Legal Dictionaries/Words & Phrases
Legal Dictionaries / Words & Phrases
Legal dictionaries and Words and Phrases can help you research the meaning of legal terms and the legal interpretation of legal words and phrases. This can help when you’re trying to interpret a statute for which there is no clear case law or if you’re trying to discern the meaning of a word in a key legal document, such as a contract or a will.
Legal Dictionaries
Words & Phrases
Legal Encyclopedias
Legal Encyclopedias
Legal encyclopedias contain narrative summaries of the law supported by references to case law and statutes. They are often the best place to start to gain a general understanding of the law in a particular area.
There are two main legal encyclopedias in law: the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) and Halsbury's Laws of Canada (Halsbury's). CED covers federal, western, and Ontario jurisdictions, and Halsbury's covers all provincial and federal jurisdictions. Both are available in print in the Law Library in the reference section on the first floor.
Electronically, CED is available in Westlaw Edge Canada, while Halsbury's is available in Lexis+. Note that only law students have access Westlaw Edge, and non-law students must use the campus-wide version of Lexis Advance Quicklaw. Non-law students can also use both CED and Halsbury's in print in the library.
Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
- Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
- Helpful titles include:
- Business Corporations
- Contracts
- Employment Law
- Labour Law
- Torts
- Wrongful Dismissal
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)
- Helpful titles include:
- Business Corporations
- Contracts
- Employment
- Labour
- Torts
Journal Articles & Databases
Journal Articles & Databases
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 Resources
If you need help locating an article, contact a librarian for assistance.
Books
Books
To search for books 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.
A few key texts:
Remember to search for books on other areas that might be applicable, like employment law, labour law, torts, contracts, environmental law, etc.
Legislation
Legislation
The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial legislation.
A few helpful statutes:
Federal
New Brunswick
Case Law
Case Law
The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial case law.
Cases Digests
Along with searching the databases mentioned above, you should use a case digest to find case law. A case digest service indexes cases by topic, and each topic is broken down into several subtopics. With a case digest, you might find ten, twenty, or hundreds of cases on your research topic, saving you hours of time.
Two important case digests are the Canadian Abridgment Digests and the Canada Digest.
- Canadian Abridgment Digests
- Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
- Topics include:
- Business Associations
- Commercial Law
- Contracts
- Labour and Employment Law
- Torts
- Canada Digest
- Available via Lexis+ and the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students)
- Click Case Summaries > All Canada Digests for a list of topics
- Topics include:
- Commercial Law
- Contracts
- Corporations, Partnerships and Associations
- Employment
- Labour
- Tort Law
- Wrongful Dismissal
Legal Forms & Precedents
Legal Forms & Precedents
Forms and precedents can be samples of common legal documents, forms that are legislated by statute or regulation, or even a document that has evolved through common use to become the accepted standard.
You can find forms and precedents in the following databases:
- Canadian Forms & Precedents
- Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide Quicklaw (available to all students)
- List of forms and precedents is under Secondary Materials > Drafting Materials (Precedents)
- Specific titles include Corporations, Employment, Sale and Operation of a Business, and more
- O'Brien's Encyclopedia of Forms
- Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and UNB WorldCat (available to all students)
- Specific titles include Commercial and General, Corporations, Labour Relations and Employment, Municipal Corporations, and more
- Lexis Practical Guidance
- Available to law students only; use your Lexis+ login credentials
- Database used in practice with forms and precedents, as well as practice notes, clauses, checklists, and more
- Includes resources for Commercial, Corporate and Private M&A, Employment, and more
- Practical Law Canada
- Available to law students only; use your Westlaw Edge login information
- Database used in practice with standard documents and clauses, as well as practice notes, checklists, toolkits and more
- Includes resources for Competition, Corporate and M&A, Employment, Litigation: Corporate & Commercial, and more
Websites & Blogs
Websites & Blogs
Websites
The following websites may be helpful for your research:
Blogs and News
There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca. The following are a few blogs that might be helpful for business law research:
Last modified on October 1, 2023 02:40
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