Canadian Case Law

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Table of contents:

1.   Case citations
2.   Current case law
3.   Cases judicially considered
4.   Statutes judicially considered
5.   Rules judicially considered
6.   Words and phrases
7.   Quantums

The following list, compiled by the British Columbia Court House Library Society, has been edited to include only those publications available in Simon Fraser University Library.

Generally, the Canadian encyclopedic digest, with its clear subject arrangement and methods of updating, is a first class research tool. Similarly, Dominion report service is an excellent source for cases before 1990. Most law reports have cumulated indexes with many of the same features as the Abridgment: tables of cases, digests of cases, cases considered, statutes considered, rules considered, words and phrases considered.

The arrangement of the list that follows corresponds to the components of the Abridgment, Canadian current law and Canadian citations.

1. Case citations

Case citations : Law reports

Check the "table of cases" in index volumes to various subject and regional law reports, for example:

British Columbia law reports (B.C.L.R.) : KEB 104 B751

Canadian criminal cases (C.C.C.) : KE 8805.8 C35

Criminal reports (C.R.) : KE 8805.8 C75

Reports of family law (R.F.L.) : HQ 559 R47

Western weekly reports (W.W.R.) : KE 156.2 W4

Online access to these and other law reports is available through LawSource

Case Citations : Loose-leaf services

Consult the "table of cases" in various loose-leaf services, for example:

2. Current case law

Current case law : Canada. Supreme Court

All of these law reports are extensively indexed by Supreme Court of Canada reports services, 2d ed. (Bennett Reference KE 140.3 S85). Access to the three series of Supreme Court of Canada reports is either by subject or by case name.

An online source of Supreme Court of Canada judgements from 1985 is available at the Université de Montréal (http://scc.lexum.org/en/).

Recently released Supreme Court of Canada Cases are available in LawSource

Current case law : Law reports

Consult the digests of cases in current volumes and paper parts of various subject and regional law reports, as listed above.

Current case law : Loose-leaf services

Consult the loose-leaf services for a particular subject area, for example:

See also Canadian family law guide for an electronic version of this resource, available through the Lexis Nexis Database

3. Cases judicially considered

A brief note about the workings of the "annotations" section of the indexes of the various law reports:

The purpose of the annotations is twofold: first, to indicate the disposition of all appeals, including applications for leave to appeal, from any decision published in preceding volumes of law reports; and, secondly, to show all the occasions on which any case published in the law reports has been judicially considered in any subsequently reported case in any jurisdiction in Canada, and the nature of that consideration, i.e., followed or not followed, approved or disapproved, applied or distinguished, etc.

The format of the annotations has been designed on the assumption that the user knows the correct citation by volume and page number. On this assumption, no case names appear in the annotations section of the index. Instead, the cases are presented simply by reference to the volume and page number on which each one starts, chronologically through the law report series. The reader should to turn to the appropriate volume heading and the particular page number in that volume on which the case starts and will find there all the annotations to the case under consideration. For convenience, information concerning appeals is, in each case, given first even though the appeal(s) may have been reported after some, or even all, of the judicial considerations of the case.

Cases Judicially Considered : Law reports

Check the "cases considered" section of the indexes to the various subject and regional law reports, as listed above.

4. Statutes judicially considered

Statutes judicially considered : Law reports

Consult the "statutes considered" section of the indexes of various subject and regional law reports, as listed above.

Statutes judicially considered : Loose-leaf services

Consult specialized loose-leaf services such as the following:

5. Rules judicially considered

Check the "rules considered" section of the indexes to various subject and regional law reports, as listed on page 1.

6. Words and phrases

Consult the "words and phrases considered" section of the indexes to various subject and regional law reports, as listed above.

7. Quantums

Quantums specify the amount of compensation given to a party, or in the case of criminal law, the sentence imposed. This latin word literally translates to of what size or amount.

Quantums: Personal injury

Quantums: Personal injury and death

Quantums: Sentencing