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How to read legal citations in Canada

Canadian citations use a neutral citation of the form year, court, number, and may also give the report series. The year before the court code is the year of the judgment.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Style guide: Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide). The standard style across Canadian law schools and courts. Canada is bilingual, so French and English rules both exist.

Real citations, decoded

Click or hover over any underlined piece to see what it means.

A case in a report series Case

,

  1. Case name R v Oakes
    R means the Crown (Regina or Rex). In criminal cases the prosecution is the Crown.
  2. Year in square brackets [1986]
    The year of the volume of the report series.
  3. Volume 1
    Volume 1 for that year.
  4. Series SCR
    Supreme Court Reports, the official reports of the Supreme Court of Canada.
  5. First page 103
    The page where the report begins.
Full citation: R v Oakes, [1986] 1 SCR 103

A modern case with a neutral citation Case

,

  1. Case name R v Jordan
    The parties.
  2. Year 2016
    The year of the judgment, with no brackets.
  3. Court SCC
    Supreme Court of Canada. Other examples: ONCA (Court of Appeal for Ontario) and BCCA (British Columbia).
  4. Number 27
    The running number of the decision in that court for that year.

The neutral citation is what you use to look the case up on CanLII for free. Paragraphs are cited as 'at para 50'.

Full citation: R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27

A federal statute Statute

, , ,

  1. Title Criminal Code
    The short title of the Act.
  2. Revised Statutes RSC 1985
    Revised Statutes of Canada, a consolidation of federal statutes, with the year of the revision.
  3. Chapter c C-46
    The chapter number given to the statute in that revision.
  4. Section s 718
    A section of the Act.
Full citation: Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, s 718

Things to remember

  • The year in a neutral citation has no brackets. The year in a report citation has square brackets.
  • Quebec cases and statutes also use French citations, such as 'CCQ' for the Civil Code of Québec.
  • 'SCR' is the Supreme Court Reports; 'DLR' is the Dominion Law Reports, a commercial series.

Where to find the text, free

To understand how courts and law fit together in Canada, read the Canada profile in the Legal Families Atlas.

Other legal systems

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s citation guide is an educational overview of standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so check the style guide before submitting or publishing. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.