Legislation = Written and approved laws. Also known as statutes, or acts.
Bill = A proposed statute, not yet approved.
Act = A bill which has passed through the various legislative steps required for it and which has become law. Also known as a statute.
Statutes = Statutes are laws that are passed by the legislature - federal or provincial/territorial.
Regulations = Rules made pursuant to a statute and known as subordinate legislation. Regulations always have an enabling statute; that is, a statute under which the regulations were made and operate.
Most of these legal databases include case law and/or legislation. Mostly Canadian, but some International.
The information in these databases is of a specific nature, so is generally NOT included in a search from the main Library SearchMe! system.
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Laws or statutes (and bills) are considered "public" if the law is a law that applies to everyone, i.e. the Criminal Code.
Laws can also be "private", meaning they apply to a specific person, place, or corporation, i.e. in some provinces, a hospital or a university may have its own piece of legislation.
Generally, legislation passed in a year is published in a statute volume, with the acts being numbered sequentially 1,2,3 as chapters. The public statutes are typically first, and any private statute is later in the volume.