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Library Supports for Lawyers
The Society’s Library supports all members – with a focus on practising lawyers and articled clerks – with the following:
- Identifying relevant materials to help answer an information need;
- Troubleshooting difficulties with online information sources;
- Determining if material in the Halifax Barristers’ Library is available for loan;
- Borrowing circulating materials;
- Accessing materials from another library through interlibrary loan;
- Carrying out a legislative history; and
- Obtaining a copy of a case, statute or article not directly available to the lawyer.
We do not perform in-depth research for lawyers. Contact us for a current list of researchers who provide legal research services.
Location / Hours / Contact
NSBS Library & Information Services
The Law Courts, 7th floor
1815 Upper Water Street
Halifax, NS B3J 1S7
T: 902 425-2665
Toll-free: 1 866 219-1202
F: 902 422-1697
E: nsbslib@nsbs.org
Library is open during Courthouse hours: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
After hour access is available with membership card. Please have your card ready to present to the Commissionaire.
Service Fees
$0.40 per copy (black & white).
Lawyers may purchase photocopying cards for $20.00 or $40.00, plus a $2.00 deposit fee per card.
Cases – $10.00 per case.
Statutes/regulations– $10.00 per statute/regulation, using official sources where available.
Articles – $10.00 per article.
Other – $10.00 per item.
Nova Scotia statutes: post-R.S.N.S. 1989 to date – $20.00 per statute, using official sources.
Nova Scotia statutes: pre-R.S.N.S. 1989 to date – $30.00 per statute, using official sources.
Other statutes – $30.00 per statute, using official sources where available.
Regulations – $30.00 per regulation, using official sources where available.
Lawyers may contact the Barristers’ Library to borrow circulating books. Library materials will be sent out the same day, whenever possible. The cost of shipping books out and returning them to the library is borne by lawyers.
$20.00 per article or book, plus the costs imposed by the lending library, including its courier costs.
Lawyers can use the Barristers’ Library’s fax machine to send material at a cost of $1.00 per page. Lawyers can have material faxed to them at the Barristers’ Library at a cost of $1.00 per page.
Lawyers who do not return overdue material after three reminders are invoiced for the cost of the material, plus a $25.00 per item processing fee. Lawyers who return overdue material after receipt of an invoice are still accountable for the $25.00 processing fee.
County Bar Libraries
Planning Services Building
396 Main Street
Lawrencetown, NS B0S 1M0
11 James Street
Antigonish, NS B2G 1R6
The Court House
495 Chebucto Street
Baddeck, NS B0E 1B0
The Court House
1 Church Street
Truro, NS B2N 3Z5
16 Church Street, 2nd floor
Amherst, NS B4H 3A6
The Court House
117 Queen Street
Digby, NS B0V 1A0
240 King Street
Windsor, NS B0N 2T0
87 Cornwallis Street
Kentville, NS B4N 2E5
Bridgewater Justice Centre
141 High Street
Bridgewater, NS B4V 1W2
Justice Complex
69 Water Street
Pictou, NS B0K 1H0
This County Library has been closed and all library materials removed from the Courthouse.
Port Hawkesbury Justice Centre
15 Kennedy Street, Suite 201
Port Hawkesbury, NS B9A 2Y1
Yarmouth Justice Centre
164 Main Street, Suite 201
Yarmouth, NS B5A 1C2
Online Resources
These online resources licensed for lawyer use are available on the library user computers at the Barristers’ Library in Halifax:
HeinOnline provides U.S. and Canadian journals, U.S. primary law and case law links.
Legislation
Nova Scotia’s Office of the Legislative Counsel provides bills, statutes and proclamations from the 1998-1999 session to date, as well as Statutes at Large, 1758 to 1835. The most current Table of Public Statutes and Index to Local and Private Acts are also provided.
The Nova Scotia Legislative Library provides access to digitized versions of the annual statutes, 1836 to 1997, and the revised statutes from 1851 to 1989. See Nova Scotia Legislature link for status of bills before the House.
- Nova Scotia Legislature Status of Bills
- Nova Scotia Consolidated Public Statutes
- Annual statutes 1836 to 1997, electronically deposited by the Legislative Library
- RSNS 1851 to RSNS 1989, electronically deposited
- Statutes at Large, 1758 to 1835
LEGISinfo, a collaboration of the Senate, House of Commons and Library of Parliament, provides information on legislation before Parliament, including text of a bill as introduced and most recent version if amended, details on the bill’s passage, coming into force data and more.
Justice Laws Website provides consolidated federal statutes and regulations maintained by the Department of Justice Canada. As of June 1, 2009, all consolidated statutes and regulations available through Justice Laws are official and can be used for evidentiary purposes.
Coverage: Annual statutes (not official) from 2001 to date. Point-in-time versions from January 1, 2003 for acts and March 22, 2006 for regulations.
CanLII provides access to legislation from all provinces and territories in Canada, as well as the federal realm, including some point-in-time coverage of legislation for some jurisdictions. See CanLII’s Details for Statutes and Regulations of Nova Scotia. Where accuracy is critical, consult official sources.
Contact the Library at 902 425 2665 or 1-866-219 1202 (toll free) or email us at at nsbslib@nsbs.org for assistance.