Search help

The search tool used on this site is called SINO. It was developed by the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLII) and then slightly improved by LexUM so as to simplify the query language and adapt it for indexing documents in French. Improvements are ongoing and all comments from users are welcome.

Our Search examples will quickly give you the tools you need to use SINO or you can read the entries in the Complete help section in order to gain a more complete understanding of how this search engine works.

1. Search for a word or phrase

Sequence of words

By default, SINO interprets words entered in a text area as a phrase, i.e., an exact expression. Thus, SINO looks for documents containing the exact sequence of words typed into the text area, as if those words were between quotation marks (" ").

For example, the query Unjust enrichment will return only documents containing the exact expression "unjust enrichment" and not those containing only the expression "such enrichment was unjust".

Character case (upper/lower case)

SINO is case insensitive; using upper case or lower case letters in the query has no influence on the search results.

For example, by typing Contract, you will obtain documents containing contract, Contract and CONTRACT.

Search for plural and singular forms

SINO searches for the plural and singular forms of all the words in the text area by adding or removing the final "s". In English it also searches for the plural form ending in "ies" of words ending in "y" and the singular form ending in "y" of words ending in "ies".

For example, when you type Contract, you also obtain documents containing contracts and when you type studies in the English version of the site, you also obtain documents containing study.

Special characters

The version of SINO that is on this site supports searches for words containing characters with French diacritical signs (accents, cedillas and diaereses).

Hyphens (-) and apostrophes (') can be included in the query but for SINO they have the same value as a blank space in a sequence of terms.

Words and characters reserved for the search syntax

When a word or character reserved for the search syntax (and, or, not, near, title, …) is in the text area, it is interpreted as an operator and no search is carried out for it.

For example, in the query Crown Corporations Dissolution or Transfer Authorization Act, the work "or" is considered to be a Boolean operator. Thus, the search engine will look not only for documents containing the expression "crown corporations dissolution or transfer authorization act", but also all those containing the expression "crown corporations dissolution" or the expression "transfer authorization act".

In order to have SINO interpret operators as ordinary words, they must be placed between quotation marks (" "), either alone (e.g. Crown Corporations Dissolution "or" Transfer Authorization Act) or with other terms (e.g. "Crown Corporation Dissolution or Transfer Authorization Act"). However, this technique does not work with wildcards.

The following table shows the words and characters that SINO reserves for the query syntax and summarizes their meaning. Most of them are described in detail in the following sections.

Words and characters reserved for SINO

Operator

Meaning

[ - ]

[^ ]

Wildcards

and

not

Boolean operators

near

pre/

Proximity operators

title

#date

Field operators

( )

[ ]

{ }

" "

Characters for grouping words or characters

;

Characters emulating the operators of other engines that are not described on this page. To be replaced with spaces.

Punctuation marks should be avoided in queries because of their probable meaning as search operators. When searching for an abbreviation or for an article or court number containing punctuation marks, it is wiser to replace the marks with spaces.

A few examples:

type M N R in the text box to find M.N.R.;
type 46 1 1 to find 46.1(1) ou 46(1.1);
type R S B C 1996 c 241 to find R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 241;
type Metro Inc to find Metro Inc..

Non-indexed words

Some words are not indexed by SINO, therefore queries cannot be submitted for them. Articles, prepositions and pronouns are considered too common for indexing them to be worthwhile. Words reserved for the search syntax are also not indexed. In the present version of SINO, these words are:

For searches in English: adj, an, and, any, as, at, but, by, did, do, does, done, etc, for, her, him, his, if, in, is, no, of, or, she, so, the, this, thus, to, was, were, what, when, where, while, who, whom, whose, your; and
For searches in French: adj, au, aux, avec, car, ce, ces, cet, cette, dans, de, des, du, en, es, est, et, etant, etc, eu, eux, il, ils, la, le, les, leur, lors, lui, ma, mais, me, mes, mon, ne, notre, on, ou, par, pas, pour, puis, puisque, quand, quant, que, quel, quelle, quelles, quels, qui, quoi, sa, sans, sauf, se, ses, si, son, sur, ta, te, tes, ton, tous, tout, tu, un, une, vos, votre, vous.

2. Search using wildcards (*, ?, [ ])

When you type a term in the text area, you can replace some of the letters or numbers with wildcards in order to extend or restrict the scope of the search:

The asterisk (*) replaces any chain of characters (zero, one or more characters) in a word.

For example, the query contra* will allow you to find contra, contract, contracts, contradictory, contravene, etc.

The question mark (?) replaces any character (zero characters or only one character) in a word.

For example, the query convey? Will allow you to find convey and conveys but not conveyance, conveyor, conveyancing, etc.

Square brackets ([ ]) allow one of the characters they contain to be replaced, except for the first character of a word (e.g., hea[pr] and go[vu]*ern*ment, but not [dc]art). You can also further define the character sought within the brackets:

A hyphen (-) placed between two characters allows you to find all words containing a number or letter in the numerical or alphabetical series between those two characters (e.g., 198[2-7] or 129[f-h]56).
The circumflex accent (^) lets you exclude terms containing a character or characters included in a series (e.g., [^a] or [^7-9]).

A few examples:

Wildcards used in the query contra[^cv]* allow you to find contradictory, but not contra, contract, contracts or contravene;
Wildcards used in the query con*[td]? allow you to find contradict, contracts and conduct, but not contra, contractual or contravene.

3. Boolean operators (and, or, not)

Search for all terms (and)

When the operator and is placed between two terms, it tells the search engine to find documents that contain both terms.

For example, the query contract and onerous will find all documents containing both the word contract and the word onerous.

Search for either term (or)

When the operator or is placed between two terms, it tells the search engine to look for documents containing either or both of the terms.

For example, the query contract or onerous will return all documents containing the word contract, all those containing the word onerous and all those containing both the word contract and the word onerous.

Exclude a term from the search (not)

When the operator not is placed before a term, it tells the search engine to exclude from the search all documents containing that term.

For example, the query contract not onerous will return all documents containing the word contract but not containing the word onerous.

4. Proximity operators (near, w/n, pre/n)

Search for terms separated by less than 50 words (near)

When the operator near is placed between two terms, it tells the search engine to find documents that contain both of the terms and in which the two terms are separated by less than 50 words (including non-indexed words).

Search for terms separated by less than n words (w/n)

When the operator w/n is placed between two terms, it tells the search engine to find documents that contain both terms and in which the terms are separated by less than n words (including non-indexed words), where n is a number between 1 and 255. With this operator, the engine does not take into account the order in which the words appear in the text.

For example, the query onerous w/3 contract will return all documents that contain both the word contract and the word onerous, but only if these words are separated by two words or less. Thus, a document containing the expression "the contract is onerous" would be found since the terms are separated by less that three words, but a document containing the expression "a contract that is considered onerous" would not be returned.

Search for a sequence of terms separated by less than n words (pre/n)

When the operator pre/n is placed between two terms, it tells the search engine to find documents that contain the second term and in which the first term precedes the second by less than n words (including non-indexed words), where n is a number between 1 and 255. With this operator, the engine searches only for documents in which the two terms appear in the same order as in the query.

5. Field operators (title, #date)

Limit the search to document titles (title)

Placing the operator title before a term that is between parentheses allows you to search for only documents containing the term in their titles. Documents containing the term only in the body of the text will not be returned.

For example, the query title (817254 Ontario Inc or Rosset) will find documents containing the expression 817254 Ontario Inc. or the term Rosset in their titles.

Limit the search by document date (#date)

By adding the operator #date#date< date), after (#date> date) or identical to the specified date (date). The date specified is formulated in natural language, i.e., the day in numerals, the month in letters and the year in four numerals (e.g., #date> 1 January 1999).

For example, the query contract and onerous (#date< 23 June 1999) will return all documents containing the words contract and onerous that are dated on or before June 23, 1999.

6. Precedence of operators in a query

By default, SINO processes search operators in the following order:

Word: search with wildcards, search for plurals;
Search for a phrase;
Search with proximity operators near, w/n, pre/n;
Search with the Boolean operator or;
Search with the Boolean operators and and not.

When two operators have the same rank, SINO processes the one furthest to the left first.

To change the default processing order, you can give an operator priority by placing it between parentheses.

For example, the query debtor or insolvency not bankruptcy tells the search engine to begin by searching only for documents containing the word debtor, those containing insolvency and those containing both words. The search engine will then exclude from among these documents all those containing the word bankruptcy, so that the latter word will not appear in any of the documents returned.

The query debtor or (insolvency not bankruptcy) gives priority to removing all documents containing the word bankruptcy from the set of documents containing the word insolvency. Then it adds to the remaining documents all those containing the word debtor. Unlike the results of the query not containing parentheses, some of the documents returned may contain the word bankruptcy.

Search examples

For most searches, all you have to do is enter a word in the text area. If you enter an expression made up of several words, you must remember that, by default, the search engine will return only the documents containing that exact expression (that "phrase"), as if the words were placed between quotation marks (" ").

To obtain more exact and accurate results, you sometimes have to query the search engine using its syntax. The following paragraphs contain a few examples of queries typed into a text area along with the meanings that SINO will assign them.

Contract: "Find documents containing the words contract, Contract, CONTRACT, contracts, Contracts or CONTRACTS."
- SINO is always case insensitive; in queries, it never take the case of words or search operators into account.
- SINO searches for the plural and singular forms of all the words in the text area by adding or removing the final "s". In English it also searches for the plural form ending in "ies" of words ending in "y" and the singular form ending in "y" of words ending in "ies".
unjust enrichment: "Find documents containing the exact expression unjust enrichment."
- A white space between two words tells SINO to find documents containing this exact sequence of words.
Contract and consideration or promissory estoppel: "Find documents containing either or both the word consideration and the phrase promissory estoppel. Among those, return only documents containing the word contract."
- By default, SINO processes the Boolean or before the Boolean and. There are other default precedence rules. To change the default processing order, you can give an operator priority by placing it between parentheses.
250(1)(e or d) and Income Tax Act: "Find documents containing the expression 250 1 e or the expression 250 1 d, and then return only those also containing the phrase income tax act."
- This query allows you to find references to paragraph 250(1)(e) or 250(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act. The parentheses could be replaced by spaces since they are interpreted by SINO as a mean of grouping words or characters and are not themselves considered candidates for searches.
- To find a specific section of a statute, it is better not to use terms such as "section" or "article" in the query. This can cause certain relevant results not to be returned because there are many ways to express the reference to a section in a text, e.g. the same provision of an act can be referred to as "paragraph (e) of subsection 250(1)", "paragraph 250(1)(e)", or "section 250(1)(e)".
46 1 1 and civilian war-related benefits: "Find documents containing both the phrases 46 1 1 and civilian war related benefits."
- This query will find references to subsection 46.1(1) of the Civilian War-related Benefits Act. Punctuation marks should be avoided in queries because of their probable meaning as search operators. When searching for an abbreviation or for an article or court number containing punctuation marks, it is wiser to replace the marks with spaces.
- The dash (-) in the expression War-related could be omitted without changing the meaning of the query and search results.
employment insurance (#date> 1 February 1999): "Find documents containing the phrase employment insurance, effective on or after February 1st, 1999."
- The #date operator narrows the search to documents issued before (#date<), after (#date>) or on (#date=) the specified date.
*96-1541(UI) and 97-2?53(IT)G: "Find documents containing a string of characters ending with 96-1561 UI and containing another string of characters beginning with 97-2, followed by zero or one character, and ending with 53 IT G."
- Wildcards (*,?) can be used to replace unknown or undetermined characters in any string of characters, such as words or numbers. The asterisk (*) replaces zero or more characters, and the question mark (?) replaces zero or one character.

F. Pelletier
October 2001