Slaw.ca Article on The New JurisClasseur Québec Encyclopedia

Over at Slaw.ca, Gary P. Rodrigues has written his fourth in a series of posts on the major Canadian legal research encyclopedias, this time tackling the JurisClasseur Québec:

"By way of an explanation to the uninitiated, it can be said that a Juris Classeur encyclopedia serves much the same purpose for a legal practitioner in a civil law jurisdiction as does the Halsburys Model in common law jurisdictions. Needless to say, it does so in a 'distinct', or 'similar but different' fashion."

"Possibly, the most significant difference between the two encyclopedias is found in the civil law approach to secondary writings, referred to in the literature as doctrine. Whereas a Halsburys purports to be an authoritative black letter statement of the law, usually written by a singe person, a Juris Classeur encyclopedia aspires to have greater weight in the course of legal argument in the courts. It is more like a legal treatise in the common law world, but with each chapter or major legal issue treated by a different author."

 In the article, Rodrigues examines the collections and format of the encyclopedia, access points (summaries, tables of content, indexing), updating and branding.

He was the Vice President Publishing at Lexis Nexis Butterworths during the period when the Juris Classeur was being developed.

His earlier posts on the "great" legal encyclopedias are:

• The "Great Encyclopedias" of Legal Research (July 14, 2011)
• Halsburys Laws of Canada (August 15, 2011)
• The Canadian Encyclopedic Digests (December 1, 2011)