Law, Human Rights Guide Ask Us

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

Legal dictionaries define common legal words and terms. The entries are alphabetical and may include references to case law.

• Barron's Canadian Law Dictionary
  • Available via Lexis+ (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)

Words & Phrases

Words and phrases sources provide the meanings of words as defined by the courts. They also provide references to statutes or case law where words or phrases are defined. These definitions can have legal authority because they have been defined in the courts.

• 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

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, while Halsbury's is available in Lexis+.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest

• Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
• Helpful titles include:
  • Human Rights (title 82 in vol. 31 in print)
  • International Law (title 87 in vol. 34 in print)
    • Note: the International Law title hasn't been updated since 1995, so use with caution.

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:
  • Discrimination and Human Rights (title code HDH)
  • Public International Law (title code HPI)

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.

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.

The following books may be useful in your research:

Canadian:

• The Annotated Canadian Human Rights Act by Marni R Tolensky, T Stephen Lavender & Shirish Pundit Chotalia / LAW-STACKS KF4483 .C5 C56.
• The Canadian Charter of Rights Annotated by JB Laskin et al / LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 C35 and eBook.
• Constitutional Law of Canada by Peter W Hogg / LAW-RESERVE KF4482 .H66 2007 and eBook.
• Discrimination and the Law: Including Equality Rights Under the Charter by Walter Surma Tarnopolsky / LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 T32 1985 and eBook.
• The Law of Human Rights in Canada: Practice and Procedure by Russel W Zinn / LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 Z55 1996 and eBook.

International:

• Encyclopedia of Human Rights, edited by David P Forsythe / eBook only.
• A Handbook on International Human Rights Terminology by H Victor Condé / eBook only.
• International Human Rights Law by Mark Freeman & Gibran van Ert / LAW-RESERVE K3240 .F74 2004 and eBook.
• Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law, 2nd ed, by Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, Laura Brav & Clémentine Olivier / LAW-REF KZ6471 .B68 2007 and eBook (3rd ed).
• The Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law, edited by Dinah Shelton / LAW-STACKS K3240 .O94 2013 and eBook.

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 Legal 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 (1981– )
• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908–1981)
• 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

Legislation & Case Law

Key Resources

The following databases and websites provide access to legislation and/or 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
• New Brunswick Courts  
• New Brunswick Court Docket List  
• New Brunswick Court Proceedings Transcript Fees & Request Form  
• Canadian Court Records/Dockets (Guide created by the Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor)
• European Court of Human Rights  
  • An international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. Search the HUDOC database for case law.

Statutes

The following statutes are related to human rights law. For statutes not listed, search the databases listed above.

International Treaties & Documents

A treaty is a formal agreement between two or more countries. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, pact, convention, protocol, or covenant.

Treaties can be bilateral, multilateral, or plurilateral:

• Bilateral: treaties between Canada and one other country
• Multilateral: treaties between three or more countries
• Plurilateral: treaties between one State and a group of States

Canadian Treaties and Documents (via Global Affairs Canada)

• Canada Treaty List  
• Canada Treaty Series
• UN Declarations and Statements
• Human Rights Treaties

United Nations Documents

• United Nations Treaty Series  
• United Nations OHCHR Databases  
• Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (research guide from the UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library)

International, Foreign, and U.S. Treaties

• Treaties and International Agreements Research Guide (via University of Chicago Library)

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' Google Custom 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.

The following sites might be useful:

• 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.
• Canadian Human Rights Commission  
  • Includes a library of publications, policies, and reports

Websites & Blogs

The following sites may be helpful for your research:

• Amnesty International Canada
• Canadian Civil Liberties Association  
• Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights  
• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (US Department of State)
• EU Charter of Fundamental Rights  
• Human Rights First  
• Human Rights Library (via University of Minnesota)
• Human Rights Research Guide (via NYU Libraries)
• Human Rights Watch
• INTERIGHTS (International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights)
• International Commission of Jurists
• Women's Human Rights Resources Programme (WHRR)  (via University of Toronto's Bora Laskin Law Library)

There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca. There are several blogs listed in the human rights category that may be helpful.