If you are keeping legal case information or using case reference in your report, you need to learn how to cite a legal case. It is also expected that you are going to create the citation for the first time. For that, you, of course, need someone expert’s guide.
There are many options like APA format, Italicized, volume number, and all that for which you might become confused. Therefore, to help you out with all these, we are giving a complete guide to it.
Before that, let us know the importance of citation for which you should create it.
What are the Benefits to Cite a Legal Case
Citation is very much necessary not only in legal cases but also in educational purposes and documents. Legal citation is actually a standard language of special terms and abbreviations that allows one author to mention experienced lawyer to follow the references.
Therefore, we are providing some of the benefits of legal case citation below:
- The documents will remain safe in a single link.
- Nobody can be able to change it or say anything on their own.
- Anybody can get the idea of a case anytime.
- Additionally, the reader can also know about different sections for different cases.
- A lawyer can use the reference in his case.
How to Cite a Legal Case?
There are a few things you need to cite a legal case. And also, all the information should be correct. If you provide any incorrect data by mistake, the link will be created but will not show any detail. So, it will become a severe issue if not done in a peaceful mind.
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To avoid all these, read the below points carefully so that you can be able to prevent such kind of errors afterward.
Information You Need to Cite a Legal Case
You will need some information without which it is impossible to make a citation. Those are as follows:
- Case name (Italicized)
- Year of decision
- Volume number
- Abbreviation of reporter title
- Series
- Page
- Court abbreviation
Where You Can Make the Citation
You do not need any extra effort to make a citation by downloading an additional application. You can simply create it in the Microsoft Word that everyone has on their computer or laptop. Try to avoid smartphones as this device will not be user-friendly in case of creating one.
The mobile phone screen is small, and also you may not find all the options there. As a result, there is a vast possibility of making mistakes.
Procedure for Making Citation
It is already mentioned above that you need MS Word to create a citation. After going to that application, do the following points step by step.
- Open the reference option from the top left corner.
- Choose the style according to your need. Most of the time, the APA format is followed.
- Besides the style option, there is written “Insert Citation.”
- Click here and choose “Add New Sources.”
- There you will find an option of “Type of source.” Set it to the case.
- At last, you will get all the options to fill up the necessary information.
- After you fill it up correctly, an accurate citation will be created.
Here is an example of how a legal citation will look like. Moreover, it might change according to the detail you input.
Where to Find Legal Citations?
You cannot find a citation if you search on Google. So a question might arise in your mind then how you can find. For that, of course, you need the help of Google. Search “Google Scholar” there. Then write the type of case you are looking for. And guess what you will get all the citation cases related to the definite topic.
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Hence, click one of the links, and you may find many of them at a time. Have a look at all of them to find your desired one.
List of Legal Abbreviation
To make the citation, you should know the abbreviations of some terms. We are providing it so that you can have a look.
Federal courts and abbreviations
Court | Abbreviations |
Supreme court of Canada | SCC |
Federal Court | FC |
Federal Court of Appeal | FCA |
Tax Court of Canada | TCC |
Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada | CMAC |
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal | CHRT |
Public Service Labour Relations Board | PSLRB |
Leading case reporters and abbreviations
Case reporter | Abbreviation |
Supreme Court Reports | SCR |
Canadian Criminal Cases | CCC |
Canadian Criminal Reports | CCR |
Ontario Reports | OR |
Rapports Juridiques du Quebec | RJQ |
Dominion Law Reports | DLR |
Finishing Words: Useful Way to Cite a Legal Case
Hopefully, you have learned “How to cite a legal case” with an expert guide. Moreover, you have also known about the benefits of creating a legal case citation and different necessary abbreviations. It is essential for at least a lawyer to learn it to keep pace with the modern world.
Creating a citation will never be hard if you have already read the above information. Also, the students who are studying law should learn it as this will be beneficial for them to get the expert’s idea like the judge and the lawyer. In a country like Canada, it is a great practice.