How do I do my own legal research as a self-represented litigant?

Last reviewed April 2025 by the Clicklaw editors

If you don’t have a lawyer and you’re representing yourself, then you’re a self-represented litigant. This means you need to learn about the court system, learn what documents to file, prepare your case, and do your own legal research.

Legal research can be intimidating, but there are many good tools available to help people without legal training find legal information.

What’s legal research?

Legal research means finding out how courts work (the court process) and learning about the law. You need to look up primary sources (legislation and case law) to support your case as well as secondary sources (including textbooks, journal articles, and online databases) for background information.

Legislation is the law (statutes, regulations, and bylaws) that are made by elected representatives. Case law is past court decisions. When a court form asks you for a “legal basis,” this is usually the sort of information you’d enter.

Where can I do my legal research?

Here are some tips for doing your own legal research using trustworthy sources:

Information about the court process

Learning how courts work is important to your case. The courts in BC offer how-to guides to most of their processes on their websites, explaining what to expect at each step and where to find related forms:

Secondary sources of information

Secondary sources are books, online databases, and other resources that explain the law and can help you find the laws that apply to your situation. Looking at secondary sources should be the first step in your legal research.

Courthouse Libraries BC has 30 locations around the province where you can access books and online databases to start your legal research. (Find information about locations and hours on our website.) Your public library may also have legal books and electronic resources that you can use.

Primary sources of information

Legislation

Legislation is the law made by elected representatives. It can include statutes, regulations, and bylaws.

Don’t start your research with legislation. Look at secondary sources first so you can learn about laws and which ones may apply to your situation. Keep in mind the following:

  • You need to find the version of the law that was in force at the time of the event in your case.
  • You should also find the relevant case law, as case law can affect how a law is interpreted (see below).
  • There may be several laws that apply.
  • Federal and provincial law may overlap.

The most current versions of BC statutes are freely available on BC Laws and CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute). CanLII has past versions of legislation going back to 1998, and BC Laws has historical statutes going back to 1858.

Justice Laws is the official source for federal legislation.

Courthouse Libraries BC has guides to help you search for BC legislation and federal legislation.

Case law

Case law is sometimes referred to as court decisions, or “authorities.” You use them to show the judge why they should decide in your favour. Although it’s not expected, you should be ready to provide them if requested. Record the citations (the year and number given to a decision), since these are unique and will help you find them later.

Secondary sources may help you find case law that deals with specific legal issues. You can also do case law research using CanLII. It’s a free database of decisions from across Canada, and you don’t need a subscription. (CanLII is also a good source of legislation, hosting all of BC’s current laws.)

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