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

Statute citations take the following form (see 5.1 for more details):

CITATION ELEMENTS: Title, | statute source designation | year | (session [if applicable]), | chapter (supplement [if applicable]) | pinpoint if applicable.

EXAMPLE (statute in an annual statute volume): Fewer Politicians Act, SO 1996, c 28 at s 3.

EXAMPLE (statute in a revised statute volume): Mining Act, RSO 1990, c M14.

Citation Breakdown

A. Short Title

• Italicize the title. 
• Most statutes have lengthy titles. Use the official short title of the statute if provided (generally at the beginning or end of the statute).

B. Statute Source Designation

• Revised Statutes: Periodically the federal and provincial governments publish consolidations of all the statutes in force in their jurisdiction as of a particular date. These are referred to as the Revised Statutes. The last time Ontario issued revised statutes was 1990. The last time the federal government issued revised statutes was 1985.

RSO 1990 stands for the Revised Statutes of Ontario 1990.

RSC 1985 stands for the Revised Statutes of Canada 1985.

Examples:

Employment Standards Act, RSO 1990, c E.14.

Canada Elections Act, RSC 1985, c E-2. 

• Annual Statutes: While Revised Statutes are published periodically, annual statute volumes are published every year. These contain both new and amending statutes that have received Royal Assent during the past year. If a statute is passed after the most recent Revised Statutes, it will be cited to the annual volume in which it appears. These annual statutes are cited as follows:

SO stands for Statutes of Ontario.

SC stands for Statutes of Canada.

Examples:

Photo Card Act, 2008, SO 2008, c 17.

Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29.

• Sessional volumes: In the past, bound volumes of federal and Ontario statutes were published at the end of each legislative session rather than on a calendar year basis. When citing to statutes in these volumes, you may need to include the session number. See section 5.1.4 in COAL.

C. Chapter

• This element of the citation refers to the specific chapter number which the statute has been assigned in the volume.

Examples:

Photo Card Act, 2008, SO 2008, c 17.

Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29.

D. Pinpoint

• If necessary, include a reference to the section(s) of the statute you are discussing. This is known as a "pinpoint reference".
• Note that "section" is abbreviated to "s" and "sections" is abbreviated to "ss".

Examples:

Photo Card Act, 2008, SO 2008, c 17 at s 8.

Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 at ss 5, 7-12.

Statutes that have been amended

When you cite to a statute, it is assumed you are citing to the current version of the statute. It is only necessary to include a reference to an amending statute in the citation if it is relevant to a point being discussed. To include an amending statute, cite the original statute first, followed by "as amended by" and the citation of the new act. Include the name of the amending statute only if it differs from the original act.

Example:

Hay and Straw Inspection Act, RSC 1985, c H-2, as amended by An Act to Amend the Department of Agriculture Act and to amend or repeal certain other Acts, SC 1994, c 38.

This citation is referring to federal legislation, the Hay and Straw Inspection Act (chapter H-2 in the 1985 Revised Statutes), which has been amended by a statute found in chapter 38 of the 1994 annual statutes.

If needed, you can also indicate you are citing to a statute as it looked at a particular point in time. See 5.1.6 for more details.