Practice Directions
Practitioners submitting materials for court must follow the appropriate guidelines. These are described in the court practice directions, which differ by court. Many practice directions use a variation of McGill style but may have important differences, such as a requirement for citations to include hyperlinks, neutral citations, or additional information such as date accessed.
Practice directions may include specific guidance on creating a book of authorities to accompany submissions. This is a reference list and copy of the materials relied upon in submissions; courts sometimes provide a list of often-cited resources with specific instructions.
OSCOLA
The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is a citation format used in the UK and internationally.
- OSCOLA webpageThe official site of the OSCOLA guide includes a quick reference guide, FAQ, Zotero information, and links to tutorials.
- York Guide to OSCOLAThis short guide from the University of York, UK, provides examples of OSCOLA citations.
COAL-RJAL
The Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL), was created to better meet the needs of Canadian legal writers and researchers and with the goal of creating a citation guide that will be accessible to everyone, via an open access publishing model. The English version of the guide is now available via CanLii.
Please note that COAL-RJAL is a citation guide, "not a style guide and does not provide instructions on formatting or writing style. Writers should consult instructions provided by the relevant court, agency, school, journal, or other organization for rules on formatting and writing style".
