In 1992, the Internet was in its infancy — with barely three websites in all of Canada. It was in this pioneering context that Lexum, in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Canada, took on the bold challenge of making justice accessible online.
The launch of Canada’s first legal website was not merely a technological achievement; it marked a historic turning point in the dissemination of legal information, paving the way for free and open access to case law for all.
Bringing Canadian Justice into the Digital Age
Before the 1990s, accessing Supreme Court decisions was slow, costly, and complex.
Decisions were mostly only available in paper format at the court registry or through paid subscriptions to the Canada Supreme Court Reports, often published months after the rulings. Access to electronic versions was the privilege of those having subscribed to CD-ROMs services from commercial publishers.
Legal professionals — both creators and users of legal information — needed quick, reliable, and affordable access to decisions from the country’s highest court.
Lexum, then a research lab at the University of Montreal, partnered with the Supreme Court of Canada to usher in a new era of open access to justice.
Making Supreme Court decisions accessible to all.
The goal was bold for the time: provide fast, free, and universal access to Supreme Court of Canada decisions — at a time when having access to a single decision in electronic format could cost hundreds of dollars.
A Pioneering Platform for Canadian Jurisprudence
In 1992, Lexum launched the first legal website in Canada: a platform providing free access to recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada.
This visionary project became not only the world’s first bilingual legal website but also a major milestone in the digital transformation of legal information.
Over time, the platform’s scope expanded to include:
- All Supreme Court decisions since its creation in 1877;
- Applications for leave to appeal decisions since 2006;
- All official Supreme Court Reports;
- Bulletins and news releases since the mid-1990.
Home page of the “Decisions and Resources” section of the Supreme Court of Canada website, featuring a centralized search tool and access to the most recent judgments and leave to appeal applications.
The decisions are published in accessible HTML and PDF formats, and enriched with advanced search capabilities:
- Search by case name, date, neutral citation, subject, or Supreme Court Reports volume;
- Immediate access to newly published decisions;
- Easy browsing of press releases and court bulletins.
The Supreme Court Judgments section allows users to browse decisions by year and access complete judgments, including neutral citations and official reports.
This project positioned the Supreme Court and Lexum at the forefront of the open access to law movement in Canada, reshaping how lawyers, students, and citizens access jurisprudence.
“The Supreme Court of Canada has always valued its partnership with Lexum, which placed us among the first appellate courts to make our judgments available online. We appreciate Lexum’s responsiveness in improving the site and enhancing its search capabilities, especially the interactivity between judgments.”
— Supreme Court of Canada
Ongoing Innovation with Norma
Since 2012, the Supreme Court decisions site has been powered by Norma, Lexum’s all-in-one platform for the online publication of judicial and administrative decisions.
Norma provides a modern, scalable, and highly automated infrastructure that ensures continuous content updates and reliable long-term service.
The Canada Supreme Court Reports provide the official reported versions of the Court’s judgments in both official languages, ensuring reliable and lasting access to Canadian jurisprudence.
In 2015, a historic milestone was reached. All decisions published in the Supreme Court Reports since 1877 became available online, representing:
+10,300 decisions and 187,000 digitized pages
A Global Benchmark for Legal Information Access
Today, the Supreme Court of Canada decisions site stands as:
- A global reference for open access to case law;
- A vital resource for legal professionals, judges, students, and citizens;
- A reliable, bilingual platform that’s entirely free and unrestricted.
A Measurable Impact
The benefits of enhanced access to the Supreme Court case law are clear. In September 2025 alone:
- 244,750 unique visitors;
- 483,592 unique page views;
- 28,646 searches performed on the platform;
- 19,823 unique files downloads.
These figures demonstrate not only sustained traffic but also the site’s active role in the daily work of legal professionals.
Access the Supreme Court of Canada decisions at:
decisions.scc-csc.ca
