Library and Archives Canada (LAC) recently updated its historical Canada Gazette database to improve the search experience. This database contains the issues of the Canada Gazette published between 1841 (when it replaced the Upper Canada Gazette and the Lower Canada Gazette) and 1997. For issues of the Canada Gazette from 1998 on, go to the Canada Gazette website.

The improved keyword search means that it is easier to find orders-in-council and SI/SORs by entering their numbers into “All these words” in the Advanced Search. Searches can also be limited by publication (e.g. Canada Gazette, Part I) …

While researching using CanLII, are you looking for documents containing one word or phrase but not another? Or maybe you are looking for documents containing an exact phrase?

Never fear, operators are here to help!

What are operators and how do I use them?

Operators are words or characters you can add to a search box to customize your search results. You may have heard of the basic Boolean operators (AND, NOT, and OR) before, but there are many more that you can use on CanLII.

Consult the table below to see a list of compatible operators, what they do …

I think’s how the kids would express what happened to a California judge.

A better way to describe it might be ‘an embarrassing example of assuming the junior person who’s working for you will have done the proofreading in the first place, and that you don’t need to check things yourself.’

In Golo LLC v Higher Health Networks LLC (SD Calif, case number 3:18-cv-2434-GPC-MSB, 5 February 2019), Curiel USDJ sets out the standard of proof required for the claims being advanced.

At the end of one paragraph, this comment appears in parenthesis: meh I need a better rule statement than …

You will notice that some citations for acts contain the abbreviation “Supp.” (short for “supplement”). An example of this would be “Competition Tribunal Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 19 (2nd Supp.)”. But what does this mean?

The main volumes of R.S.C. 1985 contain acts that came into being before or on December 31, 1984, but R.S.C. 1985 was not brought into force until December 12, 1988. So what happened to all the legislation made between January 1, 1985 and December 11, 1988? If you guessed that they became the supplements to R.S.C. 1985 you would be correct; for example …

The work of a language nerd is never done.

Possessive problems

In a recent LinkedIn posting, a fundraising person at an educational institution I attended referred to its’ proud history.

At least it wasn’t someone from the academic side.

One see it’s used (incorrectly) as a possessive. Properly, it’s is only ever a contraction for it is, but thinking it’s a singular possessive is an understandable error (if not a forgivable one).

But its’ as an ostensible singular possessive? Mind-boggling.

-S’ is reserved for possessives involving multiple parties (the articling students’ skit at the holiday party…

Lexbox is a supplementary tool on CanLII that can help you keep track of your legal research online by allowing you to view your browsing history, save cases, create and organize folders, and set up alerts. It is free to use the base version and signing up requires only your name, email, and a password. There is also a professional version (Premium) you can choose to subscribe to — you can click here to learn more about what’s in the two plans.

To make sure Lexbox keeps track of your search history, remember to log in to your Lexbox …

The other day I received that now rather unusual thing, a letter.

On the envelope, beneath my business address, was typed Attention: with my name after it.

Why is this – or why was it ever – necessary?

I suppose it helped postal delivery persons and mailroom workers a bit, but surely not that much.

My name at the top with the address after it would reach me with no problem, just like a non-business letter sent to me at my home address.

While we’re on the subject, I like addresses to go from the particular to the general:

Box, …

The availability of Canadian court information varies greatly from province to province, as do the ways in which researchers can access it.

Sarah Richmond of Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP has put together a very helpful table of where to search for or obtain court documents from the various provinces and territories. Meris Bray, a Librarian at the University of Windsor, has converted this table into a freely-accessible webpage which can be found at https://www.uwindsor.ca/law/library/390/canadian-court-recordsdockets.

— Susannah Tredwell…

Nevertheless and nonetheless mean the same thing (‘notwithstanding’), so they can be used interchangeably. Nonetheless is a more recent coinage.

Both started as three words, but over time ended up as one. It’s now always nevertheless, but the three-word form none the less is still seen, especially in the UK.

There is a certain logic to none the less, if spelling it as a single word might suggest an odd pronunciation (non-EATHE-less, with the second syllable rhyming with breathe).

But you’re fine nevertheless with nonetheless.

–Neil Guthrie (@guthrieneil)…

A student who is helping a partner with writing a book (I hope he gets due credit) called to ask which verb tense to use in describing cases.

My answer was that it depends on context.

I think you would say that a judge found, held or stated something in a particular case.

Perhaps where you are talking about a judge’s obiter dicta rather than ratio decidendi, you would use the present tense: In this case, So-and-so J discusses the applicable factors. But you would say, The judge said in dicta that …

Where the description is depersonalised, …