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• Introduction

1. Introduction to Federal Legislation

• 1.1 Introduction to Federal Legislation
  
  
• 1.2 The Legislative Process
  
  

2. Bills

• 2.1 Bills
  
  
• 2.2 How a Bill becomes Law
  
  
• 2.3 The Structure of a Bill
  
  

3. Legislative Research

• 3.1 Legislative Research
  
  
• 3.2 Step One Determine Jurisdiction
  
  
• 3.3 Step Two Determine the Legislation
  
  
• 3.4 Step Three Confirm Come into Force
  
  
• 3.5 Step Four Locate Statute or Regulation
  
  
• 3.6 Step Five Update and Note up
  
  
• 3.7 Tips for Legislative Research
  
  
• Review and Conclusion
  
  

Federal Legislation – Tips for Legislative Research

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you research legislation:

• Once you have located the correct statute, be sure to go to the statute itself and skim or read it - in legislative research there is simply no substitute to reading the actual statute;
• Statues are revised regularly, so research must always be current;
• There may be overlap between provincial and federal statutes;
• There may be more than one applicable statute, even in the same jurisdiction;
• Statutes work in combination with one another - sometimes even without referring explicitly to one another by name; and,
• Statutes also work in combination with cases, which interpret statutes and can affect the meaning of statutes.

(See: Maureen Fitzgerald, "Chapter 7: How to Find and Update Statutes” in Legal Problem Solving: Reasoning, Research & Writing, 3d ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2004) at 111.)