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Legal Citation: Cases

Core elements in a case citation

General Form

With neutral citation,

Style of cause, neutral citation, pinpoint, other source(s) Judge (if applicable)
CCH Canadian Ltd. v Law Society of Upper Canada, 2004 SCC 13, at para 19 [2004] 1 SCR 339, 236 DLR (4th) 395, McLachlin C. J.

Always include the neutral citation whenever it is available. Neutral citations are assigned by the courts and tribunals. Do not create neutral citations if you cannot locate one. When neutral citations are provided, you do not need to include abbreviations for the level of court and jurisdiction, and you do not need to add year of decision either. 

If neatral citation is NOT available,

Style of cause, (year of the decision), reporter pinpoint, other sources, (jurisdiction and /or court)
if not clear from sources.		 judge (if applicable)
Steeves v Ontario (Housing) (1996), 136 DLR(4th) 273 at para 11, (available on CanLII), (Ont CA).

Unreported cases without neutral citation, and available through electronic services:

Style of cause, (year of decision) if not clear from identifier identifier given by service (electronic service name) pinpoint (jurisdiction and /or court) if not clear from identifier.
Marchand (Litigation guardian of) v Public General Hospital Society of Chatham, [1996] OJ no 4420 (QL) (Ct J (Gen Div).

Style of Cause

  • Style of cause is the name of the case. It is usually provided by the law reports and /or electronic services where the case can be located . 

Year of Decision

The year of decision is a core element to include in a case citation. It is always included in a neatral citaiton, and sometimes indicated in a case source, for example, [1996] OJ no 4420. 

When the year of decision is not provided in the case citation, add it after the style of cause, and use parentheses for the year. Follow the parentheses by a comma. For example,

Steeves v Ontario (Housing) (1996), 136 DLR (4th) 273 (available on CanLII), (Ont CA).

Jurisdiction and Court

Jurisdiction (federal, or provincial) and court (trial courts, appeal courts, or the Supreme Court of Canada) are both essential elements in a case citation. Both jurisdiction and court are identified in a neutral citation. When neutral citation is provided, there is no need to add jurisdiction and/or court separately.

If jurisdiction and /or court information is evident from the source citation,  for example, [2004] 1 SCR 339, there is no need to add it separately. Otherwise, indicate the jurisdiction and / or court in parentheses, following the source citations. For example,

Steeves v Ontario (Housing) (1996), 136 DLR (4th) 273 (available on CanLII), (Ont CA).

See McGill Guide p E-60, 3.9.

Source

  • When a case is reported by more than one law reports, provide at least two sources and as many as it might help readers to identify and access the case.
  • When more than one source are included in the citation, follow this order to arrange multi-sources: official reporter > sem-official reporter > other sources (unoffical reporters, electronic services, etc.).

Judge