Supreme Court of Canada; New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of February 16-29, 2012 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

New Factsheets from European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has published a series of Factsheets that describe important jurisprudence of the institution on a number of subjects.

The ECHR recently added new Factsheets on collective expulsions, expulsions and extraditions, and extra-territorial jurisdiction. They include key cases and pending applications before the Court.

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.

Alberta Law Reform Institute Report on Succession and Posthumously Conceived Children

The Alberta Law Reform Institute has released its Report for Discussion 23: Succession and Posthumously Conceived Children:

"Advances in artificial reproductive technologies have made possible the birth of a child after the death of one or both of its genetic parents. The existence of posthumously conceived children has created legal challenges for the law of succession. Whether these children should have inheritance rights adds further complexity to an area that is becoming increasingly common as the technology for storage and application of reproductive material improves."

"Report for Discussion 23: Succession and Posthumously Conceived Children discusses the position of posthumously conceived children under the law of succession in Alberta and outlines some possible options for reform. In order to provide for a comprehensive and efficient review of the feedback, the deadline for submitting comments is June 30, 2012."

Thomson Reuters Sued Over Use of Facta in Litigator

An Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge has certified a class action lawsuit against Thomson Reuters, according to the most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly [the decision can be found on CanLII: 2012 ONSC 1138]

The lawsuit, launched in 2010 by Toronto immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman, alleges that the database company breached copyright by copying original documents created by lawyers without their permission and making them available for a fee through its commercial Litigator service. This includes pleadings, court motions, affidavits and facta.

The defendant company argues fair dealing and "implied consent".

As the article explains:

"In opposing the certification of class proceedings, Thomson Reuters argued that Waldman is trying to limit access to publicly filed court documents, asserting this is antithetical to the open court system, access to justice, behaviour modification and judicial economy."

"But Justice Perell ruled there were common issues that should be determined on a class basis, albeit not all of the issues presented for certification by the plaintiff (...)"

"The judge certified two common issues relating to Thomson’s alleged conduct. Did the company through its Litigator service: (1) 'reproduce, publish, telecommunicate to the public, sell, rent, or hold itself out as the author or owner of court documents?' or (2) 'authorize subscribers to reproduce, publish, telecommunicate to the public, sell, rent, translate, or hold themselves out as the author or owner of court documents?' "

"The judge also certified common issues raised by Thomson’s defences: 'Does Thomson have a public policy defence to copyright infringement or to the violation of moral rights based on (a) fair dealing, (b) the open court principle, (c) freedom of expression, (d) the necessity of using the idea of the court document as it is expressed, or (e) a business or professional custom or public policy reason that would justify reproducing, publishing, telecommunicating to the public, selling, renting, translating, or holding itself out as the author or owner of court documents?' "

There is a similar case in the United States, where a class action suit has been launched against West and Lexis for the use of "briefs" (facta) in commercial databases.

February 2012 Issue of Governance and Recordkeeping Around the World

The Governance and Recordkeeping Around the World newsletter, published by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), highlights issues pertaining to government and recordkeeping practices in the public and private sector.

The February 2012 issue has just been published on the LAC website.

It includes:

• news items from Canada and around the world
• announcements of upcoming Canadian and international events (meetings, workshops, seminars)
• project and product news in areas such as digitization, archives, open source, e-government, access to information and Web 2.0 initiatives
• selected papers and readings (white papers, presentations, reports)

New Australian Parliamentary Website

Parliamentary websites are too often overlooked as sources for legal research. And that's a shame because the best ones tend to offer access to an amazingly broad range of material.

The new website of the Australian Parliament, launched last week, is a case in point. There is a ton of stuff there. Most interesting, from my researcher point of view, are the research publications written by the Parliamentary Library, the bill digests (summaries) and the committee pages.

The Library of Congress blog, In Custodia Legis, has a description and evaluation of many of the site's new features. Anyone interested in Australian law, or in a comparative law perspective, should have a look.

Other parliamentary libraries also do a great job.

Here at my place of work, I like to draw researchers' attention to LEGISinfo on the Parliament of Canada website. It describes itself as:

an essential research tool for finding information on legislation before Parliament. This tool provides electronic access to a wide range of information about each bill, such as:

• details on the passage of the bill through the Senate and House of Commons;
• the text of the bill as introduced at First Reading and its most recent version if it is amended during the legislative process;
• votes;
• major speeches at second reading;
• coming into force data;
• legislative summaries from the Parliamentary Information and Research Service of the Library of Parliament; and
• government press releases and backgrounders (for government bills).

In other words, "one-stop shopping" (or something very close). LEGISinfo goes back to the mid-1990s. It has helped answer many a legislative history question about federal bills.

Canada even has an Association of Parliamentary Libraries. On their website, under "Directory" you can find links to the libraries of most provincial and territorial legislatures. They usually have useful research guides.

The Mother of all Parliaments in London has a visually appealing website. Check out their bill section: here is one example, the Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill from 2008-2009. Doesn't it remind you of a map of the London Underground? Of course, the site is not only pretty, it is the source for committee and parliamentary inquiry reports and for Commons and Lords Library research publications.

And then there is the Law Library of Congress in Washington. I don't even know where to start describing its online resources. Just glance down the listings in the central column on the home page and you get an idea of the breadth and depth of coverage, of both US and foreign law.

And if you are really curious about the offerings in other countries, our friends at the Bundestag in Berlin have compiled a World Directory of Parliamentary Libraries.

[Cross-posted to Slaw.ca]

Law Commission of Ontario Interim Report on Family Justice System

The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) has released an Interim Report Towards a More Responsive and Effective Family Law System. From the executive summary:

"The purpose of the LCO’s project on family law process, with its emphasis on the entry points to the system, is to recommend ways that the system can be simplified and made more effective and responsive to the diversity of families facing breakdown. We believe that the early stages of a family law problem are often crucial for the way a family dispute is resolved. Our projects builds on the reforms that have been implemented over the past two years by the Ministry of the Attorney General and other bodies such as Legal Aid Ontario, and takes into consideration the many studies and reforms proposed by others studying this area. "

"This Interim Report follows several other documents, released by the Law Commission of Ontario, including an Options Paper in 2009, a 2009 Consultation Paper and a 2010 paper setting out the results of the consultations. In this Interim Report we make short term recommendations, accepting that funding for more fundamental changes may be limited in the near future, and long term recommendations, intended to be more transformative."

Among the interim recommendations made by the Commission are:

• the creation of one online hub with legal and non-legal information for families;
• improved access for members of Aboriginal communities;
• in the long run, comprehensive, multidisciplinary family centres close to communities as the gateway to specialized family (legal) services
  

Public consultations on the Interim Report will run until April 30, 2012. The Commission anticipates releasing a Final Report in mid 2012.

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill S-5, the Financial System Review Act

The Library of Parliament has published its legislative summary of Bill S-5, the Financial System Review Act:

"The bill amends the four primary statutes under which federally regulated financial institutions are governed:

• the Bank Act;
• the Cooperative Credit Associations Act;
• the Insurance Companies Act; and
• the Trust and Loan Companies Act"

"Amendments to the Bank of Canada Act, the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, the Canadian Payments Act, the Winding-up and Restructuring Act, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Act, the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Act, the Jobs and Economic Growth Act and the Sustaining Canada’s Economic Recovery Act are also included in the bill."

"Bill S-5 contains various measures that update the law governing financial institutions; in particular, the bill includes amendments in relation to:

• the shares of a Canadian financial institution being held by foreign financial institutions controlled by foreign governments;
• acquisitions of foreign entities by Canadian financial institutions;
• the widely held ownership threshold for banks;
• the authority of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions over certain types of transactions;
• the administration of unclaimed insured deposit accounts by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and the Bank of Canada;
• the insolvency of financial institutions and the liability of the CDIC when acting as a receiver during receivership of an insolvent financial institution;
• compliance panel orders of the Canadian Payments Association;
• restructuring of insurance companies; and
• the liability of officials and employees of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)."

It is possible to follow the progress of Bill S-5 through the federal Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill S-6, the First Nations Elections Act

The Library of Parliament recently made public its legislative summary of Bill S-6, the First Nations Elections Act:

"The bill establishes a legislative process apart from the Indian Act system for the election of First Nations chiefs and councils. Among the key changes provided by the proposed legislation is the extension of the terms of office for chiefs and councils and the possibility for common election days among several First Nations. First Nations may choose to opt in to the new elections regime proposed under the legislation, or they may be brought under the new elections regime by ministerial order in some circumstances. First Nations may also opt out of the legislation by adopting a community election code under certain conditions."

It is possible to follow progress of the bill through the Houses of Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

CanLII Publishes One Millionth case

CanLII, the law society-funded Canadian Legal Information Institute that makes Canadian legal information available for free on the Internet, has published its 1,000,000th case:

"There are now one million Canadian court and tribunal decisions freely available over the internet, courtesy of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII). It has taken 12 years for this comprehensive online legal resource to reach the one million mark, a total that includes judgments from more than 200 legal sources."

"The one millionth judgment loaded into the CanLII database was a judgement from the Supreme Court of Canada."

The landmark was reached with the publishing of the S.L. v. Commission scolaire des Chênes case on Friday.

International Bar Association Publishes First Global Report on Impact of Social Media on Legal Profession

Last week, the International Bar Association (IBA) published The Impact of Online Social Networking on the Legal Profession and Practice, the first comprehensive report on the potential impact of online social networking within the legal profession.

The IBA conducted a 31-question survey of some 60 bar associations and/or law societies from 47 jurisdictions (all continents were represented). Questions were related to the appropriateness of the use of online social networks by legal actors, with a particular focus on judges and lawyers.

Among the highlights:

• Almost 70 per cent of respondents felt that it is acceptable for lawyers and judges to have each other as contacts on online social networks.
• Over 90 per cent of respondents considered it unacceptable for lawyers and judges to post comments or opinions about fellow lawyers, judges, parties, or cases in progress on online social networks.
• The vast majority of respondents from jurisdictions comprising a jury system found it unacceptable for jurors to post comments or opinions about the judges, lawyers, parties, and/or cases which they are observing on online social networking sites.
• While a majority of respondents found it unacceptable for lawyers, judges, and jurors to post updates about proceedings (by posting ‘status updates’, ‘tweeting’, blogging, etc) on online social networks while a matter is pending before the courts strictly for informational purposes, the majority deemed the conduct acceptable for journalists.
• Over 85 per cent of respondents deemed it acceptable for lawyers to access and use the information found on the online social networking profiles of the parties in a case, which forms part of the public domain, as evidence in proceedings.
• Nearly 95 per cent of respondents from jurisdictions containing a jury system thought that, in addition to routine instructions,jurors should receive specific instructions limiting their online communications and use of online social networking sites.
• Only 15 per cent of respondents felt that lawyers’ use of online social networks negatively affects the public’s confidence in the integrity and professionalism of the legal profession, while almost 40 per cent of respondents felt that judges’ use of online social networks negatively affects the public’s confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, thereby undermining judicial independence.
• 85 per cent of respondents thought that law students should be informed by their law schools as to the potential risks and disadvantages associated with the use of online social networking within the legal profession.
• Over 75 per cent of respondents considered the advantages of online social networking to outweigh its disadvantages.
• 80 per cent of respondents stated that there is a need for ethical/professional codes and standards to be adapted to online social interactions affecting the legal profession and practice, as they cannot be adequately applied in their current form.
• Over 90 per cent of respondents stated that there is a need for bar associations, societies, and councils, or, alternatively, for the IBA to construe guidelines regarding the use of online social networking sites within the legal profession and practice.

As a follow-up, a global social media project plan will be launched at the IBA Latin American Regional Forum Conference in Bogota, Colombia, 14–16 March 2012.

Report on Provision of Legal Information in British Columbia Public Libraries

Courthouse Libraries BC has been running an outreach program since 2007 called Law Matters At Your Local Library. It helps public libraries enhance their legal information collections and provides training for public library staff.

Its latest report entitled Talking to Librarians about LawMatters: Promising Practices has just been published on the Clicklaw website.

"Since 2007, the LawMatters program has provided grants, training and support to help the 243 BC public libraries provide legal information to people in every community, and help people know where to look and how to take the first or next step for legal information. LawMatters has been particularly concerned with enhancing public access to legal information in small communities where there tends to be less access to legal services."

"With the program now in its 4th year, the goal of this report is to identify 'promising practices' in public libraries which enhance their ability to provide legal information to the public. We focused a small telephone survey on 20 small and medium size public libraries to inquire further about how LawMatters is working for them and about any special practices they use to enhance legal reference services in their community. We also noted the promising practices of LawMatters identified by these libraries and the several collaborative practices between Courthouse Libraries BC and the public libraries."

Additional details about the LawMatters initiative is available on the Courthouse Libraries BC website.

Law Library Benchmarks 2012-13 Survey

Primary Research Group is updating its study on Law Library Benchmarks and seeks participants from law libraries in the United States and Canada to complete a survey. The survey closes on February 27, 2012.

"Primary Research Group, Inc., a publisher of surveys, monographs and research reports, is planning to publish a new edition of Law Library Benchmarks, a survey of law libraries. University, corporate, law firm, government agency, int'l organization and other law libraries are eligible. Participants receive a free pdf copy of the report when it is published. Your institution will be listed as a participant but the information that you provide is absolutely confidential; all data is amalgamated in a statistical package; no data is presented for individual institutions."

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of February 1-15, 2012 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.

Law Commission of New Zealand Consultation on Alternative Criminal Trial Processes

The Law Commission of New Zealand has launched a consultation process on how criminal trials are conducted.

In particular, the Commission wants to examine whether there may be better ways to serve the interests of justice – particularly in cases involving sexual offending.

It raises a number of possible options for reform of pre-trial and trial processes that seem inspired by its pre-consultation research into the practices of inquisitorial legal systems such as those in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Canadian Judges Trying to Figure Out What To Do About Twitter in the Courtroom

The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly reports that Canadian judges are trying to figure out what to do about the use of social media such as Twitter in the courtroom:

"In behind-the-scenes debates, Canada’s judges are trying to devise a consistent and principled approach to media tweeting and other social media use within their courtrooms (...)"

"The judiciary’s internal debate about tweeting came to light after Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin warned, in a Jan. 31 speech to Carleton University, that live dissemination of court proceedings by Twitter and other social media can pose a risk to fair, accurate and complete court coverage 'and its correlative - continued public confidence in the judicial system'. "

"Despite this risk, so far few Canadian courts have devised guiding principles - let alone specific rules -for in-court social media use by journalists and other spectators."

"The result has been that individual judges have had to contend on their own with the growing number of media requests to 'tweet' live from the courtroom, especially in high-profile trials."

"The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC), which oversees federal judges, has been wrestling for more than a year with this thorny issue, but has yet to produce guidelines or best practices to help courts across the country craft their own policies."

New European Court of Human Rights Factsheet on Hate Speech

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has published a series of Factsheets that describe important jurisprudence of the institution on a number of subjects.

The ECHR recently added a new Factsheet on hate speech. It includes key cases and pending applications before the Court.

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries.

Free Webinar February 29 - Taming the KM Monster

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries is joining with the American Association of Law Libraries and the Legal and Knowledge Management Divisions of SLA to present a free webinar on knowledge management this February 29th:

"Learn how librarians are using their expertise to develop connections within their organizations that deliver value by meeting the needs of internal and external customers. Discover how you can implement KM initiatives in your organization using existing tools and creative problem solving. Internal knowledge sharing, information silos and developing products that integrate internal and external data which vendors can’t duplicate create added value for attorneys, managers, directors, and other professionals. This talk provides tips on how to start small, market your successes, and build on those successes for larger-scale initiatives, discusses how to define KM in a way that fits your organizational culture and mission, which, in turn, sets realistic expectations of what KM can and cannot achieve."

Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitation of Actions in Conversion and Detinue

This week, the Manitoba Law Reform Commission released its report on Limitations of Actions in Conversion and Detinue.

From the Executive Summary:

"This report originates from the Manitoba Law Reform Commission's Limitations report published in October, 2010. In the Limitations report, the Commission recommends the adoption of a basic two-year limitation period for all claims running from the date of discovery, and a 15-year ultimate limitation period running from the day on which the act or omission on which the claim is based took place. The Commission deferred making recommendations in respect of actions in conversion and detinue with the intention of issuing a separate report on that subject."

"Conversion and detinue are torts which protect a person's possessory interests in personal property against wrongful interference. The torts' characteristics give rise to unique concerns in respect of limitations. This report examines the specific problems associated with limitations of actions in conversion and detinue, including: successive transactions, the protection of good faith purchasers of converted or detained goods from ongoing liability; the effect of the expiry of a limitation period on title to converted or detained goods; limitations and theft-related conversions; and, limitations and concurrent actions in conversion and detinue."

"The report reviews and analyzes recent law reform initiatives in respect of limitations of actions in conversion and detinue, and makes recommendations for specific provisions in a new Limitations Act to deal with these types of claims. The Commission's recommendations include a provision that the ultimate limitation period should run from the first date the personal property is converted or detained; a provision for a good faith purchaser exception to the ultimate limitation period; and a provision extinguishing title to converted or detained goods at the expiry of the ultimate limitation period. The Commission concludes that special statutory rules are not required to address theft-related conversions or concurrent actions in conversion and detinue."

"With this report, the Commission completes its work in respect of a modern Limitations Act for Manitoba."

The report examines the rules in a number of other Canadian provinces and in the UK (briefly).

Earlier Library Boy posts on limitations include:

• Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations of Actions (July 5, 2009): "The Manitoba Law Reform Commission recently published a Draft Report for Consultation on the province's Limitations of Actions Act: (...) 'The Limitation of Actions Act was originally enacted in 1931. Although amended three times since then (in 1967, 1980, and 2002) it is fundamentally based on an amalgam of limitations provisions that originated in England centuries ago. In other words, it is highly dated, and it is showing its age. The Act badly requires modernization, and in this report the Commission has identified what it sees as the primary areas requiring modernization, as well as the best ways of accomplishing that goal. In light of the work that has been done in recent years in other Canadian jurisdictions, the Commission sees no need to reinvent this wheel. For the most part, in this report we have described the structure of the 'modern' limitations regimes found in other jurisdictions, and analyzed whether they are suitable for Manitoba and how, if at all, they ought to be adapted for Manitoba’s conditions'. "
• British Columbia White Paper on Limitation Act Reform (September 17, 2010): "The government of British Columbia has published a White Paper aimed at reforming the province's Limitation Act (...) Among the major recommendations in the White paper: moving from a variety of basic limitation periods to a single two-year basic limitation period for all civil claims ; eliminating the special six-year ultimate limitation period for negligence claims against doctors, hospitals and hospital employees. All lawsuits will be governed by a single ultimate limitation period of either 10 or 15 years"
• Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations (October 30, 2010): "The most important proposal is for the abolition of the various categories of claims set out in the current Act, and their replacement with a single, basic two year limitation applicable to all claims unless they are otherwise dealt with."
  

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of the Security of Tenure of Military Judges Act

The Library of Parliament has recently published its legislative summary of Bill C-16: An Act to amend the National Defence Act (military judges). The short title of the bill is the Security of Tenure of Military Judges Act:

"Prior to the passage of Bill C-16, military judges were appointed by the Governor in Council with security of tenure for a term of five years. Military judges could be removed during their tenure only by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of an Inquiry Committee created under the National Defence Act. Terms were renewable on the recommendation of a Renewal Committee until judges reached the age of retirement set out in articles 101.15, 101.16 and 101.17 of the Queen’s Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces (QR&Os). In making a recommendation regarding reappointment, the Renewal Committee was prohibited from considering a judge’s record of judicial decisions."

"On 2 June 2011, in the case of R. v. Leblanc, the Court Martial Appeal Court declared sections 165.21(2) to 165.21(4) of the National Defence Act and articles 101.15, 101.16 and 101.17 of the QR&Os to be invalid and of no force and effect. The Court suspended the declaration of invalidity for six months to give Parliament an opportunity to amend the legislation."

"Bill C-16 responds to the Leblanc decision, and aims to remove any impression of outside influence on the decisions of military judges. The bill provides security of tenure for military judges until a fixed age of 60 years, subject only to removal for cause on the recommendation of an Inquiry Committee. The bill repeals current provisions of the National Defence Act relating to the tenure and reappointment of military judges..."

The bill received Royal Assent on November 29, 2011 and is now chapter 22 of the Statutes of Canada, 2011.

Has Canada Become The New Constitutional Law Superpower?

A New York Times article entitled ‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World outlines the diminishing international infuence of the United States Constitution.

The article in yesterday's edition points to an article in the New York University Law Review that shows that the U.S. Constitution is no longer seen as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere, as once was the case.

Who has become more influential as a source of inspiration? According to former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, cited by the New York Times, Canada:

" 'Canadian law,' he wrote, 'serves as a source of inspiration for many countries around the world.' The new study [in the New York University Law Review] also suggests that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982, may now be more influential than its American counterpart. "

UK Supreme Court on Twitter

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, that country's highest court, has begun tweeting. It will tweet about judgments and other selected news.

It inaugurated its Twitter account by providing live coverage of the swearing-in of a new justice.

Tweeting has been allowed from its courtrooms since February 2011. The Court itself now joins the Twitterati.

Background:

• Supreme Court to tweet proceedings (The Telegraph)
• Britain’s Highest Court to take up posting realtime news on its latest judgments on Twitter (Washington Post)
• Assange fate could be revealed on Twitter (Sydney Morning Herald)
• UK Supreme Court to take up tweeting (CBS)

Seeking Nominations for the 2012 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing

Nominations are open for the 2012 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing.

Every year, the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) honours a publisher (whether for-profit or not-for profit, corporate or non-corporate) that has demonstrated excellence by publishing a work, series or e-product that makes a significant contribution to legal research and scholarship.

Nominations should address the following criteria:

• excellence and innovation
• quality of editing, including features which enhance useability (table of contents, indices, searchability)
• significant contribution to a body of legal literature
• fills a gap in the literature
  

The deadline for nominations is March 23, 2012. The award will be presented to the recipient at a reception during the 2012 CALL Annual Meeting in Toronto in May.

CanLII Strategic Priorities 2012-2014

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, has published a document on its strategic priorities for 2012-2014.

CanLII, whose funding comes from members of Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies, makes Canadian jurisprudence and statutes available for free via the Internet.

Its strategic priorities are:

1. Secure permanent role as foremost source of free law in Canada
2. Continually enrich content to meet needs of public and professional users
3. Deliver easy to use professional grade tools and a compelling site experience
4. Continuously promote and defend free access to law

Among future plans, CanLII mentions:

"When it comes to accessing content on or through the CanLII site, CanLII will strive to expand its users’ access to high value legal materials. This may involve incorporating secondary sources into CanLII, but it could also occur through facilitating searches of materials hosted elsewhere as CanLII’s interests go beyond growing its own site and extend to pursuing partnerships that advance the goals of other leading legal information providers. Potential partners include not-for-proft as well as for-proft institutions with an interest in expanding the free availability of their legal materials."

"CanLII will also seek out opportunities to improve understanding. For example, working with educational and other organizations, CanLII will explore opportunities to develop specialized services such as topic compilations and open access casebooks, and other professional user-generated content."

Supreme Court of Canada: New Library Titles

The list of new library titles added to the Supreme Court of Canada collection for the period of January 16-31, 2012 is now available on the Court website.

The web page explains: "The Supreme Court of Canada Library does not lend materials from this list, which is provided for information only."

But, once the material goes into the general collection, after about a month, the works do become available for inter-library loan to authorized libraries.

It is possible to subscribe via e-mail to receive the list.