Find Canadian Case Law - McMaster Libraries

A Case is:

a decision a judge renders after hearing all of the arguments in a dispute. The decision may include a lot of detail about the case (key facts, witnesses, etc.), but it does not generally include a script of the actual testimony.
Decisions are published in case-law reporters. Some reporters focus on a specific subject (e.g., criminal cases). Others focus on a specific jurisdiction (e.g., Ontario cases regardless of the subject).
Not all cases are reported. Significant cases can, however, be published in more than one reporter.
Case-law reporters are commonly cited by their abbreviations (e.g., C.R.R. stands for the Canadian Rights Reporter).

Three Ways to Find Citations to Cases

Note key cases cited in footnotes and bibliographies of books and articles on your topic.

Browse indexes to the key case law reporters in your subject area (see the accompanying list).

Use a case digesting service. Examples include:

*Canadian Abridgment*	MILLS Periodicals	KE 173.C35
*Canadian Charter of Rights Annotated*	MILLS Reference	KE 4381 .A29C36
Brown & Beatty's *Canadian Labour Arbitration*	INNIS Reference	KE 3206 .B7

Canadian Case Law Reporters at McMaster

Case Law Reporter	Online Format		Paper Format
Case Law Reporter	Coverage	Access via	Coverage	Location / Call No.
Alberta Civil Decisions cited as: Alta. D.	1979-2007	BestCase	-	-
Alberta Criminal Decisions cited as: Alta. D. Crim.	1979-2007	BestCase	-	-
Alberta Judgments cited as: A.J.	1954-	LexisNexis	-	-
All Canada Weekly Summaries & Decisions cited as: A.C.W.S.	1977-	BestCase	-	-
British Columbia. Civil Decisions cited as: B.C.D. Civ.	1977-	BestCase	-	-
British Columbia Criminal Decisions cited as: B.C.D. Crim.	1977-2007	BestCase	-	-
British Columbia Labour Arbitration Decisions cited as: B.C.D.L.A.	1982-	BestCase	-	-
British Columbia Labour Relations Board Decisions cited as: B.C.L.R.B.	1979-	BestCase	-	-
British Columbia and Yukon Judgments cited as: B.C.J. and Y.J.	B.C., 1867- Yukon, 1970-	LexisNexis	-	-
Canada Industrial Relations Board cited as: C.I.R.B.	-	-	1975-2001	MILLS GovPubs CA1 L 100-A56
Canadian Criminal Cases cited as: C.C.C.	1898-	BestCase	-	-
Canadian Human Rights Reporter cited as: C.H.R.R.	1980-	CHRR Online	1980-2004	MILLS Periodicals KE 4381 .A6C3
Canadian Labour Arbitration Summaries & Decisions cited as: C.L.A.S.	1986-	BestCase	-	-
Canadian Labour Law Cases cited as: C.L.L.C.	1946-	BusinessWorks	-	-
Canadian Labour Relations Board Reports cited as: C.L.R.B.R.	-	-	1974 -	MILLS Periodicals KE .C4
Canadian Rights Reporter cited as: C.R.R.	-	-	1982-	MILLS Periodicals JC 599 .C3C36
Charter of Rights Decisions cited as: C.R.D.	1961-2007	BestCase	-	-
Criminal Reports cited as: C.R.	-	-	1967-1992	MILLS Periodicals KE .C752
Dominion Law Reports cited as: D.L.R.	1912-	DLR Plus BestCase	1912-2008	MILLS Periodicals K .D65
Exchequer Court Reports cited as: Ex. C.R.	1877-1971	LexisNexis	1875-1970	MILLS GovPubs CA1 J 41-C13
Federal Court of Appeal Decisions cited as: F.C.A.D.	1980-1999	BestCase	-	-
Federal Court of Canada cited as: F.C.A. (Appeal Division) cited as: F.C.T. (Trial Division) cited as: Fed. Ct. Appeal and Fed. Ct. Trial in LexisNexis	1997-2004	CanLII: (Appeal Division) CanLII: (Trial Division) LexisNexis	-	-
Federal Court Judgments cited as: F.C.J.	1/1971- 6/1999	LexisNexis	-	-
Federal Court Reports cited as: F.C. , C.F. and F.C.R.	1990- 1992 - 1971 -	Federal Court of Canada Federal Judicial Affairs LexisNexis	1971-	MILLS GovPubs CA1 J 65-F21
Jugements du Quebec cited as: J.Q.	1973-	LexisNexis	-	-
Labour Arbitration Cases cited as: L.A.C.	1948-	BestCase	1948-2001	MILLS Periodicals HD 5507 .L2
Land Compensation Reports	1971-	BestCase	-	-
The Lawyers Weekly Digests cited as: T.L.W.D.	1986-	LexisNexis	-	-
Manitoba Civil Decisions cited as: Man. D.	1978-1999	BestCase	-	-
Manitoba Criminal Decisions cited as: Man. D. Crim.	1978-1999	BestCase	-	-
Manitoba Judgments cited as: M.J.	1960-	LexisNexis	-	-
NAFTA Panel Review Decisions	1995-	LexisNexis	-	-
New Brunswick Judgments cited as: N.B.J.	1995-	LexisNexis	-	-
Newfoundland and Labrador Judgments cited as: N.J.	1952-	LexisNexis	-	-
Nova Scotia Judgments cited as: N.S.J.	1969-	LexisNexis	-	-
Ontario Judgments cited as: O.J.	1823-	LexisNexis	-	-
Ontario Labour Relations Board Reports cited as: O.L.R.B.R.	2000 -	CanLII	1961-	MILLS GovPubs CA2 ON LR-054
Ontario Municipal Board Reports cited as: O.M.B.R.	1972-	BestCase	1982-2008	MILLS Periodicals KEO 866.4 .M86
Ontario Reports cited as: O.R.	1931-	LexisNexis	1901-1959 (microcard) 1960 -	MILLS Periodicals KE. O62a
Pay Equity Reports cited as: P.E.R.	1990-	Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal	1990-	MILLS GovPubs CA2 ON L270-P22
Prince Edward Island Judgments cited as: P.E.I.J.	1908-	LexisNexis	-	-
Privy Council Judgments	1873-1959	LexisNexis	-	-
Public Service Labour Relations Board cited as: P.S.L.R.B. formerly Public Service Staff Relations Board cited as: P.S.S.R.B.	1996-	Public Service Labour Relations Board	1982-2004	MILLS GovPubs CA1 CS 25-D21
Recueil des decisions des Cour federales cited as: F.C.R. and R.C.F.	1971-	LexisNexis	1971-	MILLS GovPubs CA1 J 65-F21
Saskatchewan Civil Decisions cited as: Sask. D.	1980-2007	BestCase	-	-
Saskatchewan Criminal Decisions cited as: Sask. D. Crim.	1980-2007	BestCase	-	-
Saskatchewan Judgments cited as: S.J.	1959 -	LexisNexis	-	-
Supreme Court of Canada Decisions cited as: S.C.C.D.	1978 -	BestCase	-	-
Supreme Court of Canada Judgments cited as: S.C.J.	Current only 1983-	LexisNexis Supreme Court of Canada	-	-
Supreme Court Reports cited as: S.C.R.	1930's 1876-	CanLII LexisNexis	1867-	MILLS GovPubs CA1 J21 - L16
Tax Court of Canada Judgments cited as: T.C.C.	1996- 1986- 1996-	CanLII LexisNexis Tax Court of Canada	-	-
Weekly Criminal Bulletin Decisions cited as: W.C.B.	1977-	BestCase	-	-
Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal Reporter cited as: W.S.I.A.T. Reporter formerly Workers' Compensation Appeals Tribunal Reporter cited as: W.C.A.T. Reporter	1985-	Workplace Safety & Insurance Appeals Tribunal	1990-	MILLS GovPubs CA2ONL 250-R27