Legal Citation with the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide (the COAL Guide)

The case has a CanLII citation (and no neutral citation): the citation pattern to use

This is covered in section 6.1.2 of the COAL Guide.

CITATION ELEMENTS: Case name, | CanLII citation, | parallel citation | pinpoint [if required] | (database used) [only in specified circumstances] | (jurisdiction and level of court)| [short form if required].

EXAMPLE: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834 (SCC).

Let's examine each part of the citation for a case with a CanLII citation to understand how it is constructed:

1. Case name

The considerations are identical to a case with a neutral citation.

• A case is identified by the names of those who were parties to the litigation.
• Reproduce case names as they appear in the database or reporter in which the case is found, but do not include a period after the “v” for versus (in English case names), “c” for contre (in French case names), or “R” for Rex or Regina (which is used to represent the government when bringing prosecution in right of the Crown).
• Retain periods elsewhere in case names, including where they exist in company names and where they are used in initializing/anonymizing the names of parties.
• Italicize case names.
• For more information, consult section 6.2 of the COAL Guide.

example:  Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada

2. CanLII Citation

Use the CanLII citation in cases where the issuing court has not assigned a neutral citation. If you do not know what a CanLII citation looks like, see our explanation.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148

3. Pinpoint [if required]

Include a pinpoint if you are citing to a particular passage in the judgment. Use the page or paragraph numbers assigned by CanLII so long as they are displayed in HTML form on the web browser.

example:  Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148 at p 836.

Since the CanLII version of this case indicates page numbers, we use the page number (836) as the pinpoint citation. Page is abbreviated to "p" and paragraph to "para".

4. Parallel citation

If no neutral citation is available and a CanLII citation is available, then both a CanLII citation and a parallel citation are required. Any parallel citation is acceptable, but preference should be given to the official reporters, and case summaries and paywalled database citations should be avoided. For more information and examples, see section 6.4.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834

The parallel citation is to the Canada Supreme Court Reports (SCR), which is an official reporter, according to Section 6.4 of the COAL Guide.

Note: If you choose to pinpoint to your parallel citation rather than the CanLII version, the pinpoint will follow the parallel citation. Pinpointing to the parallel citation will also affect whether you need to include database information (please see #5, below). 

5. Determine if you need to indicate the database used

When you pinpoint to a case, it becomes necessary to alert your reader to which version you are referring, as pages/paragraphs can vary between databases. Here are the rules that flow from this requirement:

DO NOT INCLUDE the database used in the following circumstances:

• You will not be pinpointing to your case at all in your paper.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834

• You are pinpointing to the version retrieved from CanLII in your initial citation to the case.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148 at p 839, [1976] 2 SCR 834

Here, the placement of your pinpoint make it clear you are citing to the version you retrieved on CanLII.

DO INCLUDE the database used in the following circumstances:

• You aren't including a pinpoint in the initial citation to a case, but you will be pinpointing to the case in a subsequent citation.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834 (CanLII).

• You are citing to your parallel citation rather than the version on CanLII.

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834 at p 836 (Lexis).

Here, you are pinpointing to the SCR version you consulted on Leixs, rather than the version on CanLII.

6. Jurisdiction and Court

A case citation should always indicate both the jurisdiction and court level. Neutral citations take care of this requirement, but for any cases that don't have a neutral citation, you will need to include this information in parentheses at the end of the citation. 

Use the abbreviations from CanLII's Primary Law Databases page to determine the abbreviations for jurisdiction and court (under "Code").

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834 (SCC).

7. Short Form [if required]

When citing a case (or similar) more than once in a document, add a shortened case name in square brackets at the end of the citation the first time the case is cited. In subsequent citations of this case, only the shortened case name (and pinpoint, if applicable) is needed.

To create a shortened case name, typically use the name of the first party, or, if the first party is the Crown, use the name of the party that is not the Crown. See 6.11 of the COAL Guide for more information. 

example: Dickson v Royal Bank of Canada, 1975 CanLII 148, [1976] 2 SCR 834 (SCC) [Dickson].