Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (9th Ed.)

In legal writing, the standard way to cite is to use footnotes. In-text citations are only used for memorandums and factums. Properly citing your sources allows readers to follow up and learn more if they are interested, gives credit to the original authors and helps avoid plagiarism (learn more on MacEwan's Academic Integrity page). Make sure that your sources are included in footnotes or citations throughout your paper and in a bibliography at the end of your paper.

McGill Guide footnote guidelines are detailed below.

• Cases
• Statutes and Regulations
• Government Documents
• Encyclopedic Digests
• Articles
• Books
• Electronic Sources

The general form of a jurisprudence citation footnote is, Style of cause, | main citation | pinpoint, | parallel citation | [short form]. The short form is based on the surname of one of the parties or something distinctive in the style of cause, and you do not have to include the short form title in your bibliography entry.

Cases with neutral citations:

Cases without a neutral citation:

Cases that include the case history:

The general form of a statute citation footnote is, Title, | statute volume | jurisdiction | year, | chapter, | other indexing elements, | (session or supplement), | pinpoint, | [short form]. If there is an official short title for the statute, the initial citation only needs the short title. If the statute does not have an official short title or the title is too long, then you can create a unique short form title that you include at the end of the citation.

When citing regulations, it is mandatory to include the title of the regulation if it is a Consolidated Regulation of Canada. It is recommended, but not mandatory, to include the title of the regulation at the beginning of all regulation citations. The general form of a regulation citation footnote is, Title, | jurisdiction | number/year* | pinpoint, | [short form if needed]. Canadian revised regulations and Quebec regulations follow a different format (see McGill Guide for more information).

*The order of the regulation number and year differs between jurisdictions.

Statute with an official short title:

Statute without an official short title:

Regulation:

The general format for citing parliamentary papers is: Jurisdiction, | legislature, | title, | legislative session, | volume | number | (date) | pinpoint | (speaker). 

You do not have to include provincial jurisdiction and the legislature if it is already included in the document title. Only indicate Canada as the federal jurisdiction when you are also citing international materials. Note that legislature and session numbers are noted as follows: 19-2 refers to the 19th Legislature and 2nd Session. If a volume number and speaker name are given, include them in the citation in the places indicated above.

The general format for citing non-parliamentary papers is: Jurisdiction, | issuing body, | title, | (type of document), | other information | (publication information) | pinpoint.

Parliamentary papers:

Non-parliamentary papers:

The format for citing encyclopedic digests changes depending on which digest is being cited. Below are citation examples from two of the more common encyclopedic digests, the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest and Halsbury's Laws of Canada.

Canadian Encyclopedic Digest:

Print: CED | (series | edition), | volume, | title | section.

Online Edition: CED | edition | (online), | subject matter | (series), | "detailed subject heading & sub-headings" | (CED subheading code) | section.

Halsbury's Laws of Canada:

Print: Halsbury's Laws of Canada, | volume, | subject matter | section | (update).

Online Edition: Halsbury's Laws of Canada (online), | subject matter, | "detailed subject heading & subheadings" | (subheading code) | section | update.

The general format for citing legal journals is: Author, | "title of article" | (year) | volume: | issue | abbreviation of journal | page | pinpoint | (electronic service). If there are more than three authors for an article, include et al. after the first author's name.

Single author:

Multiple authors:

The general format for citing books is: Author, | title, | edition | other elements | (place of publication: | publisher, | year of publication) | pinpoint | (electronic service). If there are more than three authors for a book, include et al. after the first author's name.

Single author:

Multiple authors:

Websites:

Author, | "title of the page/article" | (date of the page/article), | online: | title of the website | <URL> | [archived URL].

PDFs: 

Author, | "title of the page/article" | (date of the page/article) | pinpoint, | online (pdf): | title of the website | <URL> | [archived URL].

Social media:

Author, | "first sentence of post" | (date posted), | other information, | online: | social medium | <URL>.

Other digital media:

Traditional citation, | type of digital media: | title of the media | (publication information).