Case law is law established by judicial decision in cases.
When citing to a printed law reporter, the traditional form of legal citation requires these elements:
General Citation
Case Name (Year), Vol. # Reporter Title (Series#) Page (Court Abbreviation).
Example
R v Latimer (1995), 126 DLR (4th) 203 (Sask CA).
R v Latimer is the case name, 1995 is the year of decision, volume 126 clearly identifies the exact volume so the year does not need to be in square brackets, DLR for Dominion Law Reports, 4th series, case beginning on page 203, as heard by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal which is abbreviated Sask CA.
APA In Text/ Parenthetical Citation: (Case Name, Year, Page or Paragraph number if required)
Example: (R v Latimer, 1995)
Citing from the Supreme Court of Canada Reports (SCR)
The SCR (Supreme Court of Canada Reports) uses square brackets. Put the comma before the date of the volume. Do not put the (SCC) court abbreviation at the end of the citation, as the name of the court has been included in the reporter name.
Example
R v Chaisson, [2006] 1 SCR 415.
R v Chaisson is the case name, [2006] is the year of publication and needs to be in square brackets because volume 1 does not uniquely identify the book, SCR for Supreme Court Reports, the case beginning on page 415.
APA In Text/ Parenthetical Citation: (Case Name, Year, Page or Paragraph number if required)
Example: (R v Chaisson, 2006, p.415)
If a case does not have a neutral citation, include the following:
style of cause, year of decision [if not part of main citation], law reporter volume number, law reporter abbreviation, law reporter series, page number, pinpoint [if needed], parallel law report/source, jurisdiction and court [if not indicated by reporters], judge [if needed]
Example
Fucella v Ricker (1982), 35 OR (2d) 423, [1982] OJ No 3144 (QL) (H Ct J)
Example breakdown
Style of cause: Fucella v Ricker (same as neutral citation)
Year of decision: 1982
Law reporter volume number: 35 OR (2d) 423 - volume 35 of the second series of the Ontario Reports, starting at p.423.
Law reporter abbreviation: OR (Ontario Reports)
Law reporter series: 2d (second series of OR)
Page number: 423
Pinpoint: Only needed if you are citing a particular passage in a judgment
Parallel law report/source: QL (Quicklaw) --> [1982] OJ No 3144 (QL) = case identifier given by Quicklaw
Jurisdiction: (not needed because OR indicates jurisdiction = Ontario)
Court: (H Ct J) = High Court of Justice
For more information, see the McGill Guide, Rules 3.2 and 3.7:
A neutral citation permits identification of a case independent of a printed reporter. Courts assign the neutral citation when they render a decision. The date of implementation for the neutral citation standard varies for British Columbia courts. In January 1999, the Court of Appeal was the first court in BC to implement the neutral citation standard for judgments in electronic form. The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 9th Edition, 2018 (also known as "The McGill Guide") lists the implementation date for each court in Appendix B-3.
Neutral citation is simplified and includes only these elements:
Generic Example
Case Name, Year Court Identifier Case Number.
A neutral citation should always be followed by a citation to a printed reporter, whenever one is available.
The court assigns the neutral citation when the decision is rendered, so a very recent case will have only a neutral citation until it is included in a printed reporter. If only the neutral citation is available, it may be used alone:
Example of Neutral Citation only
Rutledge v Jimmie, 2014 BCSC 41.
In this British Columbia Supreme Court case, Rutledge v Jimmie is the case name, 2014 is the year of decision, BCSC is the court identifier, and 41 is the case number.
APA In Text/ Parenthetical Citation: (Case Name, Year, Page or Paragraph number if required)
Example: (Rutledge v Jimmie, 2014)
A neutral citation should always be followed by a citation to a printed reporter, whenever one is available. This is called a parallel citation.
R v Latimer, 2001 SCC 1, [2001] 1 SCR 3.
This latest appeal of the Latimer case has a parallel neutral citation. The printed reporter citation follows the neutral citation. Note that the comma in the citation to the printed reporter comes directly after the neutral citation, and not after the year of the reporter.
When citing an electronic version of a decision, such as through Quicklaw or another database, it is necessary to include the name of the database or online source. See Appendix E in the McGill Guide for a list of electronic database abbreviations.
APA In Text/ Parenthetical Citation: (Case Name, Year, Page or Paragraph number if required)
Example: (R v Latimer, 2001)