Bewildered on Bay Street asks, ‘Is it “travelled” or ‘traveled”? “focussed” or “focused”?’

In the USA, it would be traveled and traveler; travelled and traveller are more usual in Canada. On the other hand, focused is the better way.

Confounded in Calgary writes, ‘Is it ‘Quebecer’ or ‘Quebecker’?

Traditionally, Quebecker is the correct form, although this is less commonly seen nowadays. Logically, the C in Quebecer should be soft (C followed by E or I generally is, in English), and the E long as a result. You need that K to make it a hard C sound and to …

Rangefindr is a fabulous source for searching sentencing ranges in Canada.  If you are a criminal lawyer I highly recommend you speak to your firm librarian or whoever is in charge of licensing online resources.

I have had several people tell me that Rangefindr is difficult to use, and in particular that any search returns only a paucity of hits. So I came here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with Rangefindr – you’re just doing it wrong! There, don’t you feel better now? The problem isn’t with Rangefindr, it’s just your shoddy searching technique.

Basically, you’re checking …

For a humorous take on how not to use e-mail at work: http://qz.com/400461/twelve-ways-to-seem-smarter-by-email/

My own suggestions follow.

Caution
Don’t reply in haste, much less in anger. Think twice before sending something you think is funny.

Proof-read; don’t rely on spell-check.

Beware of ‘bcc’, ‘reply all’, distribution lists and auto-fill for recipient names – especially when you are dealing with privileged and confidential information. Make sure metadata are scrubbed from attachments (they may not be when you use a mobile device).

Think about who needs to be copied (and who does not).

You represent your firm and yourself in every e-mail …

Every so often someone comes to the library with what looks like a particularly odd citation for a case. Odd citations are often a tip-off that the case comes from the English Reports.

The English Reports, also known as the ERs, are a collection of judgments from a number of different English reporters. Because they have been republished, they have a minimum of two citations, e.g. Chudleigh’s Case can be cited both as Jenk. 276 (the original report) and 145 ER 199. The original judgements are known as “nominate reports” because their names generally come from the surname of the …

It’s surprising that people routinely get things wrong here.

Alternative subjects
If there are two subjects to your sentence, separated by or, the verb should take the number of the subject that is closest to it: Mother or children are to die BUT Is the mother or the children to die? You could also rewrite the sentences to avoid the issue: Mother or children must die, Must mother or children die?

Collective nouns
Is it The committee is or The committee are? There are two schools of thought.

In the US, words like committee, firm and …

This is the fourth and final part of a series on questions you should ask about any electronic research source. Catch parts 1-3 of this series here, here and here.

4. How are the results ORDERED?

Don’t assume relevance ranking. Our databases, for example, always order the results in reverse chronology (newest to oldest). These days, many databases offer ranking options (usually in a drop-down menu). So if you are looking at a case law database, think about if you want your results by relevance, date, court level or number of cites. If there are a large number …

Multiple negatives
In grammar, the general rule is that you shouldn’t use two negatives. It’s incorrect to say I didn’t see no one, although people will know what you mean. The correct thing is, obviously, I didn’t see anyone.

Contractual drafters like to avoid double negatives because they give rise to ambiguity. The concern isn’t so much over a sentence like I didn’t see know no one, but with repeated use of not or other negatives in a long, complicated sentence where the net effect may be uncertain.

Not all languages are averse to the double negative. …

The easiest way to create a history of an act is to start with the most recent version of the legislation and work your way backwards. Going forward tends to be more complicated.

Depending on your jurisdiction and how far back you need to go, you may be able to do this entirely using electronic resources. Provincial historical legislation is now available on HeinOnline; check with your law society or library to see if you have access.

Let’s take the (now repealed) Bee Act, RSBC 1996, c 29 as an example. Using the Tables of Legislative Changes on …

 And/or
The construction and/or is criticised by grammarians, prose stylists and many legal drafters (both contractual and statutory). There are good reasons for this.

H.W. Fowler called and/or an ‘ugly device’. It looks as though you couldn’t take the time to think things through and express yourself other than by way of a fairly crude (if expedient) short form. And/or also has an air of the commercial purchase order to it.

There are other reasons to avoid and/or, and they relate to the meaning (and ambiguity) of words.

Disjunctive and, conjunctive or
We usually think of and…

This is part 3 of a series on questions you should ask about any electronic research source. Did you miss parts 1 & 2? Find them here and here.

3. What is the Search SYNTAX?

Know your operators – every search is different. Until you know the basic commands for a site – AND, OR, Phrase, etc. – you should consult the “search tips” or “connectors” every time. Many sites include a link to their search tips, operators, connectors, or “search help.” Some, like Saskatchewan Cases, display the operators right on the search page. In CanLII, scroll over the …