The Canadian Citation Committee is an ad hoc group formed to support the standardization efforts of the Judges Technology Advisory Committee (JTAC) of the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC). The members volunteer their time to produce useful standards for the Canadian legal community.

This Website, hosted by LexUM, presents the CCC standards to the legal community and provides various documentary resources to make their implementation easier.

The present works of the CCC are made possible through the financial support of the following organizations:

• Judges Technology Advisory Committee of the Canadian Judicial Council
• LexUM Legal Informatics Laboratory, Law Faculty, Université de Montréal

As of May 2008, the Committee is reviewing and consolidating the 3 standards described above into a single document. This work is expected to be completed by August 2008. The final document will be posted on this website.

Uniform Case Naming Guidelines (2006)

These guidelines are intended to be used by court personnel to prepare the case name that is assigned to a decision along with its neutral citation.

• Uniform Case Naming Guidelines - Complete text: [HTML] [PDF];
• Lists of public entities - A companion resource to the Guidelines: [HTML];

The Canadian Guide to the Uniform Preparation of Judgments (2002)

Approved in September 2002 by the CJC, this guide replaces the Standards for the Preparation, Distribution and Citation of Canadian Judgments in Electronic Form (CJC, 1996). Like its predecessor, it provides Canadian courts with guidelines for preparing and distributing their electronic judgments.

• Canadian Guide to the Uniform Preparation of Judgments - Complete text: [HTML] [PDF];
• Executive summary - a two pages overview of the Guide: [HTML] [PDF];
• The Preparation of Documents for Electronic Distribution - this document describes how to minimise confidential metadata and to properly insert graphical objects in documents before their electronic distribution: [HTML] [PDF];
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - questions and answers about the Guide: [HTML];
• Web page of the Guide - [HTML].

The Neutral Citation Standard for Case Law (1999)

Approved in June 1999 by the CJC, this standard provides courts with a case citation that does not depend on their publication in printed case law reports.

• Neutral Citation Standard for Case Law - the complete text of the standard: [HTML];
• Summary - a quick reference tool to the standard: [HTML];
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - questions and answers about the standard: [HTML];
• Implementation Guide - a set of instructions helping judges and court administrators implementing the Neutral Citation Standard: [HTML];
• Web page of the standard - everything about the standard, its implementation by Canadian courts, a press review, archives, etc.: [HTML].

Foreign similar organizations

• Australian Institute of Judicial Administration (Australia)
• Legal Information Standards Council (Australia)
• Agence pour les technologies de l'information et de la communication dans l'Administration (France)
• Court Service of the Lord Chancellor's Department (U.K.)
• National Center for State Courts (U.S.A.)
• Administrative Office of the United States Courts (U.S.A.)

Other or previous Canadian legal documentation standards

• Decision Numbering System for Canada (January 1988) (CLIC/CBA)
• Standards for Case Identification (May 1990) (CLIC)
• Standards for the Preparation, Distribution of the Canadian Judgments in Electronic Form (May 1996) (CJC)
• Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 6^th edition (McGill Law Journal)

Foreign papers on legal documentation standards

• "The official Version" - A National Summit To Solve the Problems of Authenticating, Preserving and Citing Legal Information in Digital Form, Canadian Association of Law Librairies (CALL/ACBD) / Citation (CALL / ACBD)
• Case Law Citation in Canada: Proposals for Reform, CALL National Summit, November 1997, Toronto (Martin Felsky)
• Guide to Uniform Production of Judgments (2nd edition) by Justice Trevor Olsson (1999) (Australian Institute of Judicial Administration)
  (See in particular the Sample of Key Information Items in a typical judgment)
• Report and Resolution of the BILETA Citations Workshop held at SCRIPT, University of Edinburgh 11-12 March 2000 (Philip Leith)
• LISC Recommended Standard for Medium Neutral Citation (Legal Information Standards Council - Australia)
• A Uniform Approach for Vendor and Media Neutral Citation - the Australian Experience (Andrew Mombray)
• Universal Citation Guide Draft (American Association of Law Libraries)
• Official Citation Resolutions (American Bar Association)
• Public Domain Legal Citations - United States Judicial Conference (Consumer Project on Technology)

Canadian judicial

Links below point to what information is currently available on the Web about each Canadian jurisdiction's court system. Links point to departments of Justice when no description of the court system is available.

• General information: Canadian courts (from Quicklaw), Canadian Justice System (Canada Justice)
• Federal: Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court of Canada, Tax Court of Canada, Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada
• British Columbia: British Columbia Superior Courts, Provincial Court of British Columbia
• Alberta: Alberta Courts
• Saskatchewan: Courts of Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Justice), Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
• Manitoba: Manitoba Courts
• Ontario: Guide to Ontario courts
• Quebec: The Courts of Quebec
• New Brunswick: New Brunswick Department of Justice
• Prince Edward Island: Prince Edward Island Courts
• Nova Scotia: The Courts of Nova Scotia
• Newfoundland and Labrador: Law Courts
• Yukon: Courts (Yukon Department of Justice)
• North West Territories: Court services (Department of Justice)
• Nunavut: Nunavut Court of Justice