Search Warrant Applications Resource

I gave a presentation yesterday to some friends at the CBA Alberta Research Lawyers North subsection on using social media sources for legal research. My definition of a social media site is web delivered information that invites dialog. Perhaps my definition is over broad, but I include publicly available legal texts, like Mike Semple Piggot’s Contract Text that we have discussed at Slaw.

Lady luck was on my shoulder yesterday.

I rarely have an opportunity to research matters relating to criminal law. Perhaps if I had more experience in the area, I would know about Romaniuk’s Search Warrants Considered. Terry Romaniuk, has put together an indexed, annotated, and updated source “designed to provide Canadian jurists with quick research access to case law in regard to applications for intrusive warrants”. Although Terry points out that it should not be considered an authoritatve source, I believe it is an excellent starting place for research on search warrants.

Here is a little snapshot of the beginning of the Telewarrants index:

Romaniuk's Search Warrant Applications

What I really like about this resource is how clearly it is organized…exactly what you would expect of an MLIS project. This site is a beautiful example of what happens when a lawyer goes to library school. Kudos to Terry and those like him who openly share valuable information.