Case Law
As the number of judges and cases increased, recording decisions became necessary because it was getting difficult to remember all the decisions that had been made. Because court decisions are recorded, common law became known as case law and allowed courts to look back a similar cases from the past to help guide their decisions in the present – these precious cases provided precedents that could be used as reference points to ensure continuity in the enforcement of law.
Each recorded case is given a title, called a citation:
A citation is a case title that lists basic information:
-who is involved in a case
-Whether the case is public or private (civil)
-the year the court decision was reached
-Which court the case appeared in
-the name of the law reporter in which the decision appears
-the year and page number where the decision can be found
CITATIONSCriminal Citation: R. v. Bates (2000), 35 C.R. (5th) 327 (Ont. C.A.)
Breakdown of components in a criminal citation
R. / v. / Bates / (2000), / 35 / C.R. / (5th) / 327 / (Ont. C.A.)
Regina or Rex (Latin for Queen and king) represents us - society / versus (Latin for ‘against’) / defendant (accused) / year of court decision / volume number / Name of reporter where case is reported (eg. Criminal Reports) / series / page number / jurisdiction (federal, province, or territory) and court (eg. Ontario Court of Appeal)
Civil Citation: Langille et al v. McGrath (2000), 233 N.B.R. (2d) 29 (N.B.Q.B.)
Breakdown of components in a civil citation
Langille et al / v. / McGrath / (2000), / 233 / N.B.R. / (2d) / 29 / (N.B.Q.B.)
plaintiff and others (Latin et alia for “and others) / versus (Latin for ‘against’) / defendant (accused) / year of court decision / volume number / Name of reporter where case is reported (eg. New Brunswick Reports) / series / page number / jurisdiction (federal, province, or territory) and court (eg. New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench)