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APA 7th edition - Citations: Legal Citation

APA 7th edition

Legal Citation

Citing legal documents is different than citing in APA.


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.

JIBC Library Legal Citation Guide

Other Helpful Resources

1. Revised Statutes of Canada: Official

Reference List 

Criminal Code, RSC (1985) c C-46

In-Text

(Criminal Code, 1985, s 318(1)(a))

Note: When official version is in e-format, you do NOT need to indicate the electronic source.

2. Charter of Rights and Freedoms

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))

Note: If using the print or official online version; no retrieval statement required.

3. Revised Statutes of British Columbia: Retrieved from Database (e.g. Quickscribe)

Reference List 

Treaty Commission Act, RSBC 1996, c 461, (QS)

In-Text

(Treaty Commission Act, 1996, s 5(1))

4. Statutes of British Columbia: Unofficial

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))

Note: When using an unofficial version retrieved from a website, include a retrieval statement.

5. Regulations of British Columbia: Print Version

Reference List 

​Child Care Licensing Regulation, BC Reg 332/2007

In-Text

(Child Care Reg, 2007, s 3(24)(2))

6. Case Law: Neutral Citation

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

7. Case Law: Print Source

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

8. Case Law: Retrieved from CanLII

Reference List 

​R v Glowatski (2008), 1999 CanLII 5608 (BCSC)

In-Text

(R v Glowatski, 1999, para. 17)

9. Case Law: Retrieved from database (e.g. Quicklaw)

Reference List 

R v Ellard (2008), BCJ no 1689 (QL) (BCCA)

In-Text

(R v Ellard, 2008, para. 8)

10. Loose-leaf Format Books

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.

Note. For more information on citing loose-leaf, visit the UBC Legal Citation Guide - Secondary Sources. The guide includes details on how to format author names and what to use as the pinpoint (page/para number). 


In-Text

Visit the UBC Legal Citation Guide - In-Text References page for information on citing loose-leaf in-text.