Ask Us Law, Business Guide

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 Canada, while Halsbury's is available in Lexis+. Note that only law students have access Westlaw Edge, and non-law students must use the campus-wide version of Lexis Advance Quicklaw. Non-law students can also use both CED and Halsbury's in print in the library.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest

• Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and in print in the reference section (available to all students)
• Helpful titles include:
  • Business Corporations
  • Contracts
  • Employment Law
  • Labour Law
  • Torts
  • Wrongful Dismissal

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:
  • Business Corporations
  • Contracts
  • Employment
  • Labour
  • Torts

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 Resources

• 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

If you need help locating an article, contact a librarian for assistance.

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.

A few key texts:

• Business Corporations in Canada: Legal and Practical Aspects [2 vols.] / Paul Martel. LAW-RESERVE KF1415 .ZA2 M37 2004.
• Business Organizations: Practice, Theory and Emerging Challenges / Robert Yalden. LAW-STACKS KF1355 .B87 2018 and eBook.
• Canadian Business Corporations Law [3 vols.] / Kevin McGuinness. LAW-STACKS KF1415 .ZA2 M33 2017 and eBook.
• Canadian Business Law / Tamra Alexander et al. LAW-STACKS KF889 .C37 2018.
• Contemporary Canadian Business Law: Principles and Cases / John A Willes. HWK-STACKS KE919 .W55 2020.
• Corporate Duties: The Liability of Corporations / Noah Sarna. LAW-RESERVE KF1423 .A6 S37 2006.
• The Law of Partnerships and Corporations / J. Anthony VanDuzer. LAW-STACKS KF1355 .V36 2018.
• Ontario Corporate Law and Practice [5 vols.] / Wayne D. Gray. LAW-REF KF1415 .ZB3 G73 2011 and eBook.

Remember to search for books on other areas that might be applicable, like employment law, labour law, torts, contracts, environmental law, etc.

Legislation

Legislation

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 (Government of Canada federal legislation)
• LEGISinfo (Parliament of Canada)
  • 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 (NB Attorney General)
  • Includes current legislation, rules of court, the Royal Gazette, the status of bills, and more

A few helpful statutes:

Federal

• Canada Business Corporations Act, RSC 1985, c C-44
• Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, SC 2009, c 23

New Brunswick

• Business Corporations Act, SNB 1981, c B-9.1
• Corporations Act, RSNB, 1973, c C-24
• Limited Partnership Act, SNB 1984, c L-9.1
• Partnerships and Business Names Registration Act, RSNB 1973, c P-5

Case Law

Case Law

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
• Supreme Court of Canada Cases
• Federal Court of Canada Cases

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)
  • Topics include:
    • Business Associations
    • Commercial Law
    • Contracts
    • Labour and Employment Law
    • Torts
• 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
  • Topics include:
    • Commercial Law
    • Contracts
    • Corporations, Partnerships and Associations
    • Employment
    • Labour
    • Tort Law
    • Wrongful Dismissal

Legal Forms & Precedents

Legal Forms & Precedents

Forms and precedents can be samples of common legal documents, forms that are legislated by statute or regulation, or even a document that has evolved through common use to become the accepted standard.

You can find forms and precedents in the following databases:

• Canadian Forms & Precedents
  • Available via Lexis+ (law students only) and the campus-wide Quicklaw (available to all students)
  • List of forms and precedents is under Secondary Materials > Drafting Materials (Precedents)
  • Specific titles include Corporations, Employment, Sale and Operation of a Business, and more
• O'Brien's Encyclopedia of Forms
  • Available via Westlaw Edge (law students only) and UNB WorldCat (available to all students)
  • Specific titles include Commercial and General, Corporations, Labour Relations and Employment, Municipal Corporations, and more
• Lexis Practical Guidance
  • Available to law students only; use your Lexis+ login credentials
  • Database used in practice with forms and precedents, as well as practice notes, clauses, checklists, and more
  • Includes resources for Commercial, Corporate and Private M&A, Employment, and more
• Practical Law Canada
  • Available to law students only; use your Westlaw Edge login information
  • Database used in practice with standard documents and clauses, as well as practice notes, checklists, toolkits and more
  • Includes resources for Competition, Corporate and M&A, Employment, Litigation: Corporate & Commercial, and more

Websites & Blogs

Websites & Blogs

Websites

The following websites may be helpful for your research:

• BizPaL: Online Business Permits and Licences Service (New Brunswick)
• Corporations Canada
• Institute of Corporate Directors
• The Conference Board of Canada
• Government of Canada: Business & Industry
• Government of New Brunswick: Resources for Business
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Blogs and News

There are many blogs maintained by lawyers and law firms, and you can find many of them at lawblogs.ca. The following are a few blogs that might be helpful for business law research:

• Business Law Blog
• Canadian Business Law Blog
• Canadian M&A Perspectives
• Startup Source
• Timely Disclosure