Public Safety & Police Studies: How to Read Legal Citations

Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, s. 745 (WLeC)

A correct legal citation of a regulation consists of the below-numbered parts:

1. Title. The title of the enabling act is optional.

2. Jurisdiction. The abbreviations below signify " Consolidated Regulations of Canada" and "Revised Regulations of Ontario".

3. Year. Immediately after the jurisdiction. A comma follows the year.

4. Number. Regulation number.

Federal Regulation Example:

Canada Corporations Regulations, C.R.C. 1978, c.424, s. 23 (revised)

Ontario Regulation Example:

Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspections, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 575 (revised)

A correct legal citation of a statute consists of the below-numbered parts:

1. Title.  This is the title of the statute, followed by a comma. Use the short title of the act.

2. Volume. Cite the Revised Statutes as in the above example or cite annual volumes as S.C. No comma follows. The abbreviations  below signify "Revised Statutes of Canada" and "Revised Statutes of Ontario."

3. Year. Immediately after the jurisdiction. A comma follows the year.

4. Chapter. Abbreviate to a lower-case "c" followed by a period.

5. Alpha-numeric Designation. The letter is drawn obviously from the title of the statute. Federal statutes are noted with a hyphen (I-21).

6. Section Numbers. Abbreviate section to "s." and sections to "ss". Place a comma after the alphanumeric designation if you are citing a section.

Federal Statute Citation Example:

  Interpretation Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-21, s.1

Ontario Statute Citation Example:

Boundaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.B.10 I-21, s.3(1)