2. An Albertan company has had a “BP”-like spill in which chemicals from one of its plants have spilled into a river. What is the law which governs this type of offence and are there any limitations on the company’s liability?

Sample Research Methodology Only Presented at PBSC Training Sessions

Western Region Law SchoolsNovember 2010

We need to look for:

1. Secondary sources on this subject which will provide us with information on the subject and which will point to the statutes and case law which apply in this kind of situation.

2. We need to find the actual legislation and case law once we have found references to them in the secondary sources.

What is a good secondary source?A good place to start is with the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest.

Choose the Table of Contents available on the left hand side of Westlaw Canada.

Four Ways:

1.Westlaw Canada 2.LexisNexis3.CanLII4.Government of Alberta – Laws Online

LexisNexis

Laws Online

Question: What about limitations on liability?

Once again, it’s a good idea to start with a secondary source like the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest.

The C.E.D. provides us with information on limitations on liability both under the common law and under the various environmental statutes which might govern this situation.

Once we come to a blue link, we can click on it to read the relevant section of the C.E.D.

The footnotes will lead to relevant case law. Clicking on the blue citations will lead to the cases themselves.

Question: What about articles?

The Index to Canadian Legal Literature is the most comprehensive periodicals index in Canada.

If you are not provided with a link to the document, you will have to look for it through a library catalogue or through some other source to find the journal which contains the article you want.

Finally – don’t forget the library catalogue for books on Alberta environmental law!