Category: Legal Information

Posts about legal information generally: news, events, or other legal information items not necessarily connected to the Law Library

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Something new on the Supreme Court of Canada website: a web archive of cited sources

On January 26, 2017 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) announced in a news release the creation of an archive of the “content of most online sources cited by the Court between 1998 and 2016.” The archive is located in the Judgment section of the SCC website:  Internet Sources Cited in SCC Judgments 1998 – 2016

The SCC has responded to ongoing issues with citation of online sources, namely “link rot” where a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) does not serve up any content, and “reference rot” where the link works but the information has changed (see Zittrain, below at  p 177) . The SCC now captures and archives online sources cited in the “Authors Cited” section of  judgments and assigns an “archived version” URL thus ensuring that future researchers will be able to read what the Court cited.

The SCC’s approach is not new, since 2008 the US Ninth Circuit has archived websites it cites (see Liebler, below at p. 301).    Readers who use the Government of Canada website may recall seeing “archived on the web” messages on web pages, indicating these webpages have been captured and archived online.  Often these archived sources are captured in the Government of Canada’s’ web archive.  It is most often that online free sources develop link rot.  Databases like Lexis Nexis and Westlaw assign their own persistent identifiers (see Lyons below at p. 685).

The assignment of an “archived version” link grows from the establishment of persistent URLs (PURLs).  Use of PURLs provides for  continuity of references to network resources that may migrate. PURLs have been in use since 1995.  Early examples of permanent URLs are found in the catalogues and databases of government information.  The United States Government Printing Office uses PURLs in US GPO FDSYS. Persistent URLs were designed to get around the problem of “link rot”, i.e. no content, which occurs when a website and it folders are moved to entirely different locations and servers (see  Liebler &  Liebert below at p. 305).

Current examples of moving to different servers? Government website reorganizations after elections.   President Obama’s White House webpages have been archived at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ .  The Government of Canada is currently redesigning all of its websites.  Fortunately, the government publications likely to be cited in a judgment or scholarly publication will have a  PURL.  You just have to use the right PURL locator,for example, the Government of Canada Publications catalogue, the Legislative Library of British Columbia Catalogue, the United States Government Printing Office catalogue, and now the SCC Internet Sources.

Another example of capturing and archiving cited sources is Perma.cc, developed by the Harvard Law Library.  Like the SCC archive, Perma.cc captures what an author sees at moment of citation (Zittrain, below at p. 191). Authors provide a link to Perma; Perma then archives the full text associated with the URL.  Perma then returns a new URL, a Perma URL,  to the author for use instead of original URL, thus avoiding “link rot”.  Perma goes one step further; ensuring through LOCKSS technology permanent preservation of the captured content. Perma is being used by law reviews in Canada and the United States, include UVic’s own Appeal: Journal of Law Review and Reform.

And we mustn’t overlook  the Internet Archive’s WayBack machine.  If no one institution has take the time to create a web archive or PURL, you may luck out by using the WayBack Machine at https://archive.org/web/

For more information on Perma, link rot, and permanent URLs see:

Jonathan Zittrain, Kendra Albert, & Lawrence Lessig, “Perma: Scoping and Addressing the Problem of Link and Reference Rot in Legal Citations” (2014) 127 Harv. L. Ref. F.  176, online:  <http://harvardlawreview.org/2014/03/perma-scoping-and-addressing-the-problem-of-link-and-reference-rot-in-legal-citations/>. Also published in (2014) 14 Legal information Management.

Raizel Liebler & June Liebert, “Something Rotten in the State of Legal Citation: the Life Span of a United States Supreme Court Citation Containing an Internet Link (1996-2010)”, (2012) 15 Yale J.L. & Tech. 273, online: <http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/yjolt15&collection=journals&id=273>

Susan Lyone, “Persistent identification of electronic Documents and the Future of Footnotes”, (2005) 97 Law. Libr.J. 681, online: <http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/llj97&collection=journals&id=679>

PURL <http://www.oclc.org/research/themes/data-science/purl.html>

Permca.cc <https://perma.cc/>

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Live Stream: State of Washington v Trump

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is set to hear oral arguments at 3:00 pm PST on whether the federal district court’s temporary nationwide injunction barring the enforcement of President Trump’s executive order on immigration should remain in place.

Oral arguments will be live streamed on the US Court of Appeals’ website at 3:00 pm PST. Students and faculty interested in listening to oral arguments can listen here. If anyone is unable to listen this afternoon, the hearing will also be archived and made available  by 12:00 pm PST on Wednesday, February 8. The archived hearing will be posted to the court’s YouTube channel here.

The court has also made available the parties’ written briefs and all amicus curiae briefs. All briefs are available on the court’s website.

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#Research4Refugees: Resources from your UVic librarians

Kudos for your great work in #research4refugees, UVic Law students!

In the interests of expediency, we’re posting here the research resources you need to get started. Later, we can formalize into an more structured research guide. You will also find us at the law school or in the library on Saturday to offer a guiding hand.

And watch this space—It is growing by the minute!

New! (added 4:20 pm, Friday Feb 3)

We’ve added a brief list of relevant secondary sources available in the law library, a growing list at the bottom of this post.

Other sources (added 2:25 pm, Friday Feb 3)


And of course if you haven’t taken LAW 323 or LAW 342, don’t forget to orient yourself with some key secondary sources:

US resources

  • A brief overview of US legal research for Canadian legal researchers, with links to key sources:

US legal research 24 Feb 2016 CC ppt

Other commentary:

Bordering on Failure : Canada-U.S. Border Policy and the Politics of Refugee Exclusion , Harvard Immigration and Refugee Law Clinical Program, 2013.

Audrey Macklin, Disappearing Refugees: Reflections on the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, (2004-2005) 36 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 365   The article provides background on the agreement such as below:

HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER:Working Together at our Shared Border and Abroad to Ensure Safety, Security and Efficiency. Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, December 2002

Government Response to the Report of the Standing Committee
on Citizenship and Immigration Safe Third Country Regulations, May 2003

(As we’re pulling this together pretty quickly, we might have typos or link errors in some of the content above. If you spot any, please inform us and we’ll fix asap.)

EU Asylum Policies [electronic resource] : the Power of Strong Regulating States / Natascha Zaun Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) ebook

Added July 2017

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100th Anniversary of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, S.C 1994 c. 22

What do chickadees, bob-links, coots, oyster catchers, wrens, sandpipers, and auks  have in common?  These birds, backyard, shoreline, urban and wild are all protected by Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act, S.C. 1994 c. M-7, an act celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  The Act protects migratory birds from killing, capturing, taking*, injuring, or molesting.

The Convention between Canada and the United States  was signed in Washington on the 16 of August 1916. It was subsequently  sanctioned, ratified and confirmed in 1917 by an Act of the Parliament of Canada.  The 1917 act was introduced as Bill 92 on June 21, 1917.  The debates at first and subsequent  readings can be read online at the Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources website.

The Migratory Birds Convention Act has been continuously in force (with revisions) since 1917.  A pdf version of the original Act can be found in HeinOnline, S.C. 1917  c. 18 (7-8 Geo. V.  c. 18).

The current Act (including text of the original convention) and regulations can be viewed at the Canada Justice Laws website , S.C. 1994 c. M-7

The Convention and amendments can also be viewed online at the Canada Treaty Series website; search the Bilateral section.

For a complete listing of protected birds and reference to provincial legislation, see  the Environment Canada website, Legal Protection for Migratory Birds in Canada.  

Planning Ahead to Reduce the Risk of Detrimental Effects to Migratory Birds, and their nest and Eggs.

Related websites:

*see Article II, section 1 and 3 of the Convention for exceptions for taking for food.

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Historical Provincial Statutes – Now Available on HeinOnline

On Tuesday, HeinOnline launched its Provincial Statutes of Canada collection containing the annual and revised statutes of each Canadian province. The collection adds to HeinOnline’s growing collection of Canadian primary materials which includes a complete collection of the Annual Statutes of Canada (1792-2014)  and Revised Statutes of Canada.

While the Provincial Statutes of Canada collection is not complete, the collection will be a benefit to researchers who do not have access to a print collection. Researchers can expect the collection to grow as HeinOnline adds more coverage for each of the provinces in the future.

The collection includes:

British Columbia

  • Annual Statutes of British Columbia (1872-1990)
  • Laws of British Columbia, Consisting of the Acts, Ordinances, & Proclamations of the Formerly Separate Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and of the United Colony of British Columbia (1871)
  • Consolidated Statutes of British Columbia, Consisting of the Acts, Ordinances and Proclamations of the Formerly Separate Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia (1877)
  • Statutes of British Columbia up to and including the Year 1888
  • Revised Statutes of British Columbia (1897, 1911, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1979)

Alberta

  • Statutes of Alberta (1906-2015)
  • Revised Statutes of Alberta (1922, 1942, 1955, 1970, 1980, 2000)

Saskatchewan

  • Statutes of the Province of Saskatchewan (1906-1965)
  • Revised Statutes of Saskatchewan (1909, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1953, 1965)

Manitoba

  • Acts of the Legislature of the Province of Manitoba (1871-1965)
  • Consolidated Statutes of Manitoba 1880
  • Revised Statutes of Manitoba (1902, 1913, 1924, 1940, 1954)

Ontario

  • Statutes of Ontario (1867-2014)
  • Revised Statutes of Ontario (1877, 1887, 1897, 1914, 1927, 1937, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990)

Quebec

  • Statuts de la Province de Quebec (1867- 1965)
  • Revised Acts and Ordinances of Lower-Canada (1845)
  • Consolidated Statutes of Lower Canada (1861)
  • Statuts Refondus de la Province de Quebec (1888, 1909, 1925, 1941, 1964)

New Brunswick

  • Acts of the Province of New Brunswick (1786-1973)
  • Revised Statutes of New Brunswick (1854, 1877, 1903, 1927, 1952, 1973)

Prince Edward Island

  • Acts of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island (1860-1965)
  • Revised Statutes of Prince Edward Island (1951)
  • Acts of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island, from the Establishment of the Legislature, in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His Late Majesty King George the Third, A.D. 1773, to the Fourth Year of the Reign of His Present Majesty King William (1834)
  • Acts of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island, from the Establishment of the Legislature, in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, A.D. 1773, to the Seventh Year of the Reign of Her Present Majesty Queen Victoria (1851-1852)
  • Acts of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island from the Establishment of the Legislature, in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, A.D. 1773 to the Thirty-First Year of the Reign of Her Present Majesty Queen Victoria (1862-1868)
  • Private and Local Acts of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island (1862-1868)

Nova Scotia

  • Statutes of Nova Scotia (1836-1965)
  • Statutes at Large, Passed in the Several General Assemblies Held in His Majesty’s Province of Nova-Scotia  (1758-1835)
  • Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia (1851, 1859, 1864, 1873, 1884, 1900, 1923, 1954, 1967, 1989)

Newfoundland and Labrador

  • Statutes of Newfoundland (1845-1965)
  • Consolidated Statutes of Newfoundland (1874, 1896, 1919)
  • Revised Statutes of Newfoundland (1952)
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Section 35 Métis Rights and the Manitoba Metis Federation Decision

Metis Report

Thomas Isaac,  the Ministerial Special Representative to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada,  released his report on Métis reconciliation yesterday. Last June Mr. Isaac was appointed by the federal government to lead engagement with the Métis organizations and other interested parties to set out a framework for dialogue on Métis rights and reconciliation in response to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Manitoba Metis Federation et al v Canada, 2013 SCC 14.

You can read Mr. Isaac’s report and background information about the report here.

For more background information check out these items at UVic Libraries:

  • “Métis” : race, recognition, and the struggle for indigenous peoplehood – Chris Andersen. ELECTRONIC;  FC109 A53 2014
  • Métis in Canada : history, identity, law & politics – edited by Christopher Adams, Gregg Dahl & Ian Peach. FC109 M492 2013
  • Métis-Crown relations : rights, identity, jurisdiction and governance – Frederica Wilson & Melanie Mallet, editors. ELECTRONIC; FC125 M48
  • Métis rights – Thomas Isaac. E99 M47 I83
  • From recognition to reconciliation : essays on the constitutional entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights – edited by Patrick Macklem and Douglas Sanderson. KIB1810 F76 2016
  • From new peoples to new nations : aspects of Métis history and identity from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries – Gerhard J. Ens and Joe Sawchuk. E99 M47E57 2016
  • “The people who own themselves” : recognition of Métis identity in Canada : report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples –  The Honourable Vernon White, chair ; The Honourable Lillian Eva Dyck, deputy chair. ELECTRONIC
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Quebec legislation now free on LégisQuébec

The Québec Official Publisher recently replaced its paid subscription website with a new bilingual site LégisQuébec for distributing its collection of official Quebec Laws and Regulations. Quebec now joins the growing number of jurisdictions in Canada that are making their online collections of legislation available to the public for free.

The collection includes:

  • Consolidated Statutes and Regulations (in HTML, PDF, and EPUB)
  • Annual Statutes and Regulations (in HTML and EPUB since 2016; in PDF since 1996)
  • Table of Amendments (Statutes)
  • Table of Provisions not in force
  • Table of Provisions brought into force

In the words of Publications Québec – “Bonne consultation!”

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Free Access to Law Movement

Students and Faculty will be interested to learn about the Free Access to Law Movement.

The movement was initiated in 1992 with the establishment of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, which aimed to act on the belief that “everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them, without cost.”

The movement has expanded since, and now there are 54 members and multiple national and regional “LIIs” around the world, including CanLII (Canada) BaiLII (Britain and Ireland), AustLII (Australia) and many others.

In 2002 in Montreal the Declaration on Free Access to Law was formulated.

CanLII offers perhaps the best user interface of all the LIIs. It provides very current and deep historical content, including all the decisions of the SCC; intuitive search features; citation- and printer-friendly formats; and a “compare” feature that allows the user to see older and newer legislation side by side, with differences highlighted. Because Canadian law depends on English historical law, it is also helpful to know that the full text of the English Reports (1220-1886) is available at BaiLII.

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All SCC judgments published since 1876 now online

Did you know the collection of judgments on the SCC website was previously not quite complete? As of April 10, 2015, the gaps are filled.

From the news release of that day:

…all decisions published in the Supreme Court Reports dating back to 1876 are now available on the SCC Judgments website. Over the past 20 years, the SCC and Lexum have been working collaboratively, together with partners such as the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Alberta Law Foundation, the Centre d’accès à l’information juridique in Quebec, CanLII and others, to fill in gaps in the Supreme Court judgment database.

The free availability of judgments dating back to 1876 on the Web is part of the SCC’s commitment to making case-related information accessible. All of these newly-added SCC decisions can also be found in the CanLII database at www.canlii.org.

See a October 2014 post on Slaw from Daniel Poulin of Lexum for a prelude and some context. (Lexum is a legal information technology company which has long driven the content for the SCC judgments and CanLII.)