Canadian cases can be found in many free law websites and subscription law databases. Click on the plus icons for how to search effectively for Canadian cases in different spaces.
Below is a list of useful free law websites for finding Canadian cases:
CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) is a free legal information website and is a member of the Free Access to Law Movement. CanLII provides access to court judgments from all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, federal courts, and the courts in all Canada’s provinces and territories. CanLII also contains decisions from many federal and provincial administrative tribunals. If you are searching for recent Canadian decisions on a topic CanLII is a good website to search.
This example is searching for cases involving acceptance of contracts using emojis.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases.
The Supreme Court of Canada website contains information about court hearings and judgments. This includes free access to the full text of the Supreme Court Reports. The Supreme Court Reports is the official reporter for the Supreme Court of Canada.
Crookes v Newton [2011] 3 SCR 269
In this example the name of the case is Crookes v Newton. The year of the case is 2011. The authorised law report citation for this case is [2011] 3 SCR 269.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases.
The Federal Court Reports is the official reporter for the Federal Court of Canada. The Dominion Law Reports is the leading reporter series for national coverage of Canadian case law. Unreported judgments of the Federal Court of Canada are available on the Decisions section of the Federal Court website.
Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership v. Leo Ocean, S.A. [2015] 3 F.C.R. 712
In this example the name of the case is Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership v. Leo Ocean, S.A. The year of the case is 2015. The authorised law report citation for this case is [2015] 3 F.C.R. 712.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases.
Below is a list of useful databases for finding Canadian cases:
HeinOnline provides complete coverage of the official bilingual series of the Canada Supreme Court Reports. Cases include background information, statutes and regulations, authors cited, analysis and the decision. Canada Supreme Court Reports is a primary source for the key decisions of Canada's highest court.
Crookes v Newton [2011] 3 SCR 269
In this example the name of the case is Crookes v Newton. The year of the case is 2011. The authorised law report citation for this case is [2011] 3 SCR 269.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases. The CITE function in HeinOnline for Canadian cases is not always AGLC4 compliant.
Lexis Advance (US Research System) contains Canadian resources under the International content section.
Crookes v Newton [2011] 3 SCR 269
In this example the name of the case is Crookes v Newton. The year of the case is 2011. The authorised law report citation for this case is [2011] 3 SCR 269.
Note: Downloading this version will be in plain text format, as Lexis does not publish the official Supreme Court Report Series.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases. Using from Lexis will not produce an AGLC4 citation.
Thomson Reuters Westlaw contains Canadian resources under the International Materials section.
Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership v Leo Ocean, S.A. [2014] FCA 231
In this example the name of the case is Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership v Leo Ocean, S.A. The year of the case is 2014. The medium neutral citation for this case is [2014] FCA 231.
AGLC4 rule 15 explains how to reference Canadian cases.