Blogs

 James W. Zaitsoff on British Columbia Estate Litigation – Selected BC Estate Litigation Blog columns from 2020-2022 (CanLII user licence)

James Zaitsoff is associate counsel at Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers, and he is the head of Legacy’s Estate and Trust Litigation Group.  He is a civil litigator specializing in wills, estates and trust litigation and he regularly appears before all levels of court in British Columbia on estate matters. James authors www.BCEstateLitigation.ca, a blog to inform readers of the latest developments in estate litigation. He is also a frequent contributor to CanLII Connects where he posts case comments on recent decisions.

Casebooks

“Bestiality” as reflected in Canadian case law (CanLII user licence)

This report is based on legal research conducted following R v DLW, 2016 SCC 22. The research primarily occurred between June 2016 and June 2017, though cases and developments that occurred after June 2017 are also referenced if relevant. See Appendix A for an explanation of the terminology used within this paper.

Administrative Law: Cases and Commentaries (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Administrative agencies are a powerful part of modern government and crucial to our daily lives. There are many excellent Administrative Law textbooks. This one – which has the benefit of being open-source – was created to support my Administrative Law course at Allard School of Law, which surveys the legal framework of administrative bodies. The course – and the book – provide an overview of the legal framework (rules, principles, and policy considerations) that shape the powers of these administrative decision-makers in a diverse range of areas including human rights, municipal law, First Nations governance, and professional self-governance. In particular, the book provides material on how courts review public bodies based on the principles and rules that constrain their decision-making.

The Canadian Constitutional Law Open Access Casebook (CanLII user licence)

Virtually every society around the world has something called a “constitution.” But they differ from one another significantly. Some bind only the government of the country, some bind private actors as well. Some constitutions are written (like those of the United States, France, South Africa and India), some (like that of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Israel) are unwritten (or “uncodified”) and some (like Canada) are hybrids of the two. Some (like Canada, the United States and South Africa) contain protections for human rights, and some (like Australia) do not.

At a basic level, however, the function of a constitution is to define and limit the institutions that govern a society. In terms of limiting governmental power, constitutions define set of fundamental principles by which future governments must abide. Otherwise, the state can operate for the short-term benefit of those in currently in government, to the detriment of those that are not. A corollary of this principle is that constitutions tend to be difficult to amend; often requiring the assent of a “supermajority” (e.g. two thirds or three fourths) of legislators (or legislatures in countries with federal arrangements).

Tort Law: Cases and Commentaries, Second Edition (CC BY-NC 4.0)

The law of obligations concerns the legal rights and duties owed between people. Three primary categories make up the common law of obligations: tort, contract, and unjust enrichment. This casebook provides an introduction to tort law: the law that recognises and responds to civil wrongdoing. The material is arranged in two parts. Part I comprises §§1–11 and addresses intentional and dignitary torts and the overarching theories and goals of tort law. Part II comprises §§12–25 and addresses no-fault compensation schemes, negligence, nuisance, strict liability, and tort law’s place within our broader legal systems.

Documents

Civil Appeals in Saskatchewan: The Court of Appeal Act & Rules Annotated (CanLII licence)

Ongoing Updates, September 2020.

David Doga on the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (CanLII user licence)

Discrimination in Job Postings.

 Historical Table of Public Statutes 1909-1978 (CanLII user licence)

This historical table traces Saskatchewan statutes by name, alphabetically arranged, from initial enactment through to the 1978 Revision, showing all amendments along the way, noting if and when it has been repealed, and, if replaced on repeal, the replacement statute. The Law Society Library has formatted the information to be similar to that of the Legislative Table of Acts Regulations published online by Publications Saskatchewan (formerly Queen’s Printer), which begins with the 1978 Revision year and traces the same information to the present.

Insights from Hicks Morley (CanLII user licence)

Selected articles published in 2020.

Journals

The Sedona Canada Principles Addressing Electronic Discovery, Third Edition (CanLII user licence)

Volume 23 of the Sedona Conference Journal.

Manuals

Saskatchewan Limitations Manual (CanLII user licence)

Current to December 10, 2020.

Saskatchewan Builders’ Lien Manual (CanLII user licence)

Part of the focus of this update was to pull in relevant Saskatchewan case law that has developed since the first edition of this publication. Therefore, the focus is on an attempt to refer to what Saskatchewan case law is out there. For reference to the law regarding similar provisions in other Canadian jurisdictions, reference should be had to publications that are focused on those matters.

The Annotated Accessible Canada Act (CanLII user licence)

A publication of the Law, Disability & Social Change Project.

Reference Tools

Annotated Language Laws of Canada – Constitutional, Federal, Provincial and Territorial Laws (Open Government Licence – Canada)

The Annotated Language Laws of Canada is a comprehensive and evergreen legal reference tool. It inventories all constitutional, federal, provincial and territorial legislation relating, in whole or in part, to the use of language(s) within government institutions and in commercial and/or private activities. The publication covers a variety of legislative and regulatory provisions and relevant case law excerpts relating to the official languages of Canada, aboriginal languages and the rights of Canadians who speak languages other than French or English.

Textbooks

A Common Hunger: Land Rights in Canada and South Africa (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

This comparative history of two former British colonies – Canada and the Republic of South Africa – focuses on the response of indigenous peoples to their experience of European colonization and domination.¹ While the methods and political objectives of dispossession differed in many important ways, the alienation of land had devastating consequences for the aboriginal peoples of both countries. Today, by reclaiming rights to the land and an equitable share in the wealth-producing resources they contain, the first peoples of Canada and South Africa are taking impor­tant steps to confront the legacies of poverty that characterize many of their communities.

Canada’s Legal Pasts: Looking Forward, Looking Back (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Canada’s Legal Pasts presents new essays on a range of topics and episodes in Canadian legal history, provides an introduction to legal methodologies, shows researchers new to the field how to locate and use a variety of sources, and includes a combined bibliography arranged to demonstrate best practices in gathering and listing primary sources. It is an essential welcome for scholars who wish to learn about Canada’s legal pasts—and why we study them. Telling new stories—about a fishing vessel that became the subject of an extraordinarily long diplomatic dispute, young Northwest Mounted Police constables subject to an odd mixture of police discipline and criminal procedure, and more—this book presents the vibrant evolution of Canada’s legal tradition. Explorations of primary sources, including provincial archival records that suggest how Quebec courts have been used in interfamilial conflict, newspaper records that disclose the details of bigamy cases, and penitentiary records that reveal the details of the lives and legal entanglements of Canada’s most marginalized people, show the many different ways of researching and understanding legal history. This is Canadian legal history as you’ve never seen it before. Canada’s Legal Pasts dives into new topics in Canada’s fascinating history and presents practical approaches to legal scholarship, bringing together established and emerging scholars in collection essential for researchers at all levels.

Canadian Intellectual Property Law (CC BY-SA 4.0)

To the ordinary passerby, the term “intellectual property” may seem to be an abstract phrase that applies to the world of “academics” and “professionals”—a world beyond that of “ordinary individuals.” However, intellectual property (IP) is, in fact, deeply woven in people’s daily lives. Consider an object with which most of us are familiar: a video game. When an individual purchases a video game, they acquire ownership of a digital copy of the game, which they can then download onto the game console they own to play. However, even if they own the copy of the game, they have no right over the game’s IP. The content of the game, such as the character designs or background music, are copyrighted by the game company. The player cannot reproduce or upload the game’s contents onto the Internet without the owner’s permission, or else they will infringe on the owner’s copyright. They cannot use the logo design of the game on similar merchandise without permission, or else they will infringe on the company’s trademark rights and copyright. No other game manufacturer can construct or sell a video game console with the same functionality, since this right is reserved for the patent holder. Nor can they reproduce the console’s aesthetic appearance onto another product, since this right is reserved for the industrial design holder. Evidently, many different forms of IP rights can overlap and co­exist in single commonplace objects.

Civil Appeals in Saskatchewan: The Court of Appeal Act & Rules Annotated, First Edition (CanLII user licence)

This document was updated as Civil Appeals in Saskatchewan: The Court of Appeal Act & Rules Annotated, Ongoing Updates, Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, 2019 CanLIIDocs 22.

Civil Procedure and Practice in Ontario, 2nd ed (CanLII user licence)

The law exists in order to bring better justice into human relationships. It governs the decisions of judicial officials, but it is also meant to help people avoid and resolve disputes without the need for formal procedure. For the law to function in these ways, it must be accessible and intelligible to all those to whom it applies.  Ideally, everyone should be able to learn, quickly and costlessly, how the law would apply to any set of facts.

We are still a long way from realizing this ideal, but Civil Procedure & Practice in Ontario seeks to bring us a bit closer. The legislation and common law governing civil disputes in Ontario is voluminous and difficult to decipher — for lawyers as well as lay-people.  The team behind this volume saw the need for a comprehensive and free guide. We wanted to create something that would be not only sophisticated enough for specialist litigators, but also straightforward and understandable for law office staff, self-represented litigants, and the general public.

Controlling Knowledge: Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection in a Networked World (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA)

Digital communications technology has immeasurably enhanced our capacity to store, retrieve, and exchange information. But who controls our access to information, and who decides what others have a right to know about us? In Controlling Knowledge, author Lorna Stefanick offers a thought-provoking and user-friendly overview of the regulatory regime that currently governs freedom of information and the protection of privacy.Aiming to clarify rather than mystify, Stefanick outlines the history and application of FOIP legislation, with special focus on how these laws affect the individual. To illustrate the impact of FOIP, she examines the notion of informed consent, looks at concerns about surveillance in the digital age, and explores the sometimes insidious influence of Facebook. Specialists in public policy and public administration, information technology, communications, law, criminal justice, sociology, and health care will find much here that bears directly on their work, while students and general readers will welcome the book’s down-to-earth language and accessible style.

Intended to serve as a “citizen’s guide,” Controlling Knowledge is a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand how freedom of information and privacy protection are legally defined and how this legislation is shaping our individual rights as citizens of the information age.

De la couleur des lois : une histoire juridique du racisme au Canada entre 1900 et 1950 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published by University of Ottawa Press.

Environment in the Courtroom (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This book is focused on providing an overview of current environmental legal issues in Canada in three key areas: the unique nature of environmental harm, prosecution of environmental offences, and sentencing for environ­mental offences. The essays in this volume represent an attempt by Canadian environmental law scholars, lawyers in private practice, Crown counsel, cor­porate counsel, administrative lawyers, lawyers employed by NGOs and in­dustry organizations, environmental consultants, and law students to come to grips with the challenges associated with the litigation of environmental cases in Canada. The majority of the essays represent a Canadian perspective and provide insights on the environmental law experience in a variety of Canadian provinces and territories, leading judicial decisions, and the important pro­cedural and theoretical aspects of environmental litigation in Canada, a nation with a shared common law and civil law heritage. However, consideration of the included contributions on Australia and the United States will reveal that Canada shares similar fundamental environmental challenges with some other jurisdictions. Environmental law is a dynamic and exciting area that is play­ing an increasingly important role in furthering the sustainable development policies adopted by federal, provincial, and territorial governments in Canada.

Environment in the Courtroom II (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This book examines the application and enforcement of Canadian environ­mental law. It is not about environmental law generally. It focuses on the idea of enforcement and enforcement techniques including administration of en­vironmental statutes and enforcement of specific decisions and orders. There are two enforcement aspects. One is decisions and decision processes con­cerning approvals and related decisions for projects and activities involving, for the purposes of this book, marine waters, wildlife, and energy and other greenhouse gas emitting actions. This establishes the baselines for enforce-ment. The second is explicit actions by authorized public officials (ministers and their authorized representatives—such as the federal ministers of fish­eries and oceans and transport) and tribunals (such as the Canada Energy Regulator and the Alberta Energy Regulator) to enforce the legal duties that these decisions create. This includes powers of public officials or tribunals to issue orders requiring cessation of defined activities and imposing conditions.

Law, Privacy and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Snowden’s primary focus has been centred on the United States. However, the steady stream of documents have laid bare the notable role of allied surveillance agencies, including the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s signals intelligence agency. The Canadian-related leaks — including disclosures regarding sur­veillance over millions of Internet downloads, airport wireless net-works, spying on the Brazilian government, and the facilitation of spying at the G8 and G20 meetings hosted in Toronto in 2010 — have unsurprisingly inspired some domestic discussion and increased media coverage of privacy and surveillance issues.

Le bilinguisme judiciaire en Ontario : théorie et réalité (Licence d’utilisation de CanLII)

Pendant les trois années et demi au cours desquelles j’ai été directeur du Centre de traduction et de documentation juridi­ques de l’Université d’Ottawa, j’étais dans une situation idéale pour observer de près l’évolution rapide qui a mené à l’adoption d’une loi faisant du français une langue officielle devant les tribunaux ontariens. Toutefois, j’ai souvent remarqué qu’il était difficile de discuter de la question du bilinguisme des tribunaux en Ontario à cause du manque de renseignements fonda- mentaux sur ce sujet. Cela était sans doute da au fait que la situation était entièrement nouvelle et que personne n’avait publié d’ouvrage sur le sujet pendant les première années. Le présent ouvrage constitue donc une première tentative en vue de combler ces lacunes. Il vise à fournir des renseignements de base sur le bilinguisme des tribunaux en Ontario. Il est présen­té dans l’espoir qu’il sera utile à ceux qui voudraient mieux.

JP Boyd on Family Law: Resolving family law disputes in British Columbia (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA)

You might want to know about your own family law problem, or you might be helping someone else deal with their own family law problem. Either way, this is for you. In this wikibook, we — John-Paul Boyd and the team of experienced family law lawyers who serve as editors — guide you through family law in British Columbia as if we were talking to you.

Legal Literacy: An Introduction to Legal Studies (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

To understand how the legal system works, students must consider the law in terms of its structures, processes, language, and modes of thought and argument—in short, they must become literate in the field. Legal Literacy fulfills this aim by providing a foundational understanding of key concepts such as legal personhood, jurisdiction, and precedent, and by introducing students to legal research and writing skills. Examples of cases, statutes, and other legal materials support these concepts.

While Legal Literacy is an introductory text, it also challenges students to consider critically the system they are studying. Touching on significant socio-legal issues such as access to justice, legal jargon, and plain language, Zariski critiques common legal traditions and practices, and analyzes what it means “to think like a lawyer.” As such, the text provides a sound basis for those who wish to pursue further studies in law or legal studies as well as those seeking a better understanding of how the legal field relates to the society that it serves.

Responding to Domestic Violence in Family Law, Civil Protection & Child Protection Cases (CanLII user licence)

This E-book has evolved from the research and writing of three editions of a bench book on domestic violence for Canadian Judges on behalf of the National Judicial Institute: Linda C. Neilson (2009) Domestic Violence and Family Law in Canada: A Handbook for Judges (Ottawa: National Judicial Institute) with Introductory Comments by Justice John F. McGarry, Superior Court, Ontario, published in electronic bench book format as Domestic Violence, Family Law; Linda C Neilson (2011, 2nd edition) Domestic Violence Electronic Bench Book (Ottawa: National Judicial Institute); and Linda C Neilson (2015, 3rd edition) Domestic Violence Electronic Bench Book (Ottawa: National Judicial Institute). The bench book was cited by the United Nations as one of Canada’s major family violence works in the United Nations’ (2012) Handbook For National Action Plans on Violence Against Women at page 28-29; it was also cited as the model to follow when developing similar practice materials for judicial use throughout Australia in Australia Law Reform Commission and New South Wales Law Reform Commission (2010) Family Violence — A National Legal Response (ALRC Report 114) (Australian Government). This e-book, while related to these works, has been updated and modified for lawyers and service providers.

Sexual Assault in Canada – Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Activism (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published by University of Ottawa Press.

The Canadian Legal Research and Writing Guide (CanLII user licence)

The Canadian Legal Research and Writing Guide is based on The Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research, An online legal research guide written and published by Catherine Best, which she started in 1998. The site grew out of Catherine’s experience teaching legal research and writing, and her conviction that a process-based analytical approach was needed. She was also motivated to help researchers learn to effectively use electronic research tools.

Catherine Best retired In 2015, and she generously donated the site to CanLII to use as our legal research site going forward. As Best explained:

The world of legal research is dramatically different than it was in 1998. However, the site’s emphasis on research process and effective electronic research continues to fill a need. It will be fascinating to see what changes the next 15 years will bring.

The text has been updated and expanded for this publication by a national editorial board of legal researchers.

The CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation: A User-friendly guide (CanLII user licence)

There are perhaps few greater challenges to the contemporary justice system than meaningful public access to it. Access has been a problem in Canada for some time, and, if it can be said that there has been any shift in this issue, it is perhaps for the worse. We hope that this manual will facilitate your navigation through your specific litigious issue and that, in so doing, that it might also contribute a greater measure of access to justice for all British Columbians.

The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundation of Canadian Copyright Law (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Copyright cases typically reach the Supreme Court of Canada (the Court) only once every few years, ensuring that each case is carefully parsed and analyzed. On 12 July 2012, the Court issued rulings on five copyright cases in a single day, an unprecedented tally that shook the very foundations of copyright law in Canada. In fact, with the decisions coming just weeks after the Canadian government passed long-awaited copyright reform legislation, Canadian copyright law experienced a seismic shift that will take years to sort out.

The Law is (Not) for Kids: A Legal Rights Guide for Canadian Children and Teens, Second Edition (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Since its publication in 2019, this important and practical guide to the law has empowered and educated Canadian children and youth and those who serve them. The authors address questions about how rights and laws affect the lives of young people at home, at school, at work, and in their relationships as they draw attention to the many ways in which a person’s life can intersect with the law. This revised and updated edition reflects the progress that has occurred in Indigenous child welfare legislation. Updates also reflect amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the Divorce Act as well as amendments to a variety of provincial child and family laws.

Violence, Imagination, and Resistance: Socio-legal Interrogations of Power (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

For some time, scholars have devoted considerable attention to the law as a force of repression, one that replicates and enforces structural inequalities through violence and legally sanctioned modes of punishment. But it is the means by which the law functions as a tool of governmentality that occupies the contributors to this volume. Through the exploration of how to deconstruct law’s power, how to expose the violence the law produces, and finally how to identify modes of resistance that have transformative potential, these essays contribute to the ongoing interrogation of settler colonialism, racism, and structural violence in Canada.