LibGuides UFV: Canadian Law: Case Law

What is case law?

One of the two types of primary law, case law is the ever-growing collection of decisions by Canadian judges. Its origins date back hundreds of years to British common law.

Overview of Canadian Case Law (Tjaden)
Another key source of primary Canadian law is case law - the decisions of Canadian judges.

Case Law - Canada

CanLII This link opens in a new window
Access to federal and provincial case law and legislation as well as the decisions from a variety of boards and tribunals.

Supreme Court of Canada homepage
The Supreme Court of Canada is Canada's final court of appeal, the last judicial resort for all litigants, whether individuals or governments. Its jurisdiction embraces both the civil law of the province of Quebec and the common law of the other provinces and territories.
Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada
List of Supreme Court of Canada Cases
Wikipedia page includes lists of cases by each Chief Justice, by author of the judgment, and by year. Also links to list of Privy Council cases, notable lower court, and appeal court cases
Federal Court of Canada Home Page
The Federal Court is Canada's national trial court which hears and decides legal disputes arising in the federal domain, including claims against the Government of Canada, civil suits in federally-regulated areas and challenges to the decisions of federal tribunals. Its authority derives primarily from the Federal Courts Act.
Judgements of the Federal Court of Canada
Lexum Collection (Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada)
Contains the Supreme Court of Canada judgments since 1907 and judgments in leave applications since 2006. The collection is updated within minutes of the public release of the judgments by the Court.
Canadian criminal cases (print)
KE 8806 C36 - Abbotsford

Case Law - British Columbia

Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new window
Canadian court cases, legislation, legal commentary, encyclopedias and more.
Permitted Uses for this Database

BC Provincial Court
This court is the first level of court in British Columbia. The Court's jurisdiction includes criminal, family, child protection, small claims, and traffic cases. Judgements are available from 1999 onwards.
BC Superior Courts
BC Court of Appeal and and BC Supreme Court decisions from 1996 onwards.
Canadian Criminal Cases (print)
KE 8806 C36 - Abbotsford

CanLII This link opens in a new window
CanLII provides open access to Canadian statutes and case law from federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions. Dating from 2000 to present.
Permitted Uses for this Database

Research Databases

The following databases have legal content as well as information on Canadian politics and government.

Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new window
Canadian court cases, legislation, legal commentary, encyclopedias and more.
Permitted Uses for this Database
Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) covers current events, business, science, the arts, education, and social sciences as produced in Canada.
Permitted Uses for this Database
America: History & Life with Full Text (EBSCOHost) This link opens in a new window
Spanning the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present, and contains selective indexing for a substantial number of journals.
Coverage: 1954 to present.
Permitted Uses for this Database
Canadian Major Dailies (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Canadian Major Dailies provides access to full text of over 21 Canadian newspapers, including the Vancouver Sun and Globe & Mail. 2-day embargo on selected titles.
Permitted Uses for this Database
CPI-Q (Canadian Periodicals) This link opens in a new window
Canadian-focused journals, magazines, newspapers (including local B.C. newspapers), and reference sources.
Coverage: 1980 to present.
Permitted Uses for this Database
Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text (EBSCOHost) This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic records and full text covering criminal justice and criminology.
Permitted Uses for this Database
Globe & Mail: Canada's Heritage from 1844 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Globe & Mail: Canada's Heritage from 1844 provides complete page image content from the Globe & Mail newspaper from 1844 through 2007. It is the deepest and most extensive online historic newspaper archive in Canada and includes every news story, photograph, map, advertisement, classified ad, political cartoon, birth and death notice, and more.

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