Legal Citation

The McGill Guides recommends the neutral citation should be the main citation. 

McGill Guide's Hierarchy of Sources

1. Neutral citation
2. Official reporter or semi-official reporter
3. Unofficial reporters or online databases.

Neutral citations are used to identify a particular case but does not indicate where a case can be found. After the Style of Cause (name of the case), there are three parts:

1) Year 2) Abbreviation of the Court Decision 3) ordinal number

Online Database Services 

These citations are referred to as main or parallel citations. They have the same status as unofficial reporters in the hierarchy of sources. Do not include the URL.

General Format

Style of Cause, Main Citation, Database identifier (abbreviation for online database if it is not obvious from the database identifier).

CanLII example

Westlaw example

Quicklaw example

If no neutral citation is available, the citation appears in the following order:

1. Citation to a print reporter, preferably official or semi-official
2. Citation to the electronic database.
3. If the tribunal or jurisdiction is not apparent from the rest of the citation, include the jurisdiction and/or court.

General Format

Style of Cause, Citation to a print reporter, Database identifier, Jurisdiction and/or court if necessary.

General Format

(Style of cause, date)