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• Introduction
  
  
• 1.1 What is Uniform Legal Citation?
  
  
• 1.2 Content + Form = Function
  
  
• 1.3 Citing Legal Sources: General Rules
  
  
• 1.4 Citing Legal Sources: Footnotes
  
  
• 1.5 Secondary Source Citations
  
  
• 1.6 Legal Encyclopedia Citations
  
  
• 1.7 Periodical Abbreviations
  
  
• Activity
  
  
• 1.8 Legal Periodical Citations
  
  
• 1.9 Government Document Citations: Non-parliamentary government documents
  
  
• 1.10 Legal Dictionary Citations
  
  
• 1.11 Bill Citations
  
  
• 1.12 Statute Citations
  
  
• 1.13 Federal Regulations
  
  
• 1.14 Provincial Regulations Citations
  
  
• Activity
  
  
• 1.15 Case Citations
  
  
• 1.16 The Style of Cause
  
  
• 1.17 The Neutral Citation
  
  
• 1.18 The Core Citation or Printed Reporter
  
  
• 1.19 The Parallel Citation
  
  
• 1.20 Putting the Components of Case Citation Together
  
  
• Review and Conclusion
  
  

Legal Citations – Content + Form = Function

IMPORTANT: This module is meant to be completed in conjunction with the McGill Guide (see below for more information). A few versions of the McGill Guide are on Reserve at the circulation desk in the Brian Dickson Law Library, and in the Reference section. However, purchasing your own personal copy is highly recommended.

Without proper content and form, a legal citation is next to useless. In order to direct a researcher to the source cited, some basic information is required.

• First of all, the researcher needs to know what kind of source is being referred to.
  • Is the author quoting a passage from a case or a textbook, or is it a section from a statute?
  • The Brian Dickson Law Library, like most other libraries, is divided into discrete areas for books, periodicals, and statutes. Though many sources you use will be online, the citation should still be able to lead people to the print version if possible. So, you cannot possibly start to track down a source until you know what kind of source it is!
• To determine the nature of the source cited, look at the form of the citation.
  • Whether the author is citing a textbook, a journal article, a case, or a piece of legislation, the form of the citation is indicative of the source's nature.
    EXAMPLE 1: The title of a textbook is always italicized (underlined if writing by hand).
    EXAMPLE 2: The title of a journal article is always in "quotation marks”, while the title of the periodical itself is often abbreviated.
    EXAMPLE 3: The title of a case (the "style of cause”) is italicized (underlined if writing by hand) and the names of the parties are separated by an italicized "v” ("and” if read aloud).

Various other nuances between citation forms let you easily identify the nature of the document being cited. So, begin to familiarize yourself with the different types of legal material and their respective citation forms.

While the form of a citation indicates what kind of source is being cited, the content indicates where that source can be located.

• Depending on the type of source, the required content may vary.
  EXAMPLE 1: To locate a journal article, you need to know the name of the periodical in which it was published.
  EXAMPLE 2: To find the correct version of a textbook on contract law, you need to know the author's name and the edition number.
  EXAMPLE 3: To locate a piece of legislation, you need, at the very least, the title and jurisdiction.
• Some citations include information that is not required to locate the source but is very helpful nonetheless.
  EXAMPLE: By looking at a case citation, you can easily determine which court handed down the judgment (i.e. Court of Appeal, Federal Court, etc.).

As you become more familiar with legal citation, you will be able to adduce more information from the citations themselves.

• Try to isolate and identify the different components of the citations you come across.
• Try to determine what kind of source the author is citing and ask yourself where you might locate that source.