BC Courthouse Library Society
Cases on the Doctrine of Scienter
Q: I’m dealing with a case of a dog attack. I’ve already found information from the perspective of negligence but am also looking for cases etc. on the doctrine of scienter. What would you suggest?

A: One place to start would be the BCCLS library catalogue. A general keyword search for “animal law” brings up a list of 12 items and will direct you to some textbooks on the subject. Since there are few Canadian texts on this subject, however, in order to find case law and the applicable legislation, you will need to turn to a Canadian source. WestlaweCarswell’s LawSource, an online system, can provide you with case law, an authority list for each case, applicable CED entries plus KeyCite references showing how the cases have been treated. A phrase search for “doctrine of scienter” and “animal” provides a list of 14 B.C. cases, with the accompanying citing references.

LawSource includes all cases published in Carswell topical law reports, legislation, the CED, the Canadian Abridgment and KeyCite, an electronic citator for Canadian cases and legislation. The subscription is paid for by the B.C. Courthouse Library Society and is freely available in all courthouse libraries except Vancouver. See page 30 for information on free LawSource training.

The B.C. Courthouse Library Society welcomes your questions. E-mail queries to bccls@bccls.bc.ca


Legal Literature Index - Law Source Training
BC Legal Literature Index
The B.C. Legal Literature Index provides access to articles in Section Papers, The Advocate, and The Verdict. Indexing has recently been completed for the CBA Section Papers and covers the period from 1988 to 2003. The Index is updated as issues are released. Access the Index at www.bccls.bc.ca, under Databases in “Legal Research.”

Free LawSource Training
BCCLS continues to offer LawSource training for lawyers outside Vancouver. LawSource is available for use on all branch computers in libraries outside Vancouver, and BCCLS offers many training opportunities for lawyers. Training sessions will be held this fall in Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George and Victoria, based on demand. For more information on training sessions, please speak with staff in the regional libraries.

Carswell trainers will conduct on-site training at your location, if you have a group of lawyers or law firm staff to be trained. Teleconference training is also available. For information on Carswell training, e-mail carswell.learning@thomson.com or call 1-800-387-5164, or 604-572-4954.


Court Services Online
Law Source Training
Court Services Online (CSO) – B.C.’s electronic court registry – arrives this month with the launch of the CSO e-search service. Information from every court registry in B.C. will be accessible online, allowing users to conduct province-wide searches of Supreme and Provincial civil court files.

The information available through e-search includes details on the nature of the claim or proceeding, the parties, documents filed, hearings, and results. Some limitations on access to information will apply based on the type of proceeding, particularly to information on family matters.

E-search is free in October. Thereafter, a service fee of $6, payable online by credit card, will be applied per file for accessing information through e-search. For this fee, users will have access to all of the information available on a particular file. More information on e-search is available at https://eservice.ag.gov.bc.ca/cso/index.do.

These articles were published in the October 2004 issue of BarTalk. © 2004 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.