History - Databases
Government Information Subject Guide
Case Law
- Alberta Law Reportsv.1(1908)-v.26(1932/1933)
Cases determined in the Supreme Court of Alberta - British Columbia ReportsFull text cases dating from 1867 to 1948
- Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada (Lexum)Supreme Court of Canada judgments since its creation in 1875 and judgments in leave applications since 2006. Also includes News Releases, Bulletins.
Introduction
Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. It is closely connected to the development of civilizations and is part of the broader context of social history.
We have many resources in different formats (online, print and microform) for Canadian and British legal history. Check the History databases as well as the legal ones.
Alberta Legal History
- Alberta Law CollectionHistorical legal documents from the Legislative Assembly of Alberta plus retrospective and current Bylaws from a selection of Alberta Municipalities. Includes: Alberta Gazette (includes Regulations), 1905-1990; Bills of the Alberta Legislature, 1906-1990; Debates of the Alberta Legislature (Hansards), 1972-1993; Journals of the Alberta Legislature, 1906-1989; Ordinances of the Northwest Territories, 1877-1905; Revised Statutes of Alberta, 1922, 1942, 1955, 1970, 1980; Statutes of Alberta, 1906-1990; Municipal Bylaws of Alberta
Canadian Legal History
- A History of Law in Canada, Volume One : Beginnings to 1866 A History of Law in Canadais an important three-volume project. Volume One begins at a time just prior to European contact and continues to the 1860s, Volume Two covers the half century after Confederation, and Volume Three covers the period from the beginning of the First World War to 1982, with a postscript taking the account to approximately 2000. The history of law includes substantive law, legal institutions, legal actors, and legal culture. The authors assume that since 1500 there have been three legal systems in Canada - the Indigenous, the French, and the English. At all times, these systems have co-existed and interacted, with the relative power and influence of each being more or less dominant in different periods. The history of law cannot be treated in isolation, and this book examines law as a dynamic process, shaped by and affecting other histories over the long term. The law guided and was guided by economic developments, was influenced and moulded by the nature and trajectory of political ideas and institutions, and variously exacerbated or mediated intercultural exchange and conflict. These themes are apparent in this examination, and through most areas of law including land settlement and tenure, and family, commercial, constitutional, and criminal law.
- A History of Law in Canada, Volume Two : Law for a New Dominion, 1867-1914 This book recounts the many and varied transformations in the history of law in Canada in the half century after Confederation.
- Canadiana Online Canadiana Online consists of monographs, journals and government publications. It captures the full span of Canada's documentary record, and includes material published from the time of the first European settlers to the first half of the 20th century and collections focused on Aboriginal (Indigenous) Studies, the history of French Canada, and the Hudson's Bay Company. Early Canadiana Online has been incorporated into this database in 2019.
- Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources The publications that are made available are: debates, journals, committee documentation and bills of both the Senate and the House of Commons. It also contains the Senate Minutes of Proceedings, the Rules of the Senate, the House of Commons Votes and Proceedings, and the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. Historical sessional papers are also available from 1867 to 1901.
Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources is a free searchable database of digitized parliamentary publications from the 1st Session of the 1st Parliament in 1867 until coverage at sencanada.ca and ourcommons.ca begins.
Legal History - Databases
These resources are useful for the study of Anglo-American legal history generally. They include primary materials, digital books, case law reports and sources for historical versions of statute law.
- Making of Modern Law (The): Foreign, Comparative and International Law, 1600-1926 This link opens in a new window
- Making of Modern Law (The): Primary Sources, 1620-1970 Digital Archive This link opens in a new window
