AGLC4 Rule 15.1.2: Cases: Official and Unofficial Report Series

Prefer an authorised report, which for Canada exists only for the federal courts. Where there is none, use a semi-official provincial series or an unofficial series such as the Dominion Law Reports. Unreported Canadian decisions are cited under rule 2.3.

AGLC4 page 211

Formatting

  • The authorised series SCR, FC, FCR and Ex CR are organised by year, so the year goes in square brackets before the volume.
  • The Dominion Law Reports are organised by volume, so the year goes in round brackets before the volume.
  • The DLR series number follows the abbreviation in round brackets as an ordinal with superscript letters, for example (4th), with a space before the opening bracket.
  • A court added after the first page goes in round brackets, roman, in full, separated from the page by a space.
  • Abbreviations of report series have no full stops.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 211
  1. 2
    Eli Lilly Canada Inc v Apotex Inc [2008] 2 FCR 636.
  2. 3
    Aktiebolaget Hassle v Apotex Inc [1988] 1 FC 360.
  3. 4
    The Coca-Cola Co of Canada Ltd v The Pepsi-Cola Co of Canada Ltd [1938] Ex CR 263.
  4. 5
    Bangoura v Washington Post (2005) 258 DLR (4th) 341 (Ontario Court of Appeal).

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 211
  • AR, BCR, Nfld & PEIR, NWTR, OR, RJQ and YR

Authorised Canadian report series, by court and years of coverage

Quoted from the Guide, page 211
CourtAbbreviationYears
Supreme Court of CanadaSCR1876–
Canadian Federal CourtsFC1971–2003
Canadian Federal CourtsFCR2004–
Exchequer Court of CanadaEx CR1875–1970

See also

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Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.