In view of bringing about the advent in Canada of a vendor- and media- neutral case citation standard, a number of specialists and other actors in the law field in Canada met in Montreal August 11th, 1997, to work out a proposal of such a standard for comments. The meeting was held at the Centre de recherche en droit public of the University of Montreal at the invitation of professor Daniel Poulin, director of LexUM.

Judging that a case citation standard will allow:

• faster dissemination of case law, electronic publishing and citation of judgements being possible at the moment of their release by tribunals;
• development of a unambiguous mode of designation of Canadian case law both for paper and electronic publishing;
• more precise reference to elements of decisions through paragraph numbering;
• more harmonious development of dissemination of Canadian case law through the availability to all actors in the law field of a common mode of reference;
• the production of cheaper documentary tools that will also be easier to use for jurists, researchers and citizens generally,

We hereby propose that the development of a case citation standard incorporating the following features be considered by all actors in the Canadian legal world :

1. The year of publication of the decision;
2. An identification code unique to each tribunal;
3. A sequence number;
4. A paragraph number attributed by the tribunal.

Thus, instead of : we would get : or, more succinctly : and even :

R. c. Evans, [1996] 1 R.C.S. 8      R. c. Evans, 1996 SCA 3, 16                           (1)     (2) (3) (4)      1996 SCA 3, 16      1996SCA3-16        which is better suited to computers.

More traditional parallel citations will be maintained to allow for a progressive transition to the new standard :

R. c. Evans, 1996 SCA 3, 16; [1996] 1 R.C.S., 18

Aware of the importance of gathering a large consensus for the success of the development and the adoption of an adequate and useful case law citation standard, the undersigned will promote discussion of such a standard project, developing their proposition and working with all interested parties to promote its growing acceptance.

Montreal, August 11, 1997

Signed :

Diane BOURQUE, Federation of Law Societies of Canada Daniel BOYER, Canadian Association of Law Libraries Martin FELSKY, Integer/Actif and Legal Research Network Guy HUARD, LexUM, Centre de Recherche en Droit Public, Université de Montréal Chantal LAMARRE, Les Éditions Yvon Blais, Carswell Denis MARSHALL, Canadian Association of Law Libraries Daniel POULIN, LexUM, Centre de Recherche en Droit Public, Université de Montréal Ruth RINTOUL, QL Systems