This Legal Resources guide lists tools (some free, some library subscriptions) to assist you in finding primary and secondary legal documents.
What are PRIMARY resources? For the purpose of this research guide, primary legal documents are cases, statutes (laws), regulations and parliamentary materials such as bills and debates (Hansard).
What are SECONDARY resources? Legal commentary, or secondary sources, include encyclopedias, books and articles on your topic. Unless you already know the specific case or piece of legislation you need, it is often simplest to start with a secondary source, particularly one written by a legal expert. An article or book of authority (textbook) will usually point you to key cases or legislation.
Some of the Library's legal resources, such as Lexis Advance Quicklaw and WestlawNext Canada, include both primary and secondary information.
The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide) is usually the preferred legal citation format within Canada, but different courts and jurisdictions across the country may use different citation formats - please follow the rules as preferred by the specific area. The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide) is generally the preferred style for Durham College professors, but please follow their guidelines as laid out in class.
Go to the Library's Citation Styles page for a quick guide to McGill legal citation (10th edition as well as the older 9th edition) plus other citation styles like MLA and APA. The full text of the complete book is available in print in the Library's collection as well as online in Westlaw Canada.
Other legal citation styles include:
This guide was created by Durham College Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License, except where otherwise noted.
