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 WestlawNext Canada, while Halsbury's is available in Lexis Advance Quicklaw.
Canadian:
- Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
- In print and electronically, the CED a Human Rights title available (title 82 in vol. 31 in print)
- Halsbury's Laws of Canada
- Both in print and electronically, there is a Discrimination and Human Rights title available. The title code for the volume is HDH.
International:
- Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
- In print and electronically, the CED has an International Law title (title 87 in vol. 34 in print) with an "International Transactions" section that deals with treaties and conventions.
- Note: this volume of CED hasn't been updated since 1995, so use with caution.
- Halsbury's Laws of Canada
- Both in print and electronically, there is a Public International Law title with a Human Rights section. The title code for the volume is HPI.
Journal Articles
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 journal search. An index is a systematic listing of journal articles by topic. A few key indexes in law are listed below.
Key Resources
- Index to Canadian Legal Literature (via WestlawNext Canada and Lexis Advance Quicklaw for UNB Law students and faculty)
- Index to Canadian Legal Literature (via campus-wide version of Quicklaw for UNB non-law and STU students: type "Index to Canadian Legal Literature in search box and add as a search filter)
- Index to Canadian Legal Periodical Literature (aka: Scott Index; note: page is in French)
- Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text
- Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective
- LegalTrac
- Lexis Advance Quicklaw (UNB Law faculty and students only)
- WestlawNext Canada (UNB Law faculty and students only)
- HeinOnline
There are other indexes available in print and electronically, as well as more full-text journal databases. Contact a law librarian for assistance.
Books
To search for books at UNB Libraries, use UNB WorldCat, the library's catalogue. UNB WorldCat contains records of materials held at all of UNB's libraries (including UNB Saint John).
Items shown as LAW-RESERVE may be requested at the circulation desk on the first floor of the Law Library. 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:
Canadian:
- The annotated Canadian Human Rights Act. LAW-STACKS KF4483 .C5 C56.
- Discrimination and the law: including equality rights under the Charter / Walter Surma Tarnopolsky. LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 T32 1985.
- The law of human rights in Canada : practice and procedure / Russel W Zinn. LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 Z55 1996.
- The Canadian Charter of Rights annotated / JB Laskin et al. LAW-RESERVE KF4483 .C5 C35.
- Constitutional law of Canada / Peter W Hogg. LAW-RESERVE KF4482 .H66 2007.
International:
- A handbook on international human rights terminology / H Victor Condé. Available as an eBook only.
- Practical guide to humanitarian law, 2nd ed / Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, Laura Brav & Clémentine Olivier. LAW-REF KZ6471 .B68 2007. Note: 3rd edition (2014) is available in eBook format.
- International Human Rights Law / Mark Freeman & Gibran van Ert. LAW-RESERVE K3240 .F74 2004. Also available in eBook format.
- The Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law / Dinah Shelton. LAW-STACKS K3240 .O94 2013.
- Encyclopedia of Human Rights / David P Forsythe. Available in eBook format only.
Cases & Legislation
Canadian:
Key Resources
The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial cases and legislation.
- Canadian Human Rights Reporter
- Lexis Advance Quicklaw (law students only)
- Quicklaw (campus-wide version for UNB non-law and STU students and faculty)
- WestlawNext Canada (law students only)
- CanLII
- Justice Laws (Government of Canada federal legislation)
- New Brunswick Legislation (Attorney General)
Statutes
-
Canadian Human Rights Act, RSC 1985, c H-6 (and its regulations)
- Human Rights Act, RSNB 2011, c 171 (New Brunswick)
Cases and Decisions
Along with searching the databases mentioned above, one can use other products to find case law:
- Canadian Abridgment Digests
A digest service that indexes cases by subject. This is an extremely useful resource. There are Human Rights volumes in print (vols 50-50B) and electronically in WestlawNext Canada (UNB Law students and faculty only).
- Canada Digest
A digest service similar to the Canadian Abridgment. Useful titles include Canada Human Rights Law Digest. It is available electronically through Quicklaw (campus-wide version available to all UNB and STU students and faculty) and Lexis Advance Quicklaw (UNB Law students and faculty only).
- LexisNexis Human Rights Law Netletter
A monthly current awareness service that provides short summaries of significant new Canadian decisions on immigration law that have been added to Quicklaw. It is available electronically through Quicklaw (campus-wide version available to all UNB and STU students and faculty) and Lexis Advance Quicklaw (UNB Law students and faculty only).
- Case Reporters
If you wish to browse the print reporters, we have some topical law reports dealing with human rights law on the second floor. Note: much of this content is retrospective. For current cases/decisions, please use electronic databases (i.e.: WestlawNext Canada, Lexis Advance Quicklaw) when available.- Canadian Human Rights Reporter (1980-2008), stack 270 (current holdings available electronically).
International:
Cases and Decisions
- Canadian Abridgment Digests
There is an International Law volume in print (vol 60) and electronically in WestlawNextCanada (UNB Law students and faculty only) with an "International Treaties, Conventions, and Agreements" section.
- Canada Digest
There is a Canada International Law Digest with an "International Human Rights Law section." It is available electronically through Quicklaw (campus-wide version available to all UNB and STU students and faculty) and Lexis Advance Quicklaw (UNB Law students and faculty only).
- European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court established by the European Convention on Human Rights. Search the HUDOC database for case law.
- Case Reporters
If you wish to browse the print reporters, we have some topical law reports dealing with human rights law on the second floor. Note: much of this content is retrospective. For current cases/decisions, please use electronic databases (i.e.: WestlawNext Canada, Lexis Advance Quicklaw) when available.- Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights (1989-), stack 309
- European Human Rights Reports (1979-1991), stack 309.
- Commonwealth Human Rights Law Digest (2009-2011), stack 309.
International Treaties & Documents
A treaty is a formal agreement between two or more countries. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, pact, convention, protocol, or covenant.
Treaties can be bilateral, multilateral, or plurilateral.
- Bilateral: treaties between Canada and one other country
- Multilateral: treaties between three or more countries
- Plurilateral: treaties between one State and a group of States
Canadian Treaties and Documents
- Canada Treaty List (via Global Affairs Canada)
- Canada Treaty Series (via Global Affairs Canada)
- UN Declarations and Statements (via Global Affairs Canada)
- Human Rights Treaties (via Government of Canada)
United Nations Documents
International, Foreign, and U.S. Treaties
Government Documents
Note: use Google search operators to focus your search, such as the site operator (site:) and the filetype operator (filetype:). For example, including site:gc.ca and filetype:pdf with your keywords 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.
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.
Government organizations, such as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, will also have reports and publications available online.
Websites & Blogs
Note: use Google search operators to focus your search, such as the site operator (site:) and the filetype operator (filetype:). For example, including site:gc.ca and filetype:pdf with your keywords 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 websites may be helpful for your research:
- Canadian Human Rights Commission
- Human Rights (Government of Canada)
- Timeline: Same-sex Rights in Canada (CBC News)
- Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights
- EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Canada)
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)
- Human Rights Watch
- Women's Human Rights Resources Programme (WHRR) (University of Toronto)
- Amnesty International
- International Labour Organization: International Labour Standards and Human Rights
- Human Rights First
- Privacy International
There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca. There are several blogs listed in the Human Rights category that may be helpful.
More Information More Information
- Nikki Tanner (Profile)
- Reference/Instruction Librarian
- UNB Fredericton
- Nikki.Tanner@unb.ca