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Legal Research

Legal Encyclopedias

Certain secondary sources are designed specifically to be finding aids -- examples of this are the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED), and Halsbury's Laws of Canada. These tools are unique to legal research and are great places to start your research.

The CED and Halsbury's are both large legal encyclopedias that address key elements in all areas of law, with abundant citations to relevant case law and legislation. The CED is located in the Westlaw Canada database and Halsbury's is part of Lexis Advance Quicklaw database. Both can be searched, or preferably, browsed, which allows you to see how various subtopics fit together.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED)

Halsbury's Laws of Canada 

Legal Dictionaries

Legal dictionaries define legal terms and common words with special legal meanings.