Case Citation

Citation...The citation is a valuable and concise source

of information which includes:the name of the parties involved in the action;the date the decision was handed down;the jurisdiction and the court in which the case

was heard; andinformation on where a specific case may be

found (i.e., in what reporter(s)the case in its entirety is located

Lawyers use cases (precedent) to make claims about the strength of their own cases and about the law itself.

Other legal professionals -- judges, clerks, opposing counsel – are required to determine whether those claims are accurate by finding and reading those cases.

Therefore, legal professionals are expected to know how to cite cases correctly – the inability to do so can damage one‘s credibility.

This is the format....The following is the standard formula for

properly citing a case in Canada:style of cause, neutral citation , date, law report

volume number, law report series, page number

This is how a citation will typically appear:

Roncarelli v. Duplessis, [1959] S.C.R. 121

Style of Cause?a case is identified by the names of those who

were parties to the litigationin general, one uses only the last name of the

first mentioned party on each side, e.g. Smith v. Jones

"v." is an abbreviation for versus and is pronounced "and" in civil cases

the names of the parties and the "v" are italicized

What about in a Criminal Case?As an element of constitutional monarchy,

Canadian executive government authority is formally vested in the Queen, hence the use of "R." for the Latin word for queen, regina, in legal citations.

This will remain the same but represent the Latin word rex (king) when Elizabeth II dies.

So, it will look something like this...Examples involving the Crown:

R. v. Smith

Common Law ReportersCanadian Criminal Cases cited as: C.C.C.Supreme Court Reports cited as: S.C.R.Federal Court of Canada cited as:

F.C.A. (Appeal Division)F.C.T. (Trial Division)

Ontario Reports cited as: O.R.

As a general rule, one must always be able to determine both the jurisdiction (i.e. provincial or federal) and court level from the citation.