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Law and Society: Legal Citation

This page provides links to library and internet resources for help with Canadian legal citation, and international legal citation.

 

Canadian law uses The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. It is sometimes referred to as The McGill Guide or Redbook. A copy of the 10th edition of this guide is available in the Laurier Brantford Collection. 

A quick guide to using the 10th edition is available from the University of Calgary Library.

Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide, 2024 - available through CanLII, this guide helps with citation of legal documents and other information, but does not provide instruction for formatting or writing style.

 

Canadian legal citation uses footnotes rather than in-text citations. When citing always include the full citation the first time it is mentioned, and then use abbreviations and the Latin phrases (ibid and supra) for all citations after. Below are a few standard examples of how to cite, but when in doubt always refer to the McGill Guide as this is by no means an exhaustive list.

How to cite a case with the CGULC

When citing a case you need to include the parties involved and the date and court it was heard in. In the below example, the two parties involved are "R" (Latin for Rex or Regina, or the Crown) and Boutilier. The case was decided in 2017 in the Supreme Court of Canada and it was the 64th case heard that year.

eg. R. v. Boutilier, 2017 SCC 64.

Furthermore, when citing you may need to refer to a specific paragraph within the case if you are directly quoting or using specific information found in a particular paragraph. If you are citing the above case and a phrase within paragraph three, you would do that as follows;

eg. R. v. Boutilier, 2017 SCC 64 at para 3.

How to cite an online source with the CGULC

When working on an assignment, for example a case brief, you may want to use information outside of the case itself. If you end up using a website there is a standard way to cite it.

Author(s), Title of the page (date created), online: Title of the host website <web address>

eg. Devon Kapoor, R v Boutilier: The Dangerous Offender Regime and the Spectre of Indeterminate Sentences (January 2018), online: The Court.ca http:// www. thecourt. ca/r-v-boutilier-the-dangerous-offender-regime-and-the-spectre-of-indeterminate-sentences/

Using one source multiple times (Ibid &Supra)

As previously mentioned, the first time you use a source in your paper you provide the complete citation in a footnote. Subsequent citations may use ibid or supra. If your footnote is referring to the same source in the immediately preceding footnote, use ibid as a short from rather than having to repeat the full citation.

eg. 1. R. v. Boutilier, 2017 SCC 64.

2. Ibid.

If your footnote is referring to something you have already cited that is not immediately preceding, use supra and make reference to the citation it refers to.

eg. 11. R. v. Morgentaler [1988] 1 SCR 30.

12. McGowan, supra note 2.

 

Canadian Legal Citation Guide Help
Other Citation Resources
International Citation Resources

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