Legal Citations: Case/ Jurisprudence

Style of

Cause

(Year),

Law Report

Volume Number

Name of the

Law Report

Series

(Law Report

Series

Number)

Page

Number

(Jurisdiction

and

Court)

Style of

Cause,

[Year]

Law Report

Volume Number

Name of the

Law Report

Series

(Law Report

Series

Number)

Page

Number

(Jurisdiction

and

Court)

Style of

Cause

(Year),

Law Report

Volume Number

Name of the

Law Report

Series

(Law Report

Series

Number)

Page

Number

(Jurisdiction

and

Court)

Style of

Cause,

[Year]

Law Report

Volume Number

Name of the

Law Report

Series

(Law Report

Series

Number)

Page

Number

(Jurisdiction

and

Court)

The portion of the citation that sets out the names of the parties; also called "case name".

The names of all the parties are not always included in the citation; when names are left out, the term "et al" is used.

Undisclosed parties to a case (i.e. minors) are identified by initials only. 

The year in which the case is decided or published in a law report series follows the style of cause and will be enclosed in either round ( ) or square brackets [ ].

• Round brackets ( ) are used when a law report series is numbered sequentially no matter what year it is, and it is not essential to know the year in order to locate the case within the series. 
  • must be followed by a comma.
• Square brackets [ } are used when the law report series starts a new volume each calendar year, and it is essential to know the year in order to locate the case within the series. 
  • a comma must be placed between the Style of Cause and the year. 

Law Report

Volume #

Identifies the volume # of the law report series in which the case is published.  Not all law reports have a volume number.

If the law report series starts a new sequence of volume numbers each year, then you must make sure you look for the volume number for the correct year.

Name of the

Law Report Series

Abbreviations are generally used. 

Examples:

OR refers to Ontario Reports

CCC refers to Canadian Criminal Cases

Law Report

Series #

If there is more than one series, then cite the series number. 

The series number is abbreviated and placed in parentheses following the report title.

Legal ordinal abbreviations differ slightly from the typical abbreviations:

"Second" is abbreviated as "2d"

"Third" is abbreviated as "3d"

Cite the first page of the text of the case

Do not use p., pp. or pg.

* To refer to a specific passage within the case, use "at" then insert the page number. 

Example:

Hopp v Lepp, [1980] SCR 192 at 201

Jurisdiction

and Court

Include the abbreviation for the jurisdiction and the level of court in round brackets ( ).

Exception:

If the name of the law report series indicates the jurisdiction &/or court level, omit this information.

Examples:

Jurisdiction:  

• Ontario Reports will only contain cases from that province, so a citation for a Court of Appeal case will end in "CA"
• A Dominion Law Reports (which publishes cases from all provinces) citation for the same case will end in "Ont CA"

Court:

• Supreme Court Reports covers only Supreme Court of Canada decisions, therefore omit both the jurisdiction and the level of court in the citation.
  • R v Mathieu,  [2008] 1 SCR 723