Presented by Gwyneth Pearce
60-Minute Presentation (Intermediate)
Legislation and court judgments are staples of traditional legal research. But they can also provide valuable social and legal context for family historians, explain puzzling references in family documents, and offer valuable leads as to where to look for relevant records. Fortunately, ongoing digitization and indexing projects are making them increasingly accessible. This presentation will survey some of the key legal research resources that may be of interest to genealogists – in particular, caselaw and legislative instruments (legislation, orders-in-council and government gazettes) – and how to find them. Selected case studies will illustrate how exploring the law can yield evidence for family history research. The focus will be on 19th and early 20th century Ontario materials that are freely available to the public online.
