Legal encyclopedias are reference texts that provide a general overview of the law in a given area, with citations to relevant legislation and leading cases.
They are great resources to start any legal research project with, especially if you are unfamiliar with a topic.
In Canada, there are two legal encyclopedias: the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) and Halsbury's Laws of Canada (Halsbury's).
The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) is a comprehensive legal encyclopedia published by Thomson Reuters on Westlaw.
In each entry, readers can expect to learn about the issues, leading cases, and statutes relating to the topic at hand. The CED is organized under broad subject headings, called titles (such as Arbitration, Bailment, or Copyright), which are further broken down into subheadings.
One advantage of the CED is its integration with Westlaw's case law databases. Each entry has a "Legal Topic" link that allows the researcher to easily jump to additional case law on the topic. This makes the encyclopedia a valuable starting point for even in-depth case law searches.
►See Westlaw's CED training video for more guidance.
Halsbury's Laws of Canada is a comprehensive legal encyclopedia published on Lexis.
Like the CED, Halsbury's is organized under broad subject titles, which are further broken down into subheadings. Within each entry, major paragraphs give statements of law, while minor paragraphs give jurisdictional information. Information about the legal issues, leading cases, and statutes relating to the topic at hand are also provided.
One particular strength of Halsbury's is that it often cites to the equivalent section(s) of legislation for each province and territory.
►See Lexis' Halsbury's training video for more guidance.
