Category Archives: Legal Profession

Law Report

Law Report in Canada

Law Report

DLR (law reports)

The only general Canadian law report series reporting cases in all subject areas from the two federal courts as well as from all provincial courts is the Dominion Law Reports, cited D.L.R.

Law Report

Canada is one of those jurisdictions blessed with an active and successful free access to law ethos. Court decisions (transcripts) are offered free online via a number of sites: Lexum (Canadian Supreme Court only), CanLII (national and provincial courts, boards and tribunals) and Raw Law from National Reporter System – to name a big three.)

Canadian cases, with the Supreme Court cases being the exception, stop being cited after approximately the early 2000’s.

Decisions published in the Supreme Court Reports (SCR) are, by a significant margin, the most cited decisions in Canada. Indeed, decisions from the SCR account for 26% of the total. Who’s next? The DLR (law reports), at 10%, is next. Canadian Criminal Cases (CCC) follow at 8%. These 3 reports combined represent 44% of all citation blocks.

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Pensions Law Reports

Pensions Law Reports in Canada

Most Popular Entries related to Pensions Law Reports

Pensions Law Reports in the United States

Canadian Abridgement

Canadian Abridgement in Canada

“In theory, using one or two legal encyclopedias or digests should be all that is needed. (…) A legal reference work is useful only to the extent that it offers three things: reasonable completeness; intelligible arrangement; and accuracy. The last two overlap. If cases are put into the wrong categories or footnotes, or if the categories are too big, then legal research becomes
laborious. Worse still, it becomes incomplete and misleading.

Some Canadian legal encyclopedias or digests have very limited case coverage. And the
criteria for exclusion of cases are either unstated or non-existent (that is, inclusion is arbitrary
or random). Severe geographical or date restrictions probably have been used, and getting
access to older editions of encyclopedias or digests is difficult, especially outside a large city. (…)

The Canadian Abridgement probably contains the majority of important Canadian cases.
Its coverage is now pretty thorough.23 But sometimes the relevant legal point in a case is not
clear or obvious from the extracts digested or reprinted. The individual extracts are also often
long and full of irrelevant details. This greatly slows research.
Worse still, the subdivisions in The Canadian Abridgement are often large and vague. If
working with the print volumes, it is very laborious to try to read several hundred wordy fact
summaries of cases clumped under one large vague heading, not to mention trying to stay vigilant throughout that task, always trying to spot evidence of one’s precise desired legal
topic. It is like reading several hundred law school examination problems in one sitting.

The original classification scheme of The Canadian Abridgement in the 1930s was very
good and sophisticated. Unfortunately, in the 1950s through the 1970s, staff assigning cases
to categories sometimes did not seem to understand the categories. The editorial standards
soared in the 1980s. But, by then, huge volumes of available case law threatened to swamp
everyone. Further, many categories are still too broad or vague to be very useful.” (…)

EXAMPLES OF LOST LAW OMITTED FROM CURRENT CANADIAN ABRIDGEMENT

1. About one-third of cases in the first edition (from 1930s) and from pre-1900
Ontario cases.
2. Cases reported only in the Canadian Law Times.
3. Privy Council cases from outside Canada, even if reported in the Western Weekly
Reports.
4. Cases on old legislation, like pre-1948 labour law or rent control.
5. Pre-1949 Newfoundland decisions.
6. A very large portion of Quebec decisions, even on national topics like criminal law,
bankruptcy, bills of exchange, or insurance. As much as two-thirds of cases are
omitted.
7. Unreported cases (for example, 37 percent of decisions from Alberta in 1985).

(“Practical Legal Research”, JE Côté and Debra MacGregor)

Dominion Law Reports

Dominion Law Reports (DLR)) in Canada

DLR (law reports)

The only general Canadian law report series reporting cases in all subject areas from the two federal courts as well as from all provincial courts is the Dominion Law Reports, cited D.L.R.

The manner in which the D.L.R. is cited has changed somewhat as new series have been added:

  • 68 D.L.R. 381 / First series / 1912-1922 / volume and page number
  • [1923] 2 D.L.R. 485 / First series / 1923-1955 / year of publication, volume number within that year, and page number
  • 29 D.L.R. (2d) 114 / Second series / 1956-1968 / volume and page number, noting series
  • 80 D.L.R. (3d) 725 / Third series / 1969-1984 / volume and page number, noting series
  • 1 D.L.R. (4th) 201 / Fourth series / 1984-present / volume and page number, noting series

In other words:

  • DLR: Dominion Law Reports (Canada). Scope of this law report: 1912-1955.
  • DLR (4th): Dominion Law Reports, Fourth Series (Canada). Scope of this law report: 1984 – Present.
  • DLR (2d): Dominion Law Reports, Second Series (Canada). Scope of this law report: 1956–1968.
  • DLR (3d): Dominion Law Reports, Third Series (Canada). Scope of this law report: 1969-1984.
  • DTC: Dominion Tax Cases, Canada . Scope of this law report: 1920 – Present

Since middle 2016, the CanLII collection has all decisions from the Dominion Law Reports, except the following:

  • Cases dated earlier than 1980 (Canadian cases, except in the case of the Supreme Court opinions, stop being cited after the year 2000); or
  • Cases have more or less been ignored more or less since the year 2000.

Contents of Dominion Law Reports, 4th series

  • Aboriginal Peoples
  • Air Law
  • Assignment
  • Citizenship
  • Conflict of Laws
  • Coroners
  • Customs and Excise
  • Employment
  • Family Law
  • Harbours
  • Immigration
  • International Law
  • Mental Health
  • Negotiable Instruments
  • Planning
  • Public Utilities
  • Sale of Goods
  • Substitute Decisions
  • Trusts and Trustees
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Administrative Law
  • Animals
  • Associations
  • Civil Procedure
  • Constitutional Law
  • Corporations
  • Damages
  • Environmental Law
  • Fiduciaries
  • Highways
  • Industrial and Intellectual Property
  • Judgments and Orders
  • Mortgages
  • Partnership
  • Police
  • Railways
  • Sale of Land
  • Taxation
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Admiralty
  • Appeal
  • Bankruptcy and Insolvency
  • Communications Law
  • Consumer Protection
  • Courts
  • Debtor and Creditor
  • Equity
  • Financial Institutions
  • Hospitals
  • Injunctions
  • Landlord and Tenant
  • Motor Vehicles
  • Pensions
  • Professions
  • Real Property
  • Securities Regulation
  • Time
  • Wagering
  • Agency
  • Arbitration
  • Building Liens
  • Compensation for Victims of Crime
  • Contempt of Court
  • Criminal Law
  • Education
  • Evidence
  • Guarantee and Suretyship
  • Hotels and Restaurants
  • Insurance
  • Limitations
  • Municipal Law
  • Personal Property
  • Public Health
  • Restitution
  • Social Welfare
  • Torts
  • Wills and Estates
  • Agriculture
  • Assessment
  • Change of Name
  • Competition Law
  • Contracts
  • Crown
  • Elections
  • Expropriation
  • Habeas Corpus
  • Human Rights Legislation
  • Interest
  • Lotteries
  • Natural Resources
  • Personal Property Security
  • Public Inquiries
  • Road Transport
  • Statutes
  • Trade Unions
  • Words and Phrases

General Product Description

The D.L.R is available online and in print. The Dominion Law Reports includes leading precedent – setting civil and criminal cases from all common law Canadian provinces and territories,  and also case law of general interest from Quebec.

Fetaures

The legal research resource includes:

  • topical catchlines in bold print (they show the key issues involved),
  • expert case selection,
  • editing,
  • headnotes
  • weekly updates via email ( eReports, with topically indexed case summaries linked to the full text judgments ) and in print, and
  • an annual cumulative index volume

This source for Canadian case law decisions offers an option (see below) for DLR PLUS with access to three formats of Canada’s law report in any combination, as follows:

  • Online: with full text access to cases from 1912–present. This includes unlimited access at one site.
  • DVD (soon will not exist any more): a) DLR Fourth Series, 1984–present (one DVD with quarterly releases and weekly Internet updates); b) Retrospective case law: Third Series, 1969–1984, 150 volumes; Second Series, 1956–1968, 70 volumes; New Series, 1923–1955, 133 volumes; Old Series, 1912–1922, 70 volumes.
  • Paper: Full–service print subscription –with weekly paper parts plus bound volumes.

Dominion Law Reports Plus (e-DLRs) Package

The Dominion Law Reports Plus (from Canada Law Book) is a full-text legal databases containing the full archive and current issues of the Dominion Law Reports (DLR).

The Dominion Law Reports feature key civil and criminal cases from all common law provinces and territories of Canada, and cases of general interest from Quebec.

Dominion Law Reports Fourth Series, 1984–present
Dominion Law Reports Third Series, 1969–1984 (150 volumes)
Dominion Law Reports Second Series, 1956–1968 (70 volumes)
Dominion Law Reports New Series, 1923–1955 (133 volumes)
Dominion Law Reports Old Series, 1912–1922 (70 volumes)
Key features

The Dominion Law Reports can be searched by party name, citation and keyword; and browsed by year and volume, or by subject using the Classification Scheme.

A current awareness service, including a weekly update of new case law, is also available in the New This Week section.

Details

  • Subject Coverage: Law
  • Geographical Coverage: Canada
  • How often is updated: Weekly
  • Date: 1912 to the present.
  • Language: English


The online service is called Dominion Law Reports Plus. This offers full text of all the published volumes of the D.L.R namely:
Old Series, 1912-1922, 70 Volumes
New Series, 1923-1955, 133 Volumes
2nd Series, 1956-1968, 70 Volumes
3rd Series, 1969-1984, 150 Volumes
4th Series, from 1984 onwards (as of June 2014 c 369 volumes)
There is also a Classification Scheme and Index for the 3rd and 4th series, which should be a considerable aid to legal research.
Finally, a great improvement over the speed at which the bound volumes arrive in the Law Bod, is the “new this week” section, with a Cases Reported and Index to Subject Matter for the most recent parts.

Logging in requires a bit of drilling down – as well as a current Oxford Single Sign On. (Forgotten your Oxford Single Sign On?) On the page that the DLR link lands you on, click the grey tab called Canada Law Book Online Services (the middle tab in central panel – see below)
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Click on the tab called Canada Law Book Online Services

The Dominion Law Reports should now appear on an alphabetical list of resources – click on title. (Please note, the Law Bod does not have a subscription to any of the other sources listed.)

Next click on Dominion Law Reports

Next click on Dominion Law Reports

Having clicked on the link called Dominion Law Reports, you be taken to the law report series homepage. As yet I have not had much time to experiment with this database – but I would just like to point out that the Search options are rather coyly presented via a Select Search Form drop down menu near top right hand corner. The more prominent features on the front page are links to the most recent cases and to the table of content route. (Click the Toc option to get to the subject classification scheme too.)

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Case name search ( can be limited to a span of dates)
Citation search (including parallel citations). It says “Please enter the citation without brackets” – but I think this just mean for years because it certainly is ok with () around the series number for DLR citations, as its own example shows! It does seem to very particular about full stops/periods: don’t hope to get away with DLR it must be D.L.R.
Catchline search – searches the index to the DLR
Advanced Search – “allows you to narrow your search to a particular folder [topic/subject area], case or section. When you select the Advanced Search form, the Table of Contents will display check boxes next to the headings. The check boxes allow you to limit your search to the folders or sections that you wish to search. Simply enter the words you wish to search for, check the appropriate box(es) in the Table of Contents and click ‘search’.” It is possible to construct a complex search usuing the Query Syntax which is helpfully summarised on the screen.

On the results screen, you will notice double icons among the functions possible. The two printers and two disks indicate “the “Print from TOC” and “Save from TOC” functions: the route to go if you want to print or save more than one result. Having clicked on the “from TOC” option, check boxes allow you to select the documents that you wish to print or save.”

Bruce A. MacFarlane

Bruce A. MacFarlane, Q.C. in Canada

Bruce A. MacFarlane is a Canadian lawyer, author, scholar and teacher who, throughout his career, has restricted his practice to the criminal law.

Career or Professional background

Called to the Bar in 1974 (Manitoba) and 1987 (Alberta), Mr. MacFarlane spent his first 10 years as a federal prosecutor in Manitoba, pursuing cases of drug trafficking, conspiracies, as well environmental and white-collar crime. Appointed as Director of Legal Services for the RCMP in 1982 at Ottawa, Mr. MacFarlane provided independent advice to the Commissioner of the RCMP on behalf of the Minister of Justice and, in 1986, was promoted to Director of the Justice Canada regional office in Alberta.

Throughout this time, Mr. MacFarlane actively practiced before the criminal courts in four provinces as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1988, he was appointed Queens Counsel by the Government of Canada, and in 1989 he was appointed Assistant Deputy Attorney General in Ottawa, with functional responsibility for all federal prosecutions in Canada. In 1993 he was appointed Deputy Attorney General of Manitoba, a position he held for 12 years until 2005. That year, he was appointed Special Counsel to the Attorney General of Manitoba, to advise and develop a system-wide strategy to counter the activities of criminal gangs in the province. Most of his recommendations have since been implemented, including amendments to the Criminal Code. Mr. MacFarlane was a founding member of HOPAC, a council of independent Directors of Public Prosecutions from throughout the Commonwealth that meets bi-annually to discuss strategic prosecution issues of concern internationally.
In 2006 he left government, and was appointed Professional-in-Residence to teach criminal law at the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, a role he continues to the present day as a Sessional Lecturer. In 2008 he was appointed by the United Nations at The Hague as Amicus Curiae Prosecutor (the first such appointment), and he continues to pursue criminal cases there, in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Since leaving government, he has been retained by provincial governments, the Government of Canada, law societies and the United Nations to provide independent advice on criminal cases where there was a perceived or actual conflict of interest in individual cases.

Mr. MacFarlane is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Phoenix, Arizona.

Academics and Other Positions

In relation to scholarly writings and other activities, Mr. MacFarlane wrote the leading text on the prosecution and defence of drug offences (“Drug Offences in Canada) in 1979, which proceeded to a second edition in 1986 and a third edition in 1996. It is now updated semi-annually in loose-leaf format, along with co-authors Rob Frater and Chantal Proulx. The text is regularly cited by trial and appellate courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. MacFarlane is also a regular contributor to the Criminal Law Quarterly, and has authored a number of articles on criminal law topics which have been published by university law journals and the Canadian Bar Association. They, too, have been cited and relied upon by appellate courts and, in one instance, an article authored by Mr. MacFarlane was quoted with approval by the High Court of Australia.
Mr. MacFarlane has held a number of other positions throughout his career. He was appointed head negotiator to develop a modern extradition treaty with Mexico, which was subsequently ratified by both countries and has been implemented in practice. He was a Commissioner at the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, acting as Head of Delegation on behalf of Manitoba. He was also National Chair of Statistics Canada’s “National Justice Statistics Initiative”, a member of the National Crime Prevention Council, and Co-Chair of the National Committee of Deputy Ministers of Justice in Canada – which has responsibility for setting the national justice agenda on behalf of Ministers of Justice in Canada.
Mr. MacFarlane has lectured throughout Canada and internationally (in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland) on a variety of criminal law issues, particularly the causes of wrongful convictions. He has been called as an expert witness on such matters before several Parliamentary committees in Canada, as well as the Lamer Commission of Inquiry into Wrongful Convictions (2006), the Driskell Commission of Inquiry (Chief Justice LeSage – 2007), the Goudge Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (2008) and the Air India Inquiry (Justice Major – 2010).