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)
- The Dictionary of Environmental Law and Science
- Available in print in the reference section (available to all students)
- Miller Thomson's Environmental Law Dictionary
- Available in print in the reference section (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:
- Environmental Law (vol 23 in print)
- Agriculture (title 6 in vol 2 in print)
- Fish and Wildlife (title 73 in 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:
- Environment (title code HEN)
- Agriculture (title code HAG)
- Wildlife, Livestock and Pets (title code HWL)
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:
- An Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy in Canada, 3rd ed by Paul Muldoon et al. / eBook only (2nd ed available in print).
- Annotated Climate Change Statutes and Regulations in Canada [2 vols] by Florence Dagicour et al. / LAW-RESERVE KF3783 .A6 A56 2010.
- Blakes' Canadian Law of Endangered Species [2 vols] by Janice H Walton / LAW-RESERVE KF5640 .A6 W35 2007.
- The Canadian Brownfields Manual by Ahab Abdel-Aziz & Nathalie Chalifour / LAW-RESERVE KF3946 .A6 A23 2004 and eBook.
- Canadian Environmental Law Guide, edited by Paul C Wilson / LAW-RESERVE KF3775 .ZA2 C37 1996 and eBook (note: eBook is up to date).
- Encyclopedia of Global Warming & Climate Change, edited by S George Philander / eBook only.
- Environmental Law, 5th ed by Jamie Benidickson / LAW-STACKS KF3775 .ZA2 B36 2019 and eBook.
- Environmental Law and Policy, 4th ed by William A Tilleman et al. / LAW-STACKS KF3775 .ZA2 E58 2020 and eBook.
- Environmental Regulation in Canada by Maureen Carter-Whitney / LAW-RESERVE KF3775 .ZA2 C38 2008 and eBook via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide version of Quicklaw (available to all students).
- The Law of Climate Change in Canada by Dennis Mahony / LAW-STACKS KF3783 .A6 M345 2014 and eBook.
- The Prosecution and Defence of Environmental Offences [2 vols] by Stanley D Berger / LAW-RESERVE KF3775 .ZA2 B475 1994.
- Toxic Real Estate Manual by Frederick F Coburn & Garth Manning / LAW-RESERVE KF3775 .ZA2 C63 1994.
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
Non-Law Databases:
- Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide (EBSCO) 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
Legislation
Legislation
Key Resources
The following databases and websites provide access to federal and provincial 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
- Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
- New Brunswick Acts and Regulations
- Includes current legislation, rules of court, the Royal Gazette, the status of bills, and more
Statutes
The following statutes may be helpful. To search for others, use the databases mentioned above.
- Antarctic Environmental Protection Act, SC 2003, c 20 (and its regulations).
- Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act, SC 2002, c 18.
- Canada National Parks Act, SC 2000, c 32.
- Canada Water Act, RSC 1985, c C-11.
- Canada Wildlife Act, RSC 1985, c W-9.
- Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, SC 1999, c 33 (and its regulations).
- Clean Environment Act, RSNB 1973, c C-6.
- Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, SC 2018, c 12, s 186.
- Impact Assessment Act, SC 2019, c 28, s 1.
- Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29.
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
- New Brunswick Court Index
- New Brunswick Courts
- New Brunswick Court Docket List (NB Courts)
- New Brunswick Court Proceedings Transcript Fees & Request Form (Justice and Public Safety)
- Canadian Court Records/Dockets (guide created by the Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor)
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:
- Environmental Law (vols 31 and 31A Reissue 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:
- Canada Environmental Law 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:
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
- Canadian Environmental Protection Act Registry
- Canadian Impact Assessment Registry
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Environment and Natural Resources: Services and Information
- Federal Environmental Assessment Index: Public Registry
- Environment and Local Government (New Brunswick)
Websites & Blogs
Websites & Blogs
The following websites may be helpful for your research:
- Canadian Environmental Law Association (Ontario)
- Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy
- Canadian Institute of Resources Law (University of Calgary)
- Centre for Global Environmental and Natural Resource Law (University of British Columbia)
- Ecojustice Canada
- Environmental Law Centre (Canada)
- Marine & Environmental Law Institute (Dalhousie University)
- New Brunswick Environmental Network
- Sierra Club Canada
- National Agricultural Law Center (US)
There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca, an open directory of Canadian blogging lawyers, law librarians, marketers, IT professionals, and paralegals. There are several blogs listed in the energy and resources category that may be helpful.
More Information More Information
- Nikki Tanner
- Reference/Instruction Librarian
- UNB Fredericton
- ntanner@unb.ca