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.
Access to the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (aka the McGill Guide), 10th edition, 2023, is now available both in the traditional print book format in the Library (call number KE259.C35 2023) or online through Westlaw Canada. Sign into Westlaw Canada as usual using your network login. You will see the McGill Guide on the home page of the database.
The Library's short Legal Citation document has been updated to reflect the 10th edition.
Canadian legal news, analysis and current awareness. Content includes newsletters tailored to specific practice areas, customized alerts, digests with summaries of important rulings, expert insights on hot topics, in depth case analyses.
This guide was created by Durham College Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License, except where otherwise noted.
