Citation of Canadian legislation

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Citation of Canadian legislation is the system of citing Canadian statutes and regulations in court decisions, briefs of law, and articles in law journals. The purpose of a citation is to allow the reader to understand the source of the legislative principle being cited, and to find the law in question. It is a type of legal citation, namely a "reference to a legal precedent or authority, such as a case, statute, or treatise, that either substantiates or contradicts a given position".^[1]

The Canadian citation system covers the primary laws enacted by the Parliament of Canada and the provincial and territorial legislatures. The citation system also applies to secondary legislation, such as regulations. The format for citations is generally similar across Canada, but there are some differences in particular cases.

Canadian statutes were originally published solely in book form, so statute citation methods have traditionally been based on the physical book in which the statutory provision can be found. With the expansion of internet publishing, statutes are now published mainly online, and in some jurisdictions, the online publication is official. However, the statute citation methods still tend to be based on the model of a physical book, in some cases with additional provisions to show the electronic source of a statute.