Legal Dictionaries / Words & Phrases
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
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:
- Income Tax (vol. 32 in print)
- Municipal and School Taxation (vol. 38 in print)
- Federal and Provincial Taxation (vol. 29 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:
- Income Tax (Corporate) (title code HTC)
- Income Tax (General) (title code HTG)
- Income Tax (International) (title code HTI)
- Taxation (General) (title code HTX)
- Taxation (Goods and Services) (title code HTGS)
Books
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:
- Administration of Income Tax by Colin Campbell / LAW-STACKS KF6300 .ZA2 C36.
- Canadian Corporate Finance Manual (CCFM) by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (eBook only).
- Canadian Income Tax Law, 6th ed, by David Duff et al / LAW-RESERVE KF6370 .ZA2 D84 2018.
- Canadian Taxation of Charities and Donations, 3rd ed, by Arthur BC Drache / LAW-RESERVE KF6499 .ZA2 D72 1987.
- CPA Canada Handbook: Accounting by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (eBook only).
- Fundamentals of Income Tax, Volume 1: Personal Tax, 2nd ed, by Vern Krishna / LAW-STACKS KF6370 .ZA2 K734 2019.
- Fundamentals of Income Tax, Volume 2: Corporate Tax by Vern Krishna / LAW-STACKS KF6370 .ZA2 K734 2018.
- Income Tax Act Annotated / LAW-STACKS KF6499 .ZA2 C15.
- Income Tax Law, 2nd ed, by Vern Krishna / LAW-STACKS KF6370 .ZA2 K74 2012 and eBook.
- International Taxation in Canada: Principles and Practices, 4th ed, by Jinyan Li, Arthur J Cockfield & J Scott Wilkie / LAW-STACKS KF6499 .ZA2 L5 2018.
- The Practitioner's Income Tax Act by David M Sherman / LAW-RESERVE KF6370 .ZA2 P73. Previous years available in LAW-STACKS.
- Principles of Canadian Income Tax Law by Joanne E Magee, Jinyan Li & Ted Cook / LAW-RESERVE KF6370 .ZA2 H63. Previous years available in LAW-STACKS.
Journal Articles & Databases
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
- 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
Legislation
Legislation
Key Resources
The following databases and websites provide access to federal 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
Statutes
The following statutes might be helpful:
-
Canada Business Corporations Act, RSC 1985, c C-44.
- Canada Pension Plan, RSC 1985, c C-8.
- Excise Tax Act, RSC 1985, c E-15.
- Income Tax Application Rules, RSC 1985, c 2 (5th Supp).
- Income Tax Conventions Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-4.
- Financial Corporation Capital Tax Act, SNB 1987, c F-11.1.
- Gasoline and Motive Fuel Tax Act, RSNB 1973, c G-3.
- Harmonized Sales Tax Act, SNB 1997, c H-1.01.
- New Brunswick Income Tax Act, SNB 2000, c N-6.001.
- Premium Tax Act, RSNB 1973, c P-15.
- Real Property Tax Act, RSNB 1973, c R-2.
- Tobacco Tax Act, RSNB 1973, c T-7.
Case Law
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
- Tax Court of Canada
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 Tax (vols 105–110 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
- Useful titles include the Canada Taxation Digest
Government Documents
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 government sites might be useful:
- Canada Revenue Agency
- Including CRA Forms and Publications
- Department of Finance Canada: Taxes
- 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.
- New Brunswick Finance and Treasury Board Publications: Taxes
More Information More Information
- Nikki Tanner
- Reference/Instruction Librarian
- UNB Fredericton
- ntanner@unb.ca