Every once in a while we get tired of writing posts about legal research, new books and websites, and other serious stuff, so we look for something fun to write about. This involves a different kind of research and, even more fun, getting to go down a rabbit hole. Each fact that is uncovered raises a potential new research path and rabbit hole until finally the brain shouts “Enough, stop!” This week’s rabbit hole is about the library’s oldest book.
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The New Divorce Act: the Changes Are Coming…Eventually
Recently, we’ve been getting a lot of questions concerning what has been colloquially referred to as the “New Divorce Act”. This act, which is officially known as An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act and the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act (S.O. 2019, C. 16, (Bill C-78))—you can see the need for a shortened title—received royal assent on June 21st of this year and will make many changes to the Divorce Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 3 (2nd Supp.)).
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Class Action Reform in Ontario
The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) released its long-awaited report, Class Actions: Objectives, Experiences and Reforms last Wednesday.
The report is the work of the LCO’s Class Actions Project which was launched back in October 2017, with a mandate “to research class actions in Ontario and to conduct an independent, evidence-based, and practical analysis of class actions from the perspective of their three objectives: access to justice, judicial economy, and deterrence”. The project represents the first comprehensive review of the province’s Class Proceedings Act, 1992.
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Airing Out the Rare Books
As a library, we often highlight the shiny new books we acquire and neglect those books that have been here for years, perhaps even over a hundred years.
Established in 1826, the Great Library has quite a collection of older books and documents. What might come as a surprise to some frequent users of the library is that there is a small room only accessible to library staff that contains our rare book collection. While the room is staff only, avid bibliophiles and researchers may request items to be retrieved from this collection for study in the library.
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Progress Report: Status of Ontario Bills as of the Summer Recess
Summer is here and while the Great Library remains open—albeit with shortened hours—these hot and sunny months have us thinking (perhaps enviously) of those who break for the season entirely.
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