Wikipedia:WikiProject Canadian law/CaseLawPolicy

This page outlines the general requirements and policy for summaries of Canadian case law as part of the Canadian law Wikiproject.

Case naming conventions

Generally, naming convention for Court decisions should conform to the "style of cause" format of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (in legal circles referred to as the "McGill Guide"). Description of this format can be found in the case citation article. Note that in the style of cause the "v" should be italicized. Since 2010, the McGill Guide specifies that citations do not use full stops in the style of cause or in the reporter names.

Most of the recent Supreme Court decisions have their short "index" title at the beginning of the decision. This form usually conforms to the McGill Guide format, but when in doubt use the shorter or simpler version. Cases that go by nicknames, such as "Patriation Reference", are allowable but proper title is generally preferred where there is no compelling reason to use it. Older case names that use different naming conventions, such as Leary v The Queen, are permissible, especially if they are better known by the older title, otherwise standard format should prevail.

When citing a case within an article, it is permissible to use inline citation to the Supreme Court Reports or neutral citation, but any further sources should be put in a foot note.

Info box

Ideally, programmed infoboxes could be generated for all levels of case law.

Supreme Court

{{Infobox SCC}} should be used to standardize SCC case law and to allow easy edits to the format of all the cases at once. Go to its page for details on how to use it.

Other cases

{{Infobox court case}} can be used for non-SCC case law where necessary.

Content

Citations

The case name should be followed by the neutral citation (if available) then followed by the most official reporter. So for Supreme Court decisions the case should be named as:

Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2005 SCC 35, [2005] 1 S.C.R. 791

All other citations should be put in the infobox or a footnote.

Structure

Typically a summary is divided into four sections.

1. Lead-in: describes the topic of the article, the result of the decision, what was the ratio, and why the decision is important.
2. Background: gives situation and climate before the case came about, and the relevant facts of the case. This may also include the arguments of the parties, the lower court rulings, and the issues before the Supreme Court. However, these points can be put into their own sections if warranted.
3. Opinion of the Court: Gives the majority ruling and the reasoning that was used.
4. Dissent:gives the reasoning behind the dissenting opinions.
5. Aftermath:What was the reaction to the decision.
6. Analysis/Commentary:Usually held for notable observations on the case. Particularly academic opinions of the decision.