Canadian Legal Words and Phrases

The definition database is growing, but currently you have access to over 5,500 legal words and phrases defined or judicially considered in Canadian courts and tribunals, post 1999. The defining sources include Black’s Law Dictionary and the Oxford dictionary.

Where do you find this database?

You have two points of access to perform searches on this database.

1. From the search tab, select GENERAL in the Find the document section of the page, use the pull down option on the first search box and the last option "Find a definition".
2. Type in the word or phrase to be defined in the next box.
3. Select the COMMENTARY tab. On the right side of the screen, in the section labelled in red "Commentary Search Forms", there is an option called Canadian Legal Words and Phrases.
4. Select this option and it will open the search page for this database.

If you find your word does not appear in that database, you may wish to expand your search for other dictionary sources (such as Jewitt or Stroud’s legal dictionaries) or search prior to the 1999 cut off date.

Type the following search in the Enter search term field.

 

dictionary /p (defin! /s word or phrase to be defined) e.g. dictionary /p (defin! /s judicial act)