Correct citation allows researchers to identify and locate sources by providing the maximum information in an efficient and consistent manner. The following is a brief introduction to the McGill Guide citation style. Only the most frequently used rules are highlighted and summarized here. To ensure you are following the correct McGill Guide format, always refer to the full guide.
1) Citation Guides
2) Cases/Jurisprudence Generally2a) Cases with a neutral citation
2b) Cases in an online database with no Neutral Citation
2c) Reported cases where a neutral or CanLII citation is NOT available
2d) Unreported cases where a neutral or CanLII citation is NOT available3) Statutes
4) Federal Regulations
5) Ontario Regulations
6) Books
7) Journal Articles
8) Electronic Sources
9) Legal Encylopedias (Encyclopedic Digests)
10) Plagiarism
Canadian
The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 10th ed (Toronto: Thomson Reuters Canada, 2023).
The McGill Guide provides comprehensive rules for citing case law, legislation, periodicals, books and parliamentary material for Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and other jurisdictions. It also includes a section on citing international documents. U of T Law students use the McGill Guide to cite all Canadian, British and American legal resources, unless otherwise instructed. The UBC Guide to Legal Citation is also available online but please note that it does not always follow McGill standards.
American
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 21st ed (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Law Review Association, 2020).
When writing for publication in an American journal, The Bluebook is the standard citation guide.
See McGill Guide, Chapter 3: "Jurisprudence."
Case citations should be selected according to the following hierarchy (Rule 3.1):
The neutral citation simply includes the year of the decision, a tribunal identifier and the decision number (e.g., 2002 SCC 10). If a neutral citation is not available, provide the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) citation. If a neutral citation or CanLII citation is available, it is generally not necessary to include a parallel citation.
If neither of these are available, refer to an online database, official reporter or unofficial reporter. Also, in the absence of a neutral citation or CanLII citation, refer to at least two sources – a main citation and at least one parallel citation.
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.5 and Appendix B-3.
If a neutral citation is available cite:
i) Style of cause (in italics)
ii) Neutral citation
iii) Pinpoint (if applicable)
iv) Short form (if necessary)
Example: Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd v Canada, 2009 ONCA 59 at para 64 [Torstar].
i) Style of Cause - Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd v Canada
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.3.
The style of cause identifies the parties to the action and is always italicized. The "v" stands for "versus" and is always abbreviated and italicized.
In civil cases, the name of the party who has instituted the action, i.e., the plaintiff, appears first.
In criminal cases such as R v Barr, the state, represented by the Crown, has instigated the action and so appears first. The Crown is abbreviated to "R," for Rex (King) or Regina (Queen).
Where the plaintiff/defendant dichotomy is absent, procedural phrases are used to reflect this fact. Re Smith, for example, means "in the matter of a party named Smith". Ex parte Smith means "on an application of a party named Smith" (Rule 3.3.18).
ii) Neutral Citation - 2009 ONCA 59
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.5
The neutral citation is provided by the court and consists of the year, tribunal identifier, and decision number.
iii) Pinpoint - at para 64
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.6. generally and Rule 1.5 of General Rules.
If referring to a pinpoint in a neutral citation, always cite to the paragraph.
iv) Short Form - [Torstar]
See McGill Guide, Rule 1.4.1.
The full names of the parties are found at the beginning of each case report. If the style of cause is lengthy and if you are citing a case more than once, provide a short title in brackets after the first reference and then use the short title (without brackets) in all subsequent references to that case. Short titles for cases and legislation are italicized – however, note that the brackets are not italicized.
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.7 generally, Appendix E for abbreviations of services, and Appendix C-2 for identifiers of the databases within the services.
When there is no neutral citation present, use CanLII to ensure accessibility to readers. If neither neutral citation or CanLII is available, other online databases can be either the main citation or the parallel citation. Non-CanLII online databases have the same status as official reporters and unofficial reporters.
CanLII (Rule 3.7.1)
i) Style of cause (in italics)
ii) CanLII identifier
iii) Pinpoint reference (if applicable)
iv) Jurisdiction and court (if available)
v) Short form (if necessary)
Example: R v Miller, 1998 CanLII 5115 (ONCA).
Commercial Databases (Rules 3.7.2 (LexisNexis Quicklaw) and 3.7.3 (WestlawEdge Canada)
A typical citation for an electronic Canadian court case not available in hard copy and that does not have a neutral citation includes these basic elements:
i) Style of cause (in italics)
ii) Main Citation (which could be an official reporter or the database provider's identifier
iii) Pinpoint reference (if applicable)
iv) Parallel Citation (if available)
v) Jurisdiction and/or court (if necessary)
Example from Westlaw Edge Canada where a parallel citation is not available: Harbus v MacIver, 1995 CarswellOnt 3185 (ONCA).
Example from Lexis Advance Quicklaw where a parallel citation is available: R v Gdanski, [1997] OJ No 382, 24 OTC 168 (ON Ct J (GD)).
See McGill Guide, Rules 3.2 and 3.8.
Reported cases are those that have been published in print and reproduced online by commercial providers or under the auspices of a particular court. A typical citation for a reported Canadian court case without a neutral or CanLII citation includes these basic elements:
i) Style of cause (in italics)
ii) Year of decision (in parentheses and followed by a comma)
iii) Volume, title, series and page of the case reporter
iv) Pinpoint (if a direct quotation is used)
v) Parallel citation (if available)
vi) Jurisdiction and court (if necessary)
vii) Judge (if relevant)
viii) Short form in cases if the case is to be cited more than once (in italics)
Example: R v Barr (1982), 16 Man R (2d) 1 at 14, 1982 CarswellMan 282 (MB Co Ct), Ferg CCJ [Barr].
i) Style of Cause - R v Barr
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.3.
Rule 3.3 specifies how to create the style of cause in a variety of specific instances but if the style of cause is provided by the print reporter don't change it. See 2a) i) above for more information about style of cause.
ii) Year of Decision – (1982)
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.4.
The year follows the style of cause. Canadian publishers number the report volumes in two different ways:
a) Annual volumes - Date in brackets [1982]
In this instance, each volume in a series is identified by the year in which it was published and then, if there was more than one volume published in that year, by its volume number. The Supreme Court Reports employ this system.
Example: R v Finn, [1997] 1 SCR 10.
Note that the comma goes immediately after the style of cause, and the date appears in brackets.
b) Consecutive volumes - Date in parentheses
The year of the decision is always included in parentheses when citing a report series where all volumes in a series are numbered consecutively rather than by each year. The date shown is the date of publication rather than the date of the judgment.
Example: R v Barr (1982), 16 Man R (2d) 1 (MB Co Ct).
Note that the comma follows the date in parentheses.
If there is no neutral or CanLII citation and if the year of the reporter and the year of the decision are different, use both years.
Example: R v Lipman (1986), [1987] 1 SCR 425.
iii) Volume, Title, Series and Page of the Case Reporter - 16 Man R (2d) 1
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.8 generally and Appendix C for abbreviations of reporters.
From this citation, a reader would be able to locate the full-text of R v Barr in Volume 16 of the Second Series of the Manitoba Reports at page 1.
Always identify the series of the case reporter to ensure the reader can locate the case. Many law reports are now in their second, third, or fourth series. Volume 16 of the Manitoba Reports publishes cases from 1906, while Volume 16 of Manitoba Reports (2d) has cases from 1982.
iv) Pinpoint - at 14
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.6. generally and Rule 1.5 of General Rules.
When citing to a print reporter, cite to the page from which the quotation or idea is taken. Always cite to the main citation as per Rule 3.1.
v) Parallel citation
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.1.
A parallel citation may be an online database, an official reporter, or an unofficial reporter.
vi) Jurisdiction and Court - (MB Co Ct)
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.9.
Identify the jurisdiction and level of court in parentheses at the end of a citation.
If R v Barr had been reported in the Dominion Law Reports (DLR) - which publishes decisions from various levels of court across Canada - it would be necessary to indicate that the case was a Manitoba County Court decision (MB Co Ct).
Appendix A-1 of the McGill Guide lists the jurisdiction abbreviations and Appendix B lists the court abbreviations.
viii) Name of Judge - Ferg CCJ
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.10.
Only include the name of the judge when quoting directly from the case. The judge's name is placed at the end of the citation and is followed by their office in abbreviation (Rule 3.10 of the McGill Guide provides abbreviations for judges' offices). There is no comma after the judge's name. When citing a dissenting opinion, add the word dissenting after the judge's office.
vii) Short Form – [Barr]
See McGill Guide, Rule 1.4.1.
The full names of the parties are found at the beginning of each case report. If the style of cause is lengthy and if you are citing a case more than once, provide a short title in brackets after the first reference and then use the short title (without brackets) in all subsequent references to that case. Short titles for cases and legislation are italicized – however, note that the brackets are not italicized.
See McGill Guide, Rule 3.12.
Unreported cases are those that have not been published in a print-based commercial reporter series. These cases likely do not have more than one location. These will be older cases, pre neutral citation.
A typical citation for an unreported Canadian court case includes these basic elements:
i) Style of cause
ii) Date in parentheses followed by a comma
iii) Judicial district
iv) Docket number (provided by the court)
v) Jurisdiction and court
Example: R v Smith (7 September 1956), Willowdale 123456 (ONCA).
See McGill Guide, Chapter 2: Legislation. Rule 2.1
A typical citation for Canadian statute includes these basic elements:
i) Title (in italics - short title is typically used)
ii) Statute volume
iii) Jurisdiction
iv) Year
v) Chapter
vi) Other indexing element (schedules or appendices)
vi) Session or supplement (if applicable)
vii) Pinpoint (if applicable - usually to a section number)
viii) Amendments and repeals (if applicable)
There are specific instructions for constitutional statutes (Rule 2.2) and codes (i.e. from Québec - Rule 2.3) that should also be referred to if necessary.
Example: National Archives of Canada Act, SC 1987, c 1, s 2.
Refer to legislation according to the following hierarchy (Rule 2.1.3):
If you are citing to an official electronic version of a statute, it should be cited in the same way as the printed statute. Rule 2.1.3 has a list of the jurisdictions that provide official electronic versions of the statutes.
Examples:
i) Title - National Archives of Canada Act
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.4.
Statutes often have really long titles and are frequently given a short title that should be used for citation. The short title is usually found in the first section of the act. Always italicize the title of the act.
ii) Revised Statutes and Annual Volumes - RS or S
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.5.
Statute volume does not refer to a volume number but instead indicates whether the item comes from a revised (RS) or annual (S) volume of the statutes.
Some provinces also print loose-leaf versions of the statutes - Rule 2.1.6 which loose-leafs can be cited and which cannot, as well as how to cite them.
iii) Jurisdiction - C
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.7 and Appendix A-1.
The jurisdiction immediately follows the statute volume. The jurisdiction is abbreviated to the first letter of each word in the name of the country or province. RSC in this case stands for Revised Statutes of Canada, while RSO stands for Revised Statutes of Ontario.
iv) Year, Session – 1987,
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.8.
The year always follows the jurisdiction, followed by a comma. If you are citing to a looseleaf volume, check Rule 2.1.6 for the appropriate format.
v) Chapter - c l
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.9.
Each statute is assigned a chapter number. Chapter is abbreviated with a lower case c. Indicate this chapter number after the year and a comma. Use the alphanumeric designation as shown in the volume.
vi) Supplement (if applicable)
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.8.
Supplement refers to statutes that were passed after the 1985 Revised Statutes of Canada were compiled but before they came into force. Supplement information is provided in parenthesis after the chapter number.
Example: Divorce Act, RSC 1985, c 3 (2nd Supp).
vii) Pinpoint - s 2
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.10.
If you are citing the specific provisions of the statute, then indicate the section number after the chapter number.
vii) Amendments, Repeals and Re-enactments
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.1.11.
Only indicate that a statute has been amended if it is relevant to your argument. Always indicate if a statute has been repealed. If there has been more than one change, separate each citation with a comma.
a) Amendments:
Cite both the original act and the amending act. If the name of the amending act is different from the original statute it must be included. Otherwise, it may be omitted.
Examples:
When the statute being discussed has been amended by a subsequent act:
Municipal Taxation Act, RSA 1980, c M-31, s 24(1)(b), as amended by School Act, SA 1988, c S-3.1, s 249(a).
When the statute being discussed amends an earlier act:
Act to Amend the Elections Act, SY 2009, c 14 amending RSY 2002, c 6.
b) Repeals:
Cite both acts and the relationship between them.
Examples:
When the statute being discussed has been repealed by a subsequent act:
Environmental Contaminants Act, RSC 1985, c E-12, as repealed by Canadian Environmental Protection Act, RSC 1985, c 16 (4th Supp), s 147.
When the statute being discussed repeals an earlier act:
An Act to enact and amend various Acts with respect to the protection of health information, SO 2004, c 3, Sched. A, ss 82, 99 (2) repealing Health Cards and Numbers Control Act, 1991, SO 1991, c 1.
Revised Regulations
See McGill Guide, Chapter 2, Rule 2.5.
A typical citation for a revised federal regulation includes these basic elements:
i) Title (in italics)
ii) CRC (stands for Consolidated Regulations of Canada)
iii) Chapter
iv) Pinpoint (to the section number quoted if applicable)
v) Year
vi) Amendments, repeals and re-enactments (if relevant) - use Rule 2.1.11 for statutes as a guide.
Example: Western Grain Stabilization Regulations, CRC, c 1607, s 8 (1978).
Unrevised Regulations
i) Title (in italics)
ii) SOR (stands for Statutory Orders and Regulations)
iii) Year and regulation number (up to 1999 use only the last two digits, after 2000 use all four digits).
iv) Pinpoint
v) Amendments, repeals and re-enactments (if relevant) - use Rule 2.1.11 for statutes as a guide.
Example: Steering Appliances and Equipment Regulations, SOR/83-810 as amended by SOR/86-1027.
See McGill Guide, Rule 2.5.
Each province has different rules, so once again check table in Rule 2.5 generally.
Revised Regulations
i) RRO (stands for Revised Regulations of Ontario)
ii) Year of revision
iii) Reg
iv) Number
v) Pinpoint
vi) Amendments, repeals and re-enactments (if relevant) - use Rule 2.1.11 for statutes as a guide
Example: RRO 1990, Reg 1015, s 3.
Unrevised Regulations
i) Jurisdiction
ii) Reg
iii) Regulation number
iv) Pinpoint
v) Amendments, repeals and re-enactments (if relevant) - use Rule 2.1.11 as a guide
Example: O Reg 689/91, s 2.
See McGill Guide, Rule 6.2.
The general form for citation of law-related books is as follows:
i) Author (First Name Last Name)
ii) Title (in italics)
iii) Edition
iv) Other elements (in order - name of editor or compiler, translator, total number of volumes or number of cited volume, volume title, series title and volume number within series, loose-leaf). Each of these elements has its own rule so be sure to check the guide.
v) Place of publication:
vi) Publisher,
vii) Year of publication
viii) Pinpoint
ix) Electronic service (if applicable)
Example: Kent Roach, Access to Care, Access to Justice: The Legal Debate Over Private Health Insurance in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006) at 20.
Rule 6.2 has specific instructions and examples for books with multiple authors, edition statements and different formats. Capitalize the title according to the conventions of the language of the title.
See McGill Guide, Rule 6.1 generally and Appendix D for a list of journal abbreviations.
The general form for citation of law-related journal articles is as follows:
i) Author (First name Last name)
ii) "Title of Article"
iii) (Year)
iv) Volume:
v) Issue
vi) Title of journal (in abbreviated format)
vii) Series (if applicable)
viii) First page of article
ix) Pinpoint
x) Electronic service (if applicable)
Example: Trevor Knight, "Electoral Justice for Aboriginal People in Canada" (2001) 46:2 McGill LJ 1063 at 1070.
Rule 6.1 has specific instructions and examples for citing multiple authors, articles published in parts, etc.
See McGill Guide, Rule 6.18.
Rule 6.18 provides guidance and examples of citations for sources that are solely electronic, i.e., websites, blog posts and comments, podcasts, online videos, social media, subscription-based ejournals, blockchain technology, and other digital media including CD-ROMS, DVDs, etc.
Example from a website:
Christine Hart, "Online Dispute Resolution and Avoidance In Electronic Commerce", online: <ulcc-chlc.ca>.
See McGill Guide, Rule 6.4.
The Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (CED) (Rule 6.4.1)
CED edition, subject matter (series), "detailed subject and subheadings" section (update date).
Example: CED 4th, Employment Law (Ontario), “Written Employment Contracts: Duration of Contract” at § 173 (April 2023).
Halsbury's Laws of Canada (Rule 6.4.2)
Print:
Halsbury's Laws of Canada, volume, subject matter section (reissue, update).
Example: Halsbury's Laws of Canada, Construction at para HCU-183 "Changes" (2021 reissue).
Online:
Halsbury's Laws of Canada (online), subject matter, "detailed subject heading & subheadings" (subheading code) section (reissue, update).
Example: Halsbury's Laws of Canada (online), Business Corporations, "Shareholder Remedies: The Oppression Remedy: Meaning of Oppression" (XIII.2.(2)) at HBC-298 "Focus on Interests" (Cum Supp Release 4).
Rule 6.4 also includes detailed instructions for law-related encyclopedias from other jurisdictions.
The University of Toronto has strict prohibitions against plagiarism in the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. In particular, under this Code, it is an offence for a student knowingly:
(d) to represent as one's own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism.
In the context of your course work at the law school, the risk of plagiarism most likely arises by failing to properly document your sources. Students should consult "How Not to Plagiarize" from the University of Toronto Writing Centre.