While Rangefindr is extremely helpful for all kinds of criminal sentencing research, it is particularly useful when trying to locate cases that do not lend themselves to keyword searching. For instance, imagine trying to find cases where a lawyer or a police officer is the accused person. It would be very difficult to construct a keyword search to locate only those cases, without bringing up irrelevant results that also involved lawyers or police officers in other capacities. Using Rangefindr, such cases can be identified with just a few clicks.
Instead of using Google-style keyword searching, Rangefindr is a filtering service. To find cases where lawyers were sentenced, one can simply click on the “Accused” category at the top left-hand side of the Rangefindr query page.
Scrolling down through the alphabetical list of filters (also called “tags”), clicking “Lawyer” reveals 63 cases in the Rangefindr database. As soon as the filter is applied, the dispositions in the 63 cases are displayed on the right-hand side of the screen. Apparently the 63 cases involved 4 absolute discharges, 3 conditional discharges, 10 conditional sentences, 2 intermittent sentences, 2 fines, 2 periods of probation and 40 imprisonments.
By clicking “Show Durations”, the display on the right toggles to show a breakdown of the 40 prison sentences. Clicking “View Cases” brings up the results page, which defaults to showing all 63 cases in reverse chronological order.
The cases can also be sorted by “Highest Punishment”, “Lowest Punishment”, “Judge” and “Level of Court”.
Clicking “Tags Associated with this Case” expands the brief case summary to show all of the filters that are associated with the case.
Jurisdictional filters can be added by clicking “Edit Search” and choosing the desired jurisdiction(s) under the “Jurisdiction” category on the left-hand side of the screen. Apparently there are 8 such cases from Manitoba in Rangefindr’s database.
Rangefindr provides links to all of the case results in CanLII (which is where it draws its data from). These links can be accessed for individual cases by clicking on “Download This Case” in the top-right corner.
Though the Rangefindr database is limited in scope (it generally includes appellate cases since 2000 and trial decisions from 2010 onward), it can help researchers quickly identify pertinent cases, particularly when they involve unique factual elements. In case you are wondering, Rangefindr’s filters are applied by human editors who go through a rigorous training process.
“For over 30 years, this book has set forth sentencing principles and analyses in order to help criminal defence lawyers formulate effective submissions to sentencing judges. Sentencing, regarded by many as “the sentencing bible”, canvasses the law of sentencing in a way that no other books on criminal law and sentencing are able: it succinctly outlines all of the significant facets of sentencing principles and procedure, and provides the reader with a comprehensive range of sentencing for various offences.”
New Journals from Emerald Publishing added to HeinOnline!
HeinOnline has added several new journal titles from Emerald Publishing to the Law Journal Library. This includes full text for all past issues of the journals, excluding the 2 most recent years, which are indexed only. Take a look at what these new titles offer.
International Journal of Law and Management – “International Journal of Law and Management (IJLMA) is a leading journal addressing all aspects of regulation and law as they impact on organizational development, operations and leadership. Organizations and their leaders operate in an increasingly complex world of emerging regulation across national and international boundaries. International Journal of Law and Management seeks to acknowledge the dynamics of that environment and provide a platform for articles and contributions to stimulate scholarly debate in the development of law and practice.”
Journal of Financial Crime – “The journal’s articles are authored by some of the leading international scholars and practitioners in the fields of law, criminology, economics, criminal justice and compliance. Consequently, articles are perceptive, evidence based and have policy impact.”
Journal of International Trade Law and Policy – “an international journal receptive, but not limited, to the methods of economics, law, and the social sciences. As scholars tend to read individual articles of particular interest to them, rather than an entire issue, authors are not required to write with full accessibility to readers from all disciplines within the purview of the Journal. However, interdisciplinary communication should be fostered where possible. Thus economists can utilize quantitative methods (including econometrics and statistics), while legal scholars and political scientists can invoke specialized techniques and theories. Appendices are encouraged for more technical material.”
Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law – “publishes original legal research contributions for the benefit of scholars, policy makers and practitioners in these areas, including those operating in the fields of legal practice, housing and planning. International in scope and with a commitment to comparative legal studies, the journal publishes scholarly legal articles dealing with the application of law in these areas as well as theoretical and policy orientated research.”
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management – “provides expert discussion, analysis and strategies to achieve greater effectiveness in police management and law enforcement. Publishing peer-reviewed research articles and case studies, the journal provides a truly global and comparative perspective on policing.”
Upcoming titles include Research in Law and Economics and Studies in Law, Politics, and Society. For full access log in to the Member’s Portal.
HeinOnline has a large collection with multiple ways of searching so it can sometimes be difficult to know if your search is getting the results you are looking for. This tip explains how users can search the actual catalog records for a thorough result. Searching the catalog is a little different that doing a broad search as it uses the Machine Readable Coding used to identify each item.
Check the tip to see simple one-box search methods, or dive deeper into advanced searches. You can even take a look at the Catalog Subjects tool to browse through subject headings.
CanLII is another resource with a large database. Typing in a simple keyword or phrase can bring up thousands of results. One method to narrow that down is to use filters. This tip gives a great overview of how to limit results for cases, legislation, and commentary by using filters like jurisdiction, dates, and subjects.
Still can’t find what you are looking for? Email us at library@lawsociety.mb.ca and we can help you with using these resources or track down what you’re looking for.
When should you consider reviewing decisions from foreign jurisdictions when conducting legal research? Does it depend on the issue – is it so localized that only Manitoba decisions will be persuasive? Or is it national in scope, so looking at other Canadian jurisdictions is helpful? Or, do you need to go even further, to international common law jurisdictions?
The authors of A Global Community of Courts? Modelling the Use of Persuasive Authority as a Complex Network examined the contents of the vLex database (available to you behind the Members Portal) “to quantify the flow of jurisprudence across the countries in our corpus and to explore the factors that may influence a judge’s selection of foreign jurisprudence.”
If judges are looking at it, shouldn’t you? Our subscription to vLex includes Canadian, U.S. and U.K. decisions. If you need help using it, review our guide or view the introductory webinar available after signing in to the members portal.
There is a growing discussion in the legal literature of an emerging global community of courts composed of a network of increasing judicial dialogue across national borders. We investigate the use of foreign persuasive authority in common law countries by analyzing the network of citations to case law in a corpus of over 1.5 million judgments given by the senior courts of twenty-six common law countries.
Court records or docket information aren’t always the easiest things to find. When you do find them it can be another step trying to access them. Then it gets even harder when you are dealing with other provinces and jurisdictions.
Luckily there is a great resource from the University of Windsor Paul Martin Law Library to help navigate court systems Canada wide. Click below to take a look.
The table has information from all provinces and territories, as well as the Supreme court and Federal Courts. Here, you can find information like decisions, dockets, registries, policies, and fees.
This helpful table was put together by Sarah Richmond and with help from CALL/ACBD members across Canada.
Canlli and Slaw.ca have added to their collection of eBooks with 13 new titles, with a range of different legal topics. These eBooks are collected from Slaw.ca authors and compiled to make legal research easier.
These titles are now available on desLibris. Log in to the Member’s Portal and click on Library Resources to get access.
The Law of Property provides an introduction to property law that is meant to be accessible to law students and readers with little to no legal background. It explores and explains the variety of different property rights that exist in Canadian law, the ways in which property rights can be created or transferred to others, and the resolution of disputes between people who claim competing property rights to the same thing. This book presents a thorough and enjoyable analysis of the law of property that will help readers understand both the subject as a whole and its finer details.
United Nations Law, Politics, and Practice explores the important events that shaped the United Nations under different Secretaries-General, describes the legal framework in which it operates, and discusses its politics and practice from an insider’s viewpoint. It provides sufficient information on the UN’s evolution, structure, functioning, and activities in order to empower readers to form their own thoughts about the strengths, weaknesses, successes, and failures of the UN. Students, professors, lawyers, diplomats, international public servants, and those with any interest in international relations or international law will consider this book a valuable resource examining the world’s most prominent intergovernmental organization.
The Canadian Class Action Review, Vol. 16, No. 2
Book Review: Defending Class Actions In Canada: A Guide For Defendants Michael A Crystal And Maria Khan
Flash Boys Class Actions: Civil Fraud, Conspiracy, And The Certifiability Of High-Frequency Trading Cases In Canada Lindsay Frame
An Overview Of Class Actions And Covid-19 In Ontario’s Long-Term Care Facilities Jordan Assaraf
The Unworkability Of The Workable Methodology Standard Kate Boyle And Nicholas Hooper United We Stand, Divided We Fall: Class Actions And Corporate Hegemony Rebecca Meharchand
The Limits Of Case Management: A Review And Principled Approach To The Court’s General Management Powers Paul-Erik Veel, Adil Abdulla, And Angela Hou
Determining A Fair Price For Carriage?: Applying A “Fee-Driven” Factor And Reverse Auctions To Adjudicating Carriage Motions In Ontario Timothy Law
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