FAQs with John: Historical Point-in-Time Legislation

As a student librarian doing a co-op at the Great Library, one of the first things I learned was locating point-in-time legislation. “Backdating” is the act of tracing the history of an act through its previous versions. In the short time I’ve been at the Great Library, I’ve had several questions about locating historical point-in-time legislation, especially for Manitoba statutes.

I thought I would conduct a quick refresher on how to access these documents using the HeinOnline database behind the Law Society Member Portal.

Let’s say for example you were interested in tracing back the Cemeteries Act to find out what the Act looked like in 1980.

Remember that:

  • Federal statutes were revised in 1886, 1906, 1927, 1952, 1970, and 1985
  • Manitoba statutes were revised 1892, 1902, 1913, 1924 (consolidated amendments), 1940, 1954, 1970, and Re-enacted: 1987-1990

In our example, the closest revision year was 1970. The Cemeteries Act in 1980 will include the 1970 version plus any amendments made up until 1980.

Next, look up the amendments and the 1970 version of the Act. We’ll do this by navigating to the LSM Member Portal and accessing HeinOnline.

Although the year we are interested in is 1980, it’s a good idea to go one year past the year you’re looking for. This way you catch amendments that were made in 1980, but weren’t published until 1981. Select the link for 1980-1981.

Scroll down the left-side menu to click on “List of Statutes in Continuing Consolidation”. Acts are listed alphabetically, and under the Cemeteries Act, we can see the 1970 Revised Statutes of Manitoba version and its chapter, as well as a list of amendments up until 1980, including chapter and section:


The next step is to put all of the amendments into context within the 1970 Act, and then we’ll have a picture of how the Cemeteries Act was comprised in 1980.

For more information about finding historical legislation, access our Finding Point-in-Time Legislation guide in the Legal Ease section of the Great Lexpectations site.

Lexbox Tip: Track Legislative Changes with Amendment Alerts

Did you know that Lexbox, the free online legal workspace, allows users to set up amendment alerts on CanLII to receive notification that a piece of legislation has changed?

All you need is a free Lexbox account and then sign up for amendment alerts by selecting a piece of legislation on CanLII. Click on the “Set up amendment alert” button and save it to a folder in your Lexbox workspace.

Lexbox will track amendments to the Act and notify you when there are updates. You can receive daily or weekly email alerts, or when you sign in to the Lexbox platform.

Lexbox will even tell you the estimated number of alerts you can expect. For example, 3 alerts per year are expected for The Public Schools Act.

Using amendment alerts with Lexbox is a great way to stay on top of changes to key statutes and regulations for your practice.

Find out more about Lexbox here.

Staff Working from Home

Due to the planned demonstrations at the legislature Friday, February 4, 2022, library staff will be working from home. We hope to be able to provide you the same great service as when we’re here, but there may be some items we can’t retrieve. We plan to be back to our regular service on Monday.

Please contact us by email only until then. Thank you.

New from CanLII: AI generated subject classification for Ontario case law

A helpful new feature just launched on CanLII.org. Going forward, Ontario court decisions on CanLII will display artificial intelligence generated classification.

The AI feature uses machine learning technology to automatically generate practice area labels. The labels appear in grey at the bottom of a search result, underneath the italicized subject keywords:

screen shot of CanLII search result that contains the AI generated label "Public Administration"

The feature offers a quick way for users to determine under which practice area a case has been classified. The Ontario AI project is the second jurisdiction to receive this feature, after CanLII launched the feature for Saskatchewan case law last year.

Read more about the new Ontario project here.

Free Guide from Rangefindr: Sentencing Guide for Transgender Offenders

Rangefindr.caLegal research tool Rangefindr has recently released a free sentencing guide for transgender offenders.

The guide summarizes material on the sentencing of transgender and gender nonconforming offenders in the following topic areas:

    • Effect on moral blameworthiness and mitigation
    • Conditions of imprisonment
    • Placement in men’s or women’s prisons

The guide is especially timely given sentencing courts recognition of transgender identity as an important factor in imposing a proportionate sentence.

It is licensed under CC BY 4.0, meaning that it can be copied and distributed freely, in whole or in part, if the attribution to rangefindr.ca and the author is intact.

The guide also coincides with the activation of a new tag in Rangefindr: “Accused: Transgender/Gender non-conforming.” This tag allows users to easily find sentencing judgments in which the offender was transgender.

Members of the Law Society of Manitoba have access to Rangefindr’s criminal sentencing resources through the Member’s Portal.

Rangefindr.ca has other helpful publications available here.

New Print Books from Emond

New print copies of Emond’s Criminal law series are now available. A reminder that all our reserve books are available for members to borow for two days, or two weeks for items from the regular collection.

Online access is also available for Digital Evidence, Search and Seizure, and Prosecuting and Defending Fraud Cases, as well as the rest of the Criminal Law Series in the Library Resources section of the member portal.

Digital Evidence — 2nd ed. – “This is the first comprehensive text on this facet of law. It is designed to clarify the nuances of the authentication and admissibility of digital evidence, privacy rights, the uses and limits of social media evidence, and the search and seizure of electronic devices. This text also explores the ways in which law enforcement can access digital data in the hands of third parties, including the various powers created by Bill C-13 (S.C. 2014, c. 31 Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act).”

Search and Seizure – “Search and Seizure provides a practical examination of the evolving body of legal rules and principles that govern how reasonable searches and seizures are conducted. In particular, it considers the increased complexity of assessing a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy in the digital age. This handbook addresses central concerns and relevant topics such as Section 487 Search Warrants, computer device searches, warrantless searches, and exclusion of evidence.”

Modern Criminal Evidence – “the first major treatise to provide a truly practical and comprehensive guide to criminal evidence law in Canada. Unlike other texts in this area, this book’s practical approach guides readers through evidentiary issues in all components of criminal law, providing indispensable insight from Crown, defence, and judicial perspectives.”

Prosecuting and Defending Fraud Cases, 2nd ed. – “prepares readers to properly litigate fraud cases, examining both prosecutorial and defence perspectives. Guiding readers step by step throughout the process of a fraud case, this practical resource weaves strategic information with case law analysis and relevant provisions of the Criminal Code. This edition features up-to-date legislation, additional content, updated charts, and a new chapter on cyber fraud in Canada.”

The library will be closed on Good Friday, March 29.
The courthouse will be closed on Monday, April 1 but the library will be open for remote requests.