Law, Privacy 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

• 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 & 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:
  • Privacy and Freedom of Information (title 124 in vol 44 in print).

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:
  • Access to Information and Privacy (title code HAP)

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:

• Courts, Litigants, and the Digital Age: Law, Ethics, and Practice, 2nd ed, by Karen Eltis / LAW-STACKS KF8733 .E48 2016 and eBook.
• Government Information: The Right to Information and the Protection of Privacy in Canada (2 vols) by Kris Klein & Denis Kratchanov / LAW-RESERVE KF5753 .A6 K54 2009.
• The Law of Employee Monitoring in Canada, 2nd ed, by Melanie R Bueckert & Daniel J Michaluk / LAW-STACKS KF3455 .B84 2016.
• The Law of Privacy in Canada (3 vols) by Barbara McIsaac, Rick Shields & Kris Klein / LAW-RESERVE KF1262 .A6 M35 2000 and eBook.
• The Offensive Internet: Speech, Privacy, and Reputation by Saul Levmore & Martha Craven Nussbaum / LAW-STACKS KF390.5 .C6 O34 2010 and eBook.
• Privacy in Employment: Control of Personal Information in the Workplace by Kris Klein, Vivian Gates & Natasha Beznosova / LAW-STACKS KF1262 .K54 2009.
• Privacy Law in the Private Sector: An Annotation of the Legislation in Canada (3 vols) by Priscilla Platt, Lise Hendlisz & Daphne Intrator / LAW-RESERVE KF1262 .A6 P53 2002.
• Privacy Rights in the Global Digital Economy: Legal Problems and Canadian Paths to Justice by Lesley A Jacobs, Nachshon Goltz & Matthew McManus / LAW-STACKS KF1263 .C65 J33 2014 and eBook.
• There Ought to be a Law: Protecting Children's Online Privacy in the 21st Century: A Discussion Paper for Canadians by the Working Group of Canadian Privacy Commissioners and Child and Youth Advocates / LAW-STACKS KF1263 .C65 W67 2009 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 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.

Legislation

Key Resources

The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial legislation.

• Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Non-law students: use the campus-wide version of Quicklaw
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• CanLII  
• Justice Laws   (federal legislation)
• LEGISinfo  
  • 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
  • Includes current legislation, rules of court, the Royal Gazette, the status of bills, and more

Statutes

The following statutes may be helpful. To search for others, use the databases mentioned above.

• Access to Information Act, RSC 1985, c A-1.
• Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.
• Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46.
• Digital Privacy Act, SC 2015, c 32.
• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, SC 2000, c 5.
• Privacy Act, RSC 1985, c P-21

New Brunswick:

• Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act, SNB 2009, c P-7.05.
• Public Interest Disclosure Act, RSNB 2012, c 112.
• Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, SNB 2009, c R-10.6.

Case Law

Key Resources

The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial case law.

• Lexis+ (law students only)
  • Non-law students: use the campus-wide version of Quicklaw
• Westlaw Edge (law students only)
• CanLII  
• New Brunswick Court Index  
• New Brunswick Courts  
• New Brunswick Court Docket List   (NB Courts)
• New Brunswick Court Proceedings Transcript Fees & Request Form   (Justice and Public Safety)
• Canadian Court Records/Dockets  (guide created by the Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor)

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)
  • Useful titles include:
    • Privacy and Freedom of Information (vol. 86 in print)
• 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
  • Cases on privacy can be found in many different digest topics. Search or browse for relevant topics and subtopics.

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 site might be useful:

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Websites & Blogs

The following sites may be helpful for your research:

• Data Protection Laws of the World (DLA Piper)
• Ombud NB - Access to Information and Privacy Division

There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca, an open directory of Canadian blogging lawyers, law librarians, marketers, IT professionals, and paralegals. There are several blogs listed in the information and privacy category that may be helpful.