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Law, Environmental Guide

Reference Sources

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 Encyclopedic Digest

In print and electronically, the CED has Environmental Law titles available (vol 23 in print).

Please make sure you check the currency of these titles in WestlawNext Canada, as some of the CED titles can be years out of date.

 

Halsbury's Laws of Canada

Both in print and electronically, there is an Environment title available. The title code for the volume is HEN.

Please check the currency of these titles. This resource provides information from each province in Canada, as well as federally.

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.

Non-Law Databases:

  • Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide
    Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide, produced by NISC, indexes published literature (journals, monographs, proceedings of conferences and symposia, government reports, grey literature, books, theses, and dissertations) on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Major topic areas include studies of individual species, habitat types, hunting, economics, wildlife behavior, management techniques, diseases, ecotourism, and zoology.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Earth, Atmospheric, & Aquatic Science Database (ProQuest)
    The Earth, Atmospheric, & Aquatic Science Database is an interdisciplinary resource of quality, curated A&I combined with full-text content from scholarly journals, trade journals, conference proceedings, and other sources. The coverage extends Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts (MGA) by providing a sizable element of full-text access along with comprehensive discovery through the extensive abstracts and indexes structured using controlled vocabulary managed by expert editorial teams. For coverage of aquatic science, the collection features the entire range of bibliographic records from Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA).

    Content Types: Scholarly Journals, Trade Journals, Books, Conference Papers and Proceedings, Government & Official Publications, Magazines, Newspapers, Other Sources, Reports, Tables, Wire Feeds, Working Papers, Video and Audio.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA)
    Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) "is a comprehensive database on the science, technology, and management of marine, brackishwater, and freshwater environments and resources."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Agricola (National Agricultural Library Catalog)
    AGRICOLA "provides U.S. and international coverage of information sources in agriculture, life sciences and related fields. Based on the U.S. National Agriculture Library collection."
    Unlimited simultaneous users

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 indexes in law are listed below, followed by key legal databases.

Law Databases:

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).

Search UNB WorldCat:
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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:

Dictionaries

Books

Loose-leaf texts

Cases & Legislation

Key Resources

The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial cases and legislation.

 

Statutes

The following statutes may be helpful. To search for others, use the databases mentioned above.

 

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 Environmental Law volumes in print (vols 31 and 31A Reissue) 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 Environmental 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 Environmental 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.

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.

The following sites might be useful:

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