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Library guides
Case law - Canada - Free sources
Case law - Canada - Subscription sources
Case law - International

Case law can be found in both free and subscription online sources. The main body of the case law content should be the identical for both free and subscription sources.

However, subscription sources provide descriptive headnotes describing the case law, plus more value-added features such as tools for finding case law by topic or noting up a case. They also provide a deeper backfile of case law and other decisions.

New for 2022: CanLII is now providing AI-generated subjects (e.g., conviction, criminal, residential tenancies, rights and freedoms, etc.) for case law from select provinces. Watch for further developments from CanLII.

Library guides

This page provides quick links to case law databases. For more in-depth help, please see these research guides:

Case law - Canada - Free sources

CanLII -- Canadian case law and legislation
- For older cases not yet available in CanLII, try specific court websites, such as:
  - Federal Court of Canada (1972 - )
  - Exchequer Court of Canada* (1891 -) via the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs

* =predecessor to the Federal Court of Canada

Case law - Canada - Subscription sources

Westlaw Next Canada -- contains LawSource, CriminalSource, and former BestCase content.
QuickLaw -- Canadian law reports

Case law - International

WorldLII - links to open access sources for legal research across the world, including other LII sites
For United States case law, please view our guide to US Legal Research