Keith Mack
The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, also known as the McGill Guide, is the standard citation style for Canadian case law. It provides a set of rules and guidelines for citing legal sources, including case law, statutes, and other legal materials. The McGill Guide ensures consistency and accuracy in legal citations, making it easier for legal professionals, students, and researchers to locate and reference specific cases and legal information. One of the key features of the McGill Guide is the use of neutral citations, which are assigned by courts and include the case name, year, court identifier, and case number. This guide will explore the basics of how to cite case law in Canada, following the standards set out in the McGill Guide.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Case Name | R v. Seifi |
| Year | 1988 |
| Court Identifier | SCR |
| Case Number | 30 |
| Jurisdiction | BC, NB, NL, etc. |
| Database Identifier | CanLII, QL, WL Can |
| Style of Cause | Names of parties separated by 'v' |
| Main Citation | Highest level of source available |
| Neutral Citation | Year, tribunal identifier, decision number |
| Parallel Citation | Online database, official reporter, or unofficial reporter |
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What You'll Learn
Case name and style
The case name, also known as the style of cause, should be written in italics, followed by a comma. The case name is derived from the style of cause, which includes the full names of the parties and their roles in the proceeding. The names of the parties should be separated by 'v' (indicating that the language of the case is English), which should also be in italics. For example:
Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada
Law v. Order
Smith v. Jones
MacKinnon v. National Money Mart Co.
The case name is the abbreviated title of a decision and provides a concise way of referring to a case. Generally, you will be using the information provided to you. Use the case name provided by print law reporters. Where a case name is not provided, use the following guidelines and consult the Case Naming Guidelines if more detail is required.
If the case name includes a reference to the Crown, Her Majesty the Queen, etc., use the common geographical name and omit these references. For example, use 'Canada' instead of 'Her Majesty the Queen'. Similarly, use 'R' (for Rex or Regina) rather than the full name. For example, use 'R v Seifi' instead of 'Between Her Majesty the Queen and Ex-Private S. Seifi, Accused'.
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Year and court identifier
When citing case law in Canada, it is important to include the year and court identifier. This is a crucial element of the citation, as it helps readers identify the relevant case and understand when and by which court the decision was made. This information assists readers in determining the importance of the case.
The year of the decision is an essential component of the citation. If the year is not apparent from the citation, it should be added in parentheses, followed by a comma. For instance, in the citation "Deglman v Guaranty Trust Co of Canada, [1954] SCR 725, rev’g [1953] OWN 665 (CA)", the year "1954" indicates the decision year of the Supreme Court of Canada. If the case was decided before 2000, it may not have a neutral citation, so the year of the decision should be included.
The court identifier is also a critical element of the citation. It helps identify the court that decided the case. Common court identifiers include SCC for the Supreme Court of Canada and ONCA for the Ontario Court of Appeal. For example, in the citation "Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan 2015 SCC 4, [2015] 1 SCR 245", "SCC" indicates the Supreme Court of Canada. The court identifier is especially important when the court identity is not evident from the citation or the case name.
In addition to the year and court identifier, other elements of a case citation may include the case name, neutral citation, paper reporter citation, database citation, pinpoint, judge, and history. The specific format and elements included may vary depending on the citation style guide being used, such as the McGill Guide or the Lederman Law Library guide. It is important to maintain consistent presentation across citations to assist readers in locating the information they need.
When citing cases from electronic databases, such as CanLII, WestlawNext Canada, and Quicklaw, unique identifiers may be provided. While these identifiers can be useful for locating cases within specific databases, they should not be the primary citation method unless there is no neutral citation or print reporter available.
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Case number
When citing case law in Canada, the case number is an important component of the citation. The case number is typically included as part of the neutral citation, which is a unique identifier assigned to a case by the court. The neutral citation typically consists of the year of the decision, the abbreviation of the court, and an ordinal number indicating the sequence of the case within that court for that year. For example, in the citation "Rutledge v Jimmie, 2014 BCSC 41", "2014" represents the year, "BCSC" is the abbreviation for the British Columbia Supreme Court, and "41" is the case number, indicating that this was the 41st case decided by that court in 2014.
The case number helps to uniquely identify a specific case within the context of a particular court and year. It is an essential element in ensuring that legal professionals, researchers, and students can accurately locate and reference the correct case when conducting legal research or writing legal documents.
While the specific format of case numbers may vary across different courts and jurisdictions, the purpose remains consistent: to provide a clear and consistent means of identifying and citing judicial decisions. In some cases, older or less standardized formats may be encountered, but the fundamental principle of using a combination of alphanumeric characters to distinguish between cases remains the same.
It is worth noting that not all cases will have a case number. Cases that are considered unreported, typically because they lack a neutral citation and have not been published in a print reporter or electronic service, may be assigned a different type of identifier, such as a docket number or an electronic database identifier. For example, in the citation "David v Evans (26 January 1995), Toronto 91-CQ-5100 (Ont Gen Div)", "91-CQ-5100" is a docket number rather than a case number, indicating the unique identifier assigned to the case by the court.
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Neutral citations
A neutral citation is a standardised way of citing case law that has been adopted by a growing number of Canadian courts since 1998. The neutral citation system involves courts consecutively numbering each case from the beginning to the end of the year and using this decision number in conjunction with the title of the case, the year the decision was made, and the abbreviated name of the court. For example:
> Roemer v Shafi, 2020 BCSC 1
In this citation, "Roemer v Shafi" identifies the two parties involved in the case, "2020" is the year the British Columbia Supreme Court released their judgment, "BCSC" is the abbreviated name of the court, and "1" indicates that this was the first case heard by the court that year.
> Rutledge v Jimmie, 2014 BCSC 41
Here, "Rutledge v Jimmie" is the case name, "2014" is the year of the decision, "BCSC" is the court identifier, and "41" is the case number.
The McGill Guide requires the use of neutral citation for cases when officially generated by the court. However, CanLII has created unofficial neutral citations that should not be used in citing cases. For cases without a neutral citation, the CanLII citation may be used if the case is available on CanLII, or a print reporter and/or online legal database service may be used in a parallel citation.
The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (also known as "The McGill Guide") lists the implementation date for each court in Appendix B-3. 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 Provincial Court of Manitoba and Ontario Court of Appeal began to adopt neutral citations as recently as 2007.
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Parallel citations
A parallel citation refers to when a case is printed in multiple publications, resulting in multiple citations for the same case. This occurs when a case is reported in one of several reporters with a volume and page number. For example, the case Phillips v Deihm can be cited in multiple ways:
- Phillips v Deihm, 213 Mich App 389, 401 (1995)
- Phillips v Deihm, 541 NW2d 566 (1995)
- Phillips v Deihm, 213 Mich App 389, 401; 541 NW2d 566 (1995)
In Canada, the McGill Guide is a key resource for legal citations. It recommends using neutral citations when they are officially generated by the court. If a neutral citation is available, a parallel citation is not necessary. However, for cases without a neutral citation, the McGill Guide suggests using print reporters and/or online legal database services in a parallel citation.
The use of parallel citations can vary depending on the context, such as whether you are writing for a court or an academic audience. In certain jurisdictions, like Michigan, specific manuals or resources provide guidance on when to use parallel citations. For example, the Michigan Appellate Opinion Manual requires the use of parallel citations for state and Supreme Court cases when available.
When constructing parallel citations, it is important to consider the availability of paragraph or page numbering in the sources, especially if you intend to reference specific passages from the case. Additionally, if a case does not have a parallel citation, it is generally not necessary to create one, and you can cite the case without it.
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Frequently asked questions
The basic elements of a case citation are the case name, year, court identifier, and case number.
A neutral citation is a citation generated directly by the court and does not include additional publication information from a reporter or database. It includes the year, tribunal identifier, and decision number.
A neutral citation should be used whenever possible and should always be followed by a citation to a printed reporter. If only the neutral citation is available, it may be used alone.
When citing an electronic version of a case decision, include the name of the database or online source, such as CanLII, LexisNexis Quicklaw, or WestlawNext Canada.
The McGill Guide is the standard Canadian citation style and uses italics for case names in the reference citation.
