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.”