnotes and bibliographies are hallmarks of good academic research. When you cite your sources, you acknowledge the source(s) of any ideas you mention in your writing, accurately document your research, and provide your readers with the information they need to track down your sources. Failing to properly cite your sources is plagiarism.

There are many citation styles out there, but when it comes to citing Canadian legal materials, lawyers and law students use The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 9th ed (LAW-RESERVE KF245 .C28 2018), aka: The McGill Guide.

The McGill Guide isn't available online; however, the University of British Columbia Law Library's legal citation guide can help you with common legal citation for most situations.

If you need to cite American or other foreign legal materials not covered in the McGill Guide, use The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (LAW-REFDSK KF245 .B59).

If you have any questions about legal citation, contact Nikki Tanner, Reference/Instruction Librarian.