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Legal Research - Midterm Study Guide

Chapter 1
- Names of four primary sources of law where we have to find the law: 1) statutes 2)
regulations 3) bylaws 4) cases.
- Two purposes of legal research: 1) to obtain legal information you don’t yet know 2) to
confirm the accuracy of the legal information you already have.
- Three basic steps of legal research: 1) identify a legal issue after hearing the story of a
client’s problem 2) used specialized legal research tools to direct you to the legal
information and legal sources about that issue 3) apply the law you find to solve the
client’s problem).
- Three broad categories of law: 1) substantive law 2) procedural law, and 3) evidence
law.
- Four sources of substantive law, procedural law, and evidence law: 1) federal and
provincial statutes 2) federal and provincial regulations 3) by laws made by
municipalities 4) case law found in courts judgments and tribunal decisions)
- Definition of primary sources of legal research: the actual statutes, regulations, bylaws,
and case decisions that create the law.
- Definition of secondary sources of legal research: sources that assist you to understand
the primary sources of law and that help you locate the primary sources of law.
- Two advantages of using print sources over online sources: 1) it is easier to browse
through a print source to see how your research topic fits within the general area of law
that you are researching and 2) print versions of the long extend much further into the
past.
- What does finding the most up-to-date statute law , bylaws, and regulations, mean?
Answer: ensure that the law has not been amended or repealed.
- What does finding the most up-to date case law mean? Answer: ensure that the case
decision has not been overturned on appeal.

Chapter 2
- Legislation displaces case law in the event of a conflict.
- Legislation binds both the courts and the adjudicative bodies where it applies.
- Statutes are known by other names (acts of the legislature, acts, or legislation).
- Functions of statutes (e.g., to prohibit things in certain or in all circumstances).
- Most proposed laws (i.e., bills) originate from the governing party not from opposing or
minority parties.
- Government bills are proposed by the ministers of the government who are part of the
executive branch of government.
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- Private member bills are rare but can be proposed by any member of Parliament (who is
not a cabinet minister).
- LEGISinfo provides information on legislation before Parliament (for example, after a bill
has been read the first time in either house (house of commons or senate), it is made
available electronically on LEGISinfo).
- LEGISinfo provides the text of a bill at various stages of development, legislative
summaries, government press releases about proposed laws, etc.
- Process for passing a federal statute.
- First reading: the bill is introduced but not read aloud in the Chamber; instead it is just
made available for parliamentarians and Canadians to read and examine.
- Second reading: during second reading, parliamentarians debate the principle or main
idea of the bill; after the time for debate is over, parliamentarians vote on whether the
bill will continue through the process.
- If the vote supports the bill, the bill is sent to committee and is examined, clause by
clause, by a smaller group of parliamentarians called a parliamentary committee, who
can suggest amendments.
- The committee can invite government officials and experts to answer questions.
- Report stage: at this stage, the bill is returned to the chamber where it was introduced
and debated again, including with respect to any changed proposes by the committee
and with respect to any additional changes suggested by parliamentarians.
- When they have voted on the amendments, the bill is finalized, and it is ready for third
reading.
- Third reading: during the third reading parliamentarians debate the final form of the bill
and vote to decide if it should be sent to the Senate.
- A simple majority vote (51 percent) is required for a bill to pass second and third reading
and the Senate stage.
- Senate process goes through the same steps as the elected chamber process.
- Royal assent: approval by the GG is required for a federal bill to become law once it has
been passed by both Houses (senate and elected chamber) in identical form.
- Provincially, the Queen’s representative is called the lieutenant governor.
- Three (3) ways a statute comes into force: on receiving royal assent if that is what the
text of the statute states, on a certain date as prescribed by the text of the statute, or
“upon proclamation”, which means on a date to be announced at a future time by
parliament.
- A proclamation date is announced in the federal or provincial Gazette (the Gazette is a
government publication used to publish regulations, public notices, acts of Parliament,
etc.).
- Statutes passed by Parliament or by the provincial legislature in any year are collected in
a series for that year and are printed in a bound annual volume that is designated by
year (e.g., the SC 2012 are the Statutes of Canada that were passed in 2012).
- Statutes are given chapter numbers; these chapter numbers in the volume, represents
the order in which the statute was passed in a given year.
- Statutes are published in print and online versions.
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- In the past, the annual statutes of the federal gov’t and some provincial gov’t statutes
were collected and revised every number of years (this no longer happens).
- Last federal revision: 1985.
- Last provincial revision: 1990.
- Any laws printed before the revised cut-off dates would be found in the last REVISED
VOLUMES.
- For example, if you are looking for a federal statute passed and printed in 1980, you
would go to the Revised Statutes of Canada for 1985 to find the last volume of the
statute
- Ontario e-Laws site (most up-to-date source for Ontario statutes; new statute law is
generally updated within 2 business days).
- Federal justice laws website (most up-to-date source for federal statutes; most federal
statute laws are updated every two weeks).
- Statute laws can also be located on different legal databases (but these are NOT official
versions and are NOT as up-to-date as what is available on e-laws or federal justice):
CanLII, Westlaw, and Quicklaw.
- To determine what law applies to a client’s problem, you need to determine jurisdiction
(federal, provincial, or municipal) and then find the specific statute or statutory
provision that applies to the problem.
- For example, if a woman is charged with stunt driving in Ontario, she would be subject
to the provisions of the provincial Highway Traffic Act.
- For example, if a man wants to get divorced, he would be subject to the federal Divorce
Act.
- You have to understand the statute rule and apply it to the facts of the client’s problem.
- Short titles are used to cite statutes NOT long titles (e.g., Red Tape Reduction Act, not An
Act to control the administrative burden that regulations impose on businesses).
- Statute organization: section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph.
- Long statutes may have a TOC (e.g., Residential Tenancies Act).
- Statutes have introductory sections (e.g., setting out the scope of the statute) and
housekeeping provisions (e.g., setting out the date when the statute came into force
and naming the individuals responsible for the making of the regulations under the
statute).
- Applying a statute to a client’s problem: logically sequence the facts of the client’s
problem; find the statute/part of the statute that is relevant to the client’s problem,
read and understand the statute, and apply the rule in the statute to the client’s
problem.
- How to read a statutory provision: various steps need to be taken, including determining
to whom the statutory provision is directed (general public, a corporation, a real estate
agent, or a spouse), determining to what matters the statute applies, to what matters
specific statutory provisions apply to, considering whether the statute defines any of the
relevant terms you’re looking for (e.g., spouse).
- Statutory provisions usually accomplish one of three things: order something to be
done, permit something to be done, or prohibit something to be done – ask: under what
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circumstances does the statute allow for these different things and how are they
enforced?
- Break down a statutory provision into its constituent elements, that way you can use
the breakdown as a checklist to cross-reference against the client’s fact situation.
- Do the facts of the client’s situation trigger the statutory provision?
- Remember, the statutory provision is applicable only if each element is accounted for in
the facts.
- Never paraphrase statutory provisions, cite the text verbatim.
- If the statutory provision only applies to a “child”, you may need to “build up” the
statutory provision by researching the meaning of the term child in the case law or in
the definition section of the statute.
- Statute citations involve four elements: the short title or short name of the statute, the
volume title abbreviation, the chapter number, and the section number (e.g.,
Development Charges Act, SO 1997, c 27, s 2).
- Note the short title of a statute is always used without the word “The”.
- However, note, sometimes the “year of the statute” is included in the short title of the
statute.
- For example, Pharmacy Act, 1991, SO 1991, c 36.
- The title of a statute is always italicized and followed by a comma.
- Annual Volume Title Abbreviation (i.e, SC for Statutes of Canada and SO for Statutes of
Ontario).
- Revised Volume Title Abbreviation (e.g., RSC for Revised Statutes of Canada and RSO for
Revised Statutes of Ontario).
- In annual statute volumes, statutes are put in chronological order by chapter number
(e.g., c 46).
- In revised statute volumes, statutes are put in alphabetical order and then numbered.
- This is called alphanumeric order.
- Example of a revised Ontario statute citation (note the period): Blind Persons’ Rights
Act, RSO 1990, c b.7.
- Example of a revised federal statute citation (note the hyphen): Criminal Code, RSC
1985, c C-46.
- s. 2(1) is an example of a pinpoint reference in a statute.
- s. stands for section.
- 2 stands for the section number.
- (1) stands for the subsection number.
- Bylaws can be made by a city or municipality under the authority of either the Ontario
Municipal Act or the City of Toronto Act.
- Under these statutes, the province has delegated to a municipality or city the right to
legislate on a prescribed range of matters: including business licencing, health, safety,
and well-being of persons.
- Bylaws are passed through a majority vote of council.
- Bylaws effective are on the date of enactment unless another date is specified in the
enactment.
- Bylaws are normally enforced through the provincial justice system.
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- Most cities and municipalities in Ontario maintain online versions of their bylaws.
- In some cities or towns, you have to go to the City Clerk’s Office or Municipal Clerk’s
Office to obtain a copy of a bylaw.

Chapter 3
- Regulations are the second primary source of law in Canada (they fall behind statute
law).
- Regulations are a form of subordinate law and made under the authority of an enabling
statute.
- Amongst other things, regulations provide information about how to carry out an
enabling statute’s objective.
- Regulations address the procedural and administrative aspects of the law, while the
enabling statute addresses the general principles and objectives of the law.
- The enabling statute tells you who may make regulations and for what purpose (gov’t
ministries and gov’t depts in charge of the subject matter of legislation will prepare the
necessary regulations).
- Last consolidated date for federal regulations: 1978 (i.e., Consolidated Regulations of
Canada). CRC.
- Last consolidated date for provincial regulations: 1990 (i.e., Revised Regulations of
Ontario). RRO.
- Regulations come into force in three ways: upon filing, upon registration, and upon
publication.
- Three ways a regulation can be withdrawn: by a provision in the same regulation, by a
provision in another regulation, by a provision in a statute.
- Three ways a regulation expires: when the regulation itself contains an expiration date
and that date has passed, when the authorizing statute is no longer in force, when the
regulation has become obsolete.
- Three ways a regulation becomes important: if a statutory provision refers explicitly to a
regulation, the word “prescribed” is used in a statutory provision, or we need to consult
a regulation because it contains the procedural rules of a court.
- Regulatory citations have two parts: the year the regulation that was passed and the
chronological number of the regulation made that year chronological number of the
regulation (e.g., CRC, c 421).
- Federal regulation citation example: SOR/93-392
- For federal regulations, NOTE that the YEAR is followed by the CHRONOLOGICAL
NUMBER of the federal regulation made that year.
- Provincial regulation citation example: O Reg 341/94
- For provincial regulations, NOTE that the CHRONOLOGICAL NUMBER of the provincial
regulation made that year is indicated first.

Chapter 4
- Case law is the fourth source of primary law
- Case law reports and decisions are based on two main parts of a legal proceeding: the
evidence and the legal argument.
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- Names of parties depend on the nature of the legal decision (compare and contrast:
criminal trials, civil trials, appeal hearings, tribunal and appeal tribunal hearings)
- An endorsement is an informal handwritten decision of a court judge.
- Four reasons to read a case law:
- First, case law tells us whether a client has a cause of action.
- Second, case law tells us whether a client’s cause of action is likely to succeed.
- Third, case law tells us how much a client can expect to receive in damages.
- Fourth, case law tells us what evidence has to be presented at trial.
- Appeal court decisions sometimes contain majority opinions and dissenting opinions.
- A majority opinion is the opinion agreed upon by the majority of appeal court judges.
- A dissenting opinion is an opinion written by an appeal court judge who did not agree
with the majority opinion.
- Structure of a case decision: headnote and summary, purpose of the legal proceeding,
facts, issues, law, ratio and decision, disposition.
- A line of authority is a set of cases that the share the same point of view about a legal
issue over a period of time
- A legal decision maker, when writing up reasons for decision, will normally refer to a line
of authority
- Term obiter dicta refers to the part of the reasons where the decision maker expresses
an opinion about a matter not directly concerned with the issues.
- Only cases of legal significance are published in a law report series.
- Case citations have seven parts: 1) style of cause, 2) year of decision 3) law report
volume number 4) name of law report series 5) law report series number 6) page
number 7) jurisdiction and court.
- Example: Hopp v Lepp, [1980] 2 SCR 192, 112 DLR (3d) 67.
- Neutral citations have four parts: style of cause, year of decision, abbreviation of name
of court, and chronological number – for example, R v Manning, 2013 SCC 1.
- If there are parallel case citations, make sure the first citation is to an official reporter
(e.g., SCR).
- If a case has a neutral citation, use the neutral citation only.
- Do not include a law report or electronic database citation.

Chapter 5
- Use four steps to analyze a client’s fact situation:
- First, identify the issues on a preliminary basis by asking four questions: what does the
client want? what are the relevant facts? what is the general area of law? what is the
objective of your research?
- Second, are there any hidden issues (e.g., a procedural issue such as a limitation period
that is expiring soon).
- Third, formulate the issue starting with the word “whether”.
- Fourth, identify the need for further information.

Chapter 6
- Research the binding law, that is the law that must be followed by the court.
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- Try to distinguish the binding law that goes against your client, otherwise the principle
of stare decisis may be applied against your client.
- Federal law binds courts in all provinces and territories.
- Superior Courts are the second highest level in a province.
- Review structure of Ontario Court System.

Chapter 7
- Statute citators and case citators must be used to ensure that the law we are relying on
is up-to-date.
- For Quicklaw, the updating tool is called QuickCITE.
- When working with print courses, be aware of and use research tools effectively: user
guides, a statute’s table of contents, the online Index to Canadian Legal Literature for
secondary sources of law, indexes, tables of cases, etc.

Chapter 8
- Online legal research sources come in two forms: free form and pay for use form.
- Some online sources are dedicated to legal research; others are not.
- Many pitfalls to finding legal information online.
- For example, a lack of organization if the online source is not edited by a human editor.
- And, the impossibility of reviewing the sheer volume of content located
- Two main paid online dedicated legal research services in Canada: Quicklaw and
Westlaw.
- Heinonline is a great paid, online legal resource that allows us online access to primary
and secondary sources of law going back over nine centuries.
- CanII is a free dedicated online service that provides access to primary law and
secondary sources helping us understand the primary law.
- CanLii docs (provides secondary sources).
- CanLII connects (provides current legal commentary on very recent Canadian court
decisions).
- Two primary purposes of secondary source research: understanding the primary law
and directing us to primary sources of law.

Chapter 9
- Necessary background legal knowledge is needed to do an effective keyword search
(you only get search results based on the “keyword” search performed).
- Use a range of key words to ensure effective key word searches (“impaired driving” OR
“drunk driving” OR “driving while impaired”).
- Use plain language searches when you lack the necessary background knowledge to do
a more precise search.
- Use appropriate filters (e.g., court jurisdiction, time period, etc.) when conducting your
searches.
- Use Boolean searches to conduct more precise key word searches.
- Know Boolean search connectors: OR, NOT, AND, phrase connector, substitution
symbol, truncation symbol.
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- Consider using multiple Boolean search connectors if search results are too broad and
you’re not getting what you’re looking for.