LAW Canadian Cases and Decisions
Canadian Cases and Decisions
This guide is intended to help researchers locate cases and decisions. The tabs found above will open pages that provide links to sources for Canadian Federal as well as Alberta and the other provinces and territories case law. Legal databases may be restricted to University of Calgary users or to Faculty of Law users.
Finding Cases
A case is a decision made by a court or an administrative body. Released cases are made available to be published in case law reports. Although every judicial decision is documented not every case gets published (reported) so not every case is searchable.
Reported cases may be located by topic, case name or citation. Citations may be found in books or articles. Topical digests may provide headnotes that provide useful subject headings for finding cases on point. Cases can be located on legal databases using their citation. Case judgements may also be published directly by the court or administrative body where the decision was made.
If an unreported decision is not published by the court, the courthouse to may be asked to perform a file search for a fee.
Searching online databases for cases
Search for cases on a topic or legal issue by doing a keyword search, similar to searching on an internet search engine, in any of the databases below. You can limit the search to a particular province, jurisdiction or court.
If you know the name of the case or have the case's citation from a book, article or website, you can use that information as your search terms.
There are several electronic databases with links to case reports:
- CanLII This link opens in a new windowCanLII, is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to provide Open Access, freely accessible primary legal material, including court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
- Westlaw Canada This link opens in a new window
- Access to subscribed content only
Platform for database products published by Thomas Reuters Canada. Includes primary sources, commentary, court documents, forms and precedents, and finding tools. Full text source for Canadian law resources. Includes the Canadian Abridgement Digests and Canadian Encyclopedic Digest; cases (reported and unreported), commentary, legislations, journal articles covering the areas of general law, family law and criminal law. - Westlaw Edge (UofC Law School only) This link opens in a new windowFaculty of Law students and faculty may obtain an individual password.Westlaw Edge is a full text and indexing database that provides access to a variety of law and finding tools. It includes Canadian statutes and regulations, reported decisions from Canadian courts and tribunals, Canadian law journals and law reviews. Westlaw includes nearly 15,000 databases covering most US primary and secondary legal materials and legal research tools. It also includes over 700 full text law reviews and has legal material from the UK, Australia and the EU.
- Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new windowAccess to subscribed content onlyLexis Advances Quicklaw provides access to an extensive database of over 2 million cases, jurisdictional sources, including exclusive sources like Halsbury's Laws of Canada and Canadian Tort Law. This database includes QuickCite, which ensures decisions are based on good authority by cases. Lexis Advance QuickLaw provides access to Canadian law (legislation, jurisprudence, and doctrine) as well as law sources from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
- Lexis+ AI Canada This link opens in a new window
- Available to Faculty of Law students only
- Password access only
Content includes Canadian, US, UK, international and foreign legal materials, and Practical Guidance.
Searching in print for cases
Once you have the title of the case reporter, search for it in the library search box to determine availability and location.
- Library Search BoxSearch many of our databases and collections as well as from traditional bibliographic sources (journal articles, dissertations, newspapers, etc.). It does not search legal databases.
Law report series may be available in print or electronically.
Print case reporters are located on the law library 1st floor. They include all general and many topical reporters for Canada, as well as some international and foreign reporters too.
- Canadian case citations by CarswellCall Number: KE173 .C434ISBN: 11926813Publication Date: 1992-2014Part of the Canadian Abridgment - get standardized case names, available citations of decisions, case histories and judicial treatments.
Administrative Bodies
Different levels of government authorize Officials, Agencies, Boards, Commissions and Tribunals. These quasi-judicial bodies often make their decisions available through their own websites. The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) also makes decisions from some boards accessible for free on the internet.
Administrative decisions may also be found using Westlaw or Lexis Advance Quicklaw. Look for links in the Searching Online Databases for Cases box.
- CanLII This link opens in a new windowCanLII, is a non-profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to provide Open Access, freely accessible primary legal material, including court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
Legal citation
For help understanding citations and information about citing cases please go to the Legal Citation Quick Reference Guide:
- Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation This link opens in a new windowThe Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (McGill Guide) from Westlaw Canada allows users to quickly search for information, easily link between information in the chapters and the corresponding information in the appendices, and annotate and highlight your electronic copy. The 9th edition provides an enhanced focus on citing online resources, including instruction on: archiving internet sources; parallel citations to online resources; digital object identifiers; citing materials from online databases; citing other types of online materials, such as PDF documents, podcasts, blog posts, online video; and citing social media posts. This edition also elaborates on citation of various parliamentary papers, including debates, order papers, sessional papers, and reports, and expands the coverage on how to cite international materials including regulations, directives and decisions of the European Union, as well as Talmudic Law.
For help interpreting abbreviations, we suggest the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations:
- Cardiff Index to Legal AbbreviationsSearch for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States, including those covering international and comparative law. A wide selection of major foreign language law publications is also included. Publications from over 295 jurisdictions are featured in the Index.The database mainly covers law reports and law periodicals but some other legal publications are also included. The Index is under continuous development with new abbreviations and titles being added on a regular basis.
- Last Updated: Sep 3, 2024 2:44 PM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/Canadiancases
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