For legislation and case law, JIBC follows the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (9th ed.). (2018), known as "The McGill Guide".
Note: in-text citations always include the specific section and subsection or page/paragraph number.
If you are new to legal citation, we highly recommend taking a few minutes to review the Queen's University Legal Citation Guide for cases, statutes, and regulations.
| SCC | Supreme Court of Canada |
|---|---|
| FCC | Federal Court of Canada |
| BCCA | B.C. Court of Appeal |
| BCSC | B.C. Supreme Court |
| BCPC | B.C. Provincial Court |
| RSC | Revised Statutes of Canada |
| RSBC | Revised Statutes of B.C. |
| SBC | Statutes of B.C. |
| BC Reg | Regulations of B.C. |
| CanLII | CanLII |
| QL | Quicklaw; Lexis+ |
| QS | Quickscribe |
| WL | Westlaw Canada |
Reference List
Criminal Code, RSC (1985) c C-46
In-Text
(Criminal Code, 1985, s 318(1)(a))
Reference List
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 7, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c11
In-Text
(Canadian Charter, 1982, s 6(2)(b))
Reference List
Treaty Commission Act, RSBC 1996, c 461, (QS)
In-Text
(Treaty Commission Act, 1996, s 5(1))
Reference List
Parental Liability Act, SBC 2001, c 45. Retrieved from http://www.bclaws.ca/
In-Text
(Parental Liability Act, 2001, s 7(3)(b))
Reference List
Child Care Licensing Regulation, BC Reg 332/2007
In-Text
(Child Care Reg, 2007, s 3(24)(2))
Reference List
R v Pickton, 2005 BCSC 836
In-Text
(R v Pickton, 2005, para. 10)
What is a neutral citation?
A neutral citation identifies the case only and does not include where it can be located or retrieved.
Parts of a neutral citation
Year = 2005 - (do not put date in parentheses)
BCSC = B.C. Supreme Court
836 = Number assigned to the case by Court
Reference List
R v Ellard (2008), 239 CCC (3d) 233 (BCCA)
In-Text
(R v Ellard, 2008, p. 239)
Parts of the citation
239 = Volume Number
CCC (3d) = Canadian Criminal Cases, 3rd series
233 = starting page
BCCA = B.C. Court of Appeal
Reference List
R v Glowatski (2008), 1999 CanLII 5608 (BCSC)
In-Text
(R v Glowatski, 1999, para. 17)
Reference List
R v Ellard (2008), BCJ no 1689 (QL) (BCCA)
In-Text
(R v Ellard, 2008, para. 8)
Loose-leaf format books are not fixed in time like a book that has been bound. The pages are updated regularly. It's important to let your reader know hoe current the book was when you consulted it. The loose-leaf book has records of when it was updated either at the front or back of the book.
General Format
Author, Title of the Loose-leaf, edition (place of publication: publisher, year of publication) pinpoint reference if applicable.
Reference Example
Mr Justice G Peter Fraser, John W Horn & The Honourable Madam Justice Susan A Griffin, The Conduct of Civil Litigation in British Columbia, 2nd ed (Markham, Ont: LexisNexis, 2007) (loose-leaf updated 2014, release 16) vol 2 at para 39.12.
In-Text
Visit the UBC Legal Citation Guide - In-Text References page for information on citing loose-leaf in-text.