FAQ

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1.  WHAT IS THIS?

This web-site is an online book store with only one product: ebook versions of the Statutes and Regulations of Canada and Ontario. We have over 15,400 individual documents which you can purchase for download to your smart devices, and have available anywhere, any time, on any of your devices.

Why did Mandamus choose to go through the difficult process of making ALL of the Statutes and Regulations available? Because ALL of them are important to someone at some level. And because no-one else appears to offer ANY of them for sale in ebook digital form. The Statutes and Regulations are not available anywhere else in ebook format. And because we can make ALL of them available.

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2.  WHAT MAKES EBOOKS DIFFERENT?

The Statutes and Regulations are available online on government websites for browser access. These books are based on those texts. But unless you plan ahead and save the html pages, you will always need internet access. The online html files are not organised in a page like format and require scrolling to navigate. The online files do not contain navigational links making them easy to navigate. Scrolling is not easy on a tablet or smartphone. An html file can be searched but cannot be 'bookmarked' during use, nor annotated. 

Ebooks combine the best characteristics of an html file, and a printed document. Documents are displayed in a page-oriented structure but you may change the display font size at any time and the amount of text displayed on the page is adjusted automatically. Ebooks can be searched, bookmarked and annotated during use. Ebooks can contain link structures such as we see everywhere on the web. The best ebook readers recognize the anchors and links in the text.

Mandamus adds anchors and links throughout the text which features do not exist in the on-line versions. These features make it simple to move around in a section oriented document like a statute, which has a structure quite unlike that of a novel or other text.

If the statute has a Table of Contents, it will be an active, linked Table of Contents in a Mandamus ebook, whether or not there was a linked Table of Contents in the online version. Mandamus creates an Index of Section Numbers and Tables and Schedules at the end of the document. Each entry links back into the correct place in the document. In the body, links inserted at the beginning of each section (or Rule) provide quick navigation back to the Table of Contents, to Section 1 or to the Index. This document Is constructed using these same features and demonstrates the capabilities of built into Mandamus' ebooks. You can mimic what you can do on your device through use of the link structures in this document.

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3.  WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED?

Any reasonably modern smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer can host the necessary software to handle ebooks. In addition, numerous dedicated ebook readers such as the Kindle and Nook readers are also available, but may have reduced capabilities. Please contact us if you need an ebook in a proprietary format.

The best platforms for mobile use are an Android tablet or an Apple Ipad.

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4.  WHAT (FREE) SOFTWARE DO I NEED?

Numerous versions of ebook reader software exists on all major platforms. But only some software programs are known to work properly, for our purposes. The majority of the available programs do not work properly with internal links and anchors. Luckily, software that works properly is all FREE.

4.1  Apple

The Wikipedia page 'Comparision_of_iOS_e-reader_software' list 20 readers. The most comprehensive appear to be Kybook2. Marvin, and Stanza. (The newer Kybook3 is not listed on that page).  All 20 are available in free versions at the App Store. The epub document type is recognised by the email software and  an epub attachment  will be extracted and placed it in the ebook library. Most come in size optimised versions, and in paid upgraded versions.

4.2  Android

The Wikipedia page 'Comparision_of_Android_e-reader_software' list 16 readers. The most comprehensive appear to be fbReader and Moon+ reader.  All 16 are available in free versions at the App Store. The most user-friendly versions (such as the 2 listed) recognize an epub attachment to an email, and will extract it and place it in the  ebook library. The 2 listed readers have comprehensive library features allowing the sorting of books by author, title, tag, most recent opened and favourite categories. In each category books are alphabetically. These features provide complete and granular control over large libraries. As with iOS readers, epub attachments are recognized by most email programs and the attachment can be extracted and added directly to the library from within the email program.

4.3  Laptops and desktops: Sigil and Calibre

Sigil is a standalone ebook reader program available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Executable binaries are available for Windows and Mac. Only the source code is generally available for Linux, although some distributions have pre-compiled binaries available in their repositories. Sigil is a very capable program which is intended for ebook creation. It is not intended to be used as a reader, but can be so used.

Calibre is actually a suite of programs dedicated to dealing with ebooks. It is available for all platforms. It is intended for ebook production, but the stand-alone program ebook-viewer makes it worth downloading the whole suite even if the other capabilities are never used. Calibre allows separate libraries to be created, so that ebooks of various types can be segregated.

4.4  Kindle, Nook and Other E-readers

The built-in ebook reader software in a hardware Kindle, and in the Kindle App for iPads and iPhones is perfectly usable with these ebooks. Email delivery is made through the personalized email address at kindle.com, rather than through your usual email address. We have no experience with the Nook or other e-readers. These ebooks are probably usable on them but delivery may be extremely difficult due to the proprietary nature of the hardware.

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5.  THOUGHTS ON FILE HANDLING

Calibre is the only program which has built-in support for actual separate libraries of ebooks. It can easily be customised to show or hide information about the ebooks in the library. It can accommodate a massive number of ebooks easily, although you may have to scroll for some time. This is acceptable on a laptop or desktop.

The iOS and Android readers can accommodate a large number of ebooks through the active use of tags, which effectively create separate libraries of books. The displayed list is limited to the ebooks carrying the desired tag. The better readers allow user created tags. 

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6.  COPYRIGHT

Copyrights in the Acts and Regulations of the Government of Canada are held by the Queen's Printer for Canada. These ebooks are published by Mandamus Publishing pursuant to the Reproduction of Federal Law Order, SI-97-5 which states:

    "Anyone may, without charge or request for permission, reproduce enactments and consolidations of enactments of the Government of Canada, and decisions and reasons for decisions of federally-constituted courts and administrative tribunals, provided due diligence is exercised in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced and the reproduction is not represented as an official version."

Copyrights in the Acts and Regulations of the Province of Ontario are held by the Queen's Printer for Ontario. These ebooks are published by Mandamus Publishing pursuant to the policy of the Queen's Printer which states in part:

• "The Queen's Printer for Ontario holds copyright in Ontario statutes, regulations and judicial decisions. The Queen's Printer permits any person to reproduce the text and images contained in the statutes, regulations and judicial decisions without seeking permission and without charge. The legal materials must be reproduced accurately, and Crown copyright in the legal materials must be acknowledged.."

All ebooks published by Mandamus Publishing are Copyright © by Mandamus Publishing 2019 in respect of the additions and deletions to the source code as published online and in respect of the navigational features introduced into the text of the Statutes and Regulations. Reproduction in whole or in part of any ebook, regardless of publishing format, is prohibited, except that purchasers are allowed to copy and store multiple copies of any ebook purchased by them, on their own personal electronic devices, which may include multiple computers, tablets or smartphones, but are not entitled to reproduce any ebook or transmit any ebook in any form or by any means to any other person. Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is no restriction on the printing of the content of any ebook or portion thereof, and the provision of that printed copy to any person.

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7.  EBOOK FORMATS

At the moment, ebooks are available in epub format which is the standard for Apple and Android devices. If you are interested in obtaining documents in mobi or another format, please contact us for personalised service: info@mandamus.ca. Some quick testing has shown that we can produce workable mobi format documents for use on the Kindle platform, but we have not tested very large files, such as the Criminal Code, the Income Tax Act or the Building Code.

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8.  ERRORS IN THE EBOOKS

We attempt to ensure that the ebooks contain all of the expected features, but given the nature of the computerised transcoding process, and the variety of formatting used in the regulations, it is quite possible that some ebooks will get produced with improper formatting. If you find one of these files, please let us know. We will do our best to promptly fix the problems and replace your ebook free of charge.

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9.  OTHER LEGAL ADMINISTRIVIA

All the 'legal stuff' is in the Terms and Conditions page (q.v).

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