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Search Help

Our search engine is a simple but powerful application that you may use to seek out and display the full text of a decision that you are interested in.

What follows is an explanation of how to use the search engine and how it works. This information is followed by a link to some practical exercises.


Advanced Search Syntax

Operators are special words that enable you to build more sophisticated queries and achieve more precise results. You can search for any of the words or phrases in the text of the document or you can search for values in the field attributes associated with your documents. You use operators in your queries to search for:

  • Word combinations
  • Exact or similar word spellings
  • A specific field value or a range of field values

 

Word Combination Operators

<ALL> <ANY> <NEAR/n> <NOT> <OR>

Word combination operators tell Verity how to search for combinations of words, phrases, or a word and a phrase. You may use more than one of these operators in a query. Most operators require that you place angle brackets (< and >) around the operator to clearly distinguish its meaning.

 

Word Operators

<STEM> <WORD>

A word operator applies to the single word which immediately follows it. To use a word operator, enter the operator first, then the word.

 

Field Operators

<CONTAINS> <ENDS> <MATCHES> <STARTS>

The fixed field operator must precede the search value.

 

Quick Reference Tables

Operators are used in combination with one or more keyword(s) selected by users.

This table describes the use of query operators.
Query Operator Consequence to
results returned		 Example Results Benefits of Use
<AND>
Operator		 All of the keywords must exist. earnings
<AND> maternity

For similar examples, try the "Practical Exercises". 		 Documents retrieved using the
<AND> operator are relevance-ranked. That is, by selecting "score" from the search options, the results can be sorted based on a weighted score.		 Documents retrieved using the <AND> operator are relevance-ranked. That is, by selecting "score" from the search options, the results can be sorted based on a weighted score.
<ALL>
Operator		 All of the key words must exist earnings <ALL> maternity Returns documents that contain both earnings and maternity Results appear in chrono-logical order from the most recent to the oldest decision.
Retrieved documents are not revelvance-ranked.
<ANY>
Operator		 Any of the keywords can exist in the document. earnings <ANY> maternity Returns documents that contain either earnigs or maternity Results appear in chrono-logical order from most recent to the oldest decision.
Retrieved documents are not revelvance-ranked.
<CONTAINS>
Operator		 Finds documents containing the specified words in the document field Title <CONTAINS> CUB 63004* Finds documents containing the phrase CUB 630004 in the webpage (blue line at the top). Restricting the search to the title field ensures that only the decision identified by the keywords search phrase will appear in the results. Use of the * wildcard ensures all related cases (i.e. CUB 63004a) appear in the results.
<MATCHES>
Operator		 Matches a character string exactly. Title <MATCHES> CUB 63004 Finds documents where the title matches exactly CUB 63004 Restricting the search to the title field ensures that only the decision identified by the keywords search phrase will appear in the results. Excluded are all other decisions that make a reference to the decision identified, all decisions that make no reference to it and related decisions appealed to the Federal Court and returned to the Umpire (ex. CUB 63004a). Results appear in chronological order.
<ENDS>
Operator		 Finds documents where a document field ends with a certain string of characters. Title <ENDS> 82 Finds documents with titles ending in 82 Useful when searching for Federal Court decisions which are titled using the docket numbers. The last two digits of the docket number represents the year of registration of the case at the Federal Court. If you know the year a case was registered, identify the FC as your search domain and use this field operator to search for matches in the title field for the last two digits of the year the case was registered.
<NEAR/n>
Operator		 The keywords must occur within n words of each other to be considered a match. The closer the terms are within a document, the higher the document's score. employment <NEAR/2> act Finds documents containing the phrases employment and act. Ignores documents containing phrases like employment cycles which act because act is more than two words after employment. Results will include employment insurance act as well as employment act.
<NOT>
Operator		 Finds documents that do not contain a specific word or phrase. employment insurance act <NOT> unemployment insurance act

For similar examples, try the "Practical Exercises".		 Finds documents containing the phrase employment insurance act but not the phrase unemployment insurance act. This is one way to filter out cases under the older legislation.


Wild Cards are used in keyword expressions.

This table describes the use of wild cards.
Wild Card Consequence to
results returned		 Example Results Benefits of Use
asterisk * Selects documents that contain matches to a wildcard character string. This string can be used to locate related word matches. Adopt*

For similar examples,try the "Practical
Exercises".		 Returns documents that contain any variation of the root word "adopt" such as adoption, adopting, adoptee etc. Improves the likelihood of returning results given the many possibilities of particular verb tense or turn of phrase a given judge has used.
question mark ? Specifies one of any alpha numeric character ?an Returns documents that contain words such as can, ran, ban and man etc. You can't remember the name of the appellant but know it rhymes with an. Returns results such as Ian, Jan, Van and Dan. For general use in searching.


Delimiters are used in expressions.

This table describes the use of Delimiters
Delimiter Consequence to
results returned		 Example Results Benefits of Use
Double quotes

" "

 Treats words that are reserved as operators (and, or and not) as if they were simple keywords. "misconduct or voluntary leaving" Returns documents that contain this exact phrase. Enclosing the word or in double quotation marks ("") signifies that or should be considered as a literal word, not an operator.
Double quotes

" "

 Turns off the default feature of the search engine that enables searches on word variations. "charter of rights and freedoms"

For similar examples, try the "Practical Exercises".		 Returns documents that contain this exact phrase. While this feature ensures that search results are very precise, potentially interesting results may be lost when there is a slight variation in the keywords (ex. a spelling error or a different verb tense). CUB 61970 is not included in the results even though the concept of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the content of that decision. This is because the word freedom in the text of that decision is inadvertently in the singular.


Precedence evaluation - precedence rules and syntax affect the evaluation of queries.

This table describes precedence evaluation
Precedence
evaluation		 Explanation Example Consequence to
results returned
Precedence
Rules

A Verity query expression is read using explicit precedence rules applying to the operators which are used. Although a query expression is read from left to right, some operators carry more weight than others; this affects the interpretation of the expression. In the example that follows, the AND operator takes precedence over the OR operator.

To ensure that the OR operator is interpreted first, use parentheses.

 a OR b AND c


Nota bene: The symbols < > that normally accompany the operators have not been included in the examples in order to simplify comprehension.

(a OR b) AND c

For similar examples, try the "Practical Exercises".

This example is interpreted to mean: Look for documents that contain b and c, or documents that contain a.

 

 


In general, the appropriate use of parentheses in query expressions, especially complex ones, ensures that the query expression is interpreted as intended.
Precedence
Expressions		 Parentheses indicate the order in which the directions are to be performed; information within parentheses is read first, then information outside parentheses is read next. (a AND b) OR c This means: Look for documents that contain a and b, or documents that contain c.
Precedence
Expressions		 When there are nested parentheses, start with the innermost level. (a AND (b OR c)) OR d This means: Look for documents that contain b or c as well as a, or that contain d.



Practical Exercises

Date Modified: 2010-03-10

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