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Research & Writing Resources | SPIKE Law

Historical & Governmental Research (in no particular order)

UK legislation creating Colony of B.C. is available at RSBC 1897 (through HeinOnline, Provincial Statutes)
  • An Act to Provide for the Government of British Columbia (U.K.), 21 & 22 Vict., c. 99 (2 August 1858) - (this one also in Hendrickson, ​Journals of Colonial Legs.)
  • An Act to Define the Boundaries of the Colony of British Columbia, and to continue an Act to provide for the Government of the said Colony (U.K.), 26 & 27 Vict., c. 83 (28 July 1863)
  • An Act for the Union of the Colony of Vancouver Island with the Colony of British Columbia (U.K.), 29 & 30 Vict., c. 67 (6 August 1866) - (this one also in Hendrickson, Journals of Colonial Legs.)

CANADA

To find historic Canadian statutes, use HeinOnline (through Courthouse Library site), Canada, Annual Statutes (something like that); sometimes you can find OICs there too

Canada Orders-in-Council, 1867-1916

Indian Affairs Annual Reports (1864-1990) database, LAC

Canadiana Online

Government of Canada Publications

Indian Reserves, Western Canada - archived federal govt site which should have maps, but the pdf links seem not to work? (You can make them work by using Internet Explorer)

GALLOP (Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publication Portal) - access to almost 500,000 electronic government publications from all levels of Canadian government

LiPAD (Linked Parliamentary Data Project) - search Canadian Hansard, from 1901 to present

British North American Legislative database, 1758-1867

Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources, 1867-1996 - 
debates, journals, and selected committee documentation of the Senate and the House of Commons

Hansard - Canadian House of Commons, 1994-present - includes House Publications, Journals and Order and Notice Papers

Hansard - Canadian Senate, 
1996-present - Senate Publications, Journals and Order and Notice Papers

LEGISinfo - provides information on bills before Canadian House and Senate



BRITISH COLUMBIA 

The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 1846-1871

Historical BC legislation: 
  • now all available at BC Laws, "Archived Statute Consolidations" or "Historical Annual Statutes"
  • or, go to HeinOnline (through CHL), then Legislation, then "Browse Databases by Name", then "Provincial Statutes of Canada"
​
Historical BC Orders-in-Council - at BC Laws, under "Orders-in-Council"

BC Sessional Papers - available at UBC Open Collections

Archived Journals of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, 1851-present

GATOR: Finding historic Crown grants in British Columbia.

List of Persons Entitled to Vote, British Columbia, 1875 (Sessional Papers)

B.C. Law Reform Commission reports, 1970-1995


HISTORICAL

George Gibbs, "A Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon", 1863
​
Google Newspapers - including for historic newspapers

UBC's 
Undergraduate History Honours Thesis archive

Maps from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History


FOREIGN

Foundations of the Common Law Library (1215-1914), online, hosted by Commonlii, the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute

The Avalon Project, Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy

British and Foreign State Papers

Australia - Native Title Law database

Researching British treaties

​​

Legal Research & Writing
The Canadian Legal Research & Writing Guide on Canlii.

How to figure out if an Act has come into force (all jurisdictions), courtesy of Slaw Tips.

How to link to a particular paragraph in a Canlii case or legislation in your factum or argument.

Law Society of Ontario's free access to continuing legal education and professional development materials
​604-837-0874
​sarah@spikelaw.ca

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