In 2024, The first edition of the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide (the COAL Guide) was published by the Canadian Legal Information Institue (CanLII). This guide offers a free, open access citation guide specific to Canadian documents.
Citation Format by Source
Below you will find formats for 4 common sources: Legislation, Jurisprudence/Case Law, Journal Articles, and Books. For an explanation of terms such as "pinpoint" and "neutral citation", refer to the Notes for the respective sources under out McGill Documentation Guide or your course notes/textbook.
Legislation
Title, | statue source designation | year (session if applicable), | chapter (supplement if applicable) | pinpoint if applicable.
Example: Copyright Act, RSC 1985, c C-42 at s 29.
Example: Safe Streets and Communities Act, SC 2012, c 1.
Jurisprudence/Case Law
For all sources, include a case name, year of decision, jurisdiction, and court level.
NEUTRAL CITATION FORMAT: Case name, | neutral citation | pinpoint if available.
Example: R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27.
Example: R v Jordan, 2016 SCC at para 32.
NO NEUTRAL, but document is on CanLII FORMAT: Case name, | CanLII citation | pinpoint if applicable, | parallel citation | (jurisdiction and level of court).
Example: Barrett v Reardon, 2012 CanLII 27167 at para 90, 1000 APR 271 (NLSC).
NO NEUTRAL or CanLII FORMAT: Case name | (year if not included in main citation), | main citation, | parallel citation | pinpoint if applicable (database used) | (jurisdiction and level of court)
Example: English v English (1979), 25 NBR (2d) 345, 51 APR 345 at para 3 (Lexis) (NBQB).
Journal Articles
FORMAT: Author, | "article title" | (year) | volume:issue if applicable | journal title | pinpoint if applicable
Example: A.J. Reid & J.V. Roberts, "Revisiting the Conditional Sentence of Imprisonment after 20 Years: Is Community Custody Now an Endangered Species?" (2019) 24:1 Canadian Criminal Law Review at p 3.
Books
FORMAT: Author or editor, | title, | edition if applicable | (publisher, | year of publication) | pinpoint if applicable
Example: B. Ziff, Principles of Property Law, 5th ed (Carswell, 2010) at pp 148-155.
Bibliography, Footnotes, and In-text Citations
A bibliography is optional (based on where you are submitting your works), while footnotes OR in-text citations are required.
Use either Footnotes OR In-text citations, but not both. Provide the full citation the first time a source is cited. If the source is used more than once and will be cited again, provide the shortened version in square brackets after the full citation. Use the shortened version for all subsequent references.
Footnote Example
Recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) copyright cases of particular relevance to libraries include the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v Entertainment Software Association1. In SOCAN, the SCC supported technological neutrality in ruling that "[s]imilar to offline distribution, downloading or streaming works will continue to engage only one copyright interest and require paying one royalty" (SOCAN at para 112).2
1Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30 [SOCAN]
2SOCAN at para 112.
In-text Example
Recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) copyright cases of particular relevance to libraries include the Society of Composers. Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada v Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30 [SOCAN]. In SOCAN, the SCC supported technological neutrality in ruling that "[s]imilar to offline distribution, downloading or streaming works will continue to engage only one copyright interest and require paying one royalty" (SOCAN at para 112).