Law Society of Saskatchewan
Find Legal AssistanceMember ProfileMember ResourcesContact
  • 0
    Cart
  • My Account
  • About Us
      • slider_1Latest News
      • Notice of Member Disqualification
      • Discipline Decision
      • Indigenous Law Student Scholarship – Apply Now
      • News
        • Legal Sourcery
        • Podcast
        • ReSource
        • Videos
        • Benchers’ Digest
        • Case Mail
      • Mission and Values
      • Committees and Task Forces
      • Convocation
      • Benchers
        • Bencher Election 2018
        • Bencher Election 2021
      • Annual and Financial Reports
      • Contact Us
  • Initiatives
    • slider_1Initiatives
      The Law Society is seeking to identify legal service providers for new initiatives. This unique approach, the first of its kind in Canada, enables the Law Society to expand access to appropriately regulated legal services in a responsible and sustainable manner. The overall goal is to balance the need for enhanced access to legal services for underserved Saskatchewan citizens while ensuring public protection. For more information, click below. Consultation
      • Access to Justice
        • Future of Legal Services Initiative
        • Limited Scope Legal Services – Information for the Public
        • Limited Scope Legal Services – Information for Lawyers
      • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
        • Equity Office
      • Legal Information
        • Legal Information Guidelines
        • Saskatchewan Access to Legal Information
      • Innovating Regulation
      • Truth and Reconciliation
        • Additional Resources
        • Notice to Day School Survivors
      • Saskatchewan Justicia Project
  • Regulation
    • slider_1Remote Executing Of Certain Documents And Remote Witnessing Of Wills By Electronic Means Legislation Now Permanent
      We are happy to announce that today, the Government of Saskatchewan repealed the temporary emergency regulations related to remote execution of certain documents and wills and replaced those regulations with permanent regulations allowing for remote execution of documents via electronic means (i.e. video calls) to continue long-term beyond the end of the public emergency period. Practice Directives
      • Definition of the Practice of Law and Unauthorized Practice of Law
      • Firm Regulation
        • Designated Representative (DR) Hub
      • Act, Code and Rules
        • The Legal Profession Act, 1990
        • Code of Professional Conduct and Amendments
        • Law Society Rules, Amendments and Practice Directives
        • Rules Concordance – Read More
      • Hearings, Decisions and Rulings
        • Pending Discipline Matters
        • Discipline Decisions
        • Conduct Review Database
        • Ethics Rulings Database
        • Pending Admissions and Education Matters
        • Admissions and Education Decisions
        • Disqualification and Reinstatement
      • Lawyers with Practice Conditions/Restrictions
      • Lawyer Trusteeships and Successors
      • Potential Complaint Outcomes
        • Ethics Committee
        • Competency Committee
        • Conduct Investigation Committee
  • Public
    • slider_1New Law Society Complaint Form
      The goal is to assist and encourage complainants to provide clear and concise descriptions of their concerns, and reduce confusion by removing technical terms that may not be fully understood by members of the general public (i.e.: “conflict of interest”). Complaint Form
      • Finding Legal Assistance
      • Find Legal Assistance Search Guidance
      • What to Expect From Your Lawyer
      • Looking For Lost Wills
      • Making a Complaint
        • Complaints Process
      • Common Client Concerns
        • Understanding Lawyers’ Fees
        • Quality of Service
        • Conflict of Interest
        • Confidentiality
        • Withdrawal
        • File Transfers
      • Common Client Concerns
        • Role of an Estate’s Lawyer
        • Role of Opposing Lawyer
        • Breach of Trust Conditions/Undertakings
        • Lawyer’s Conduct in Court
        • Lawyer’s Outside Interests
  • Lawyers and Students
    • hiring sign resizedCareer and Volunteer Opportunities
      • Becoming a Lawyer in Saskatchewan
        • Students-at-law
        • Transfer Lawyers
        • International Applicants
      • Becoming a Principal
      • Career And Volunteer Opportunities
        • Students Seeking Articles
      • Membership Services
      • Awards, Bursaries, Scholarships
      • Consultation
      • Locum Registry
      • Practice Advisor Program
      • Forms and Fees
        • Law Society Forms
        • Trust Account Forms
      • Western Conveyancing Protocol
        • Protocol for Saskatchewan
      • Practice Resources
        • General Resources
        • Queen’s Bench Rules
      • Health and Wellness
  • Legal Resources
  • CPD
    • slider_1Continuing Professional Development
      • CPD Activities
        • CPD Calendar of Activities
        • CPD On Demand (Subscription)
        • CPD Activity Application Form
        • Recorded Versions Shop
        • Study Group Resources
      • CPD Policy
        • Reporting CPD Hours
        • Eligible CPD Activities
        • Approved Providers
        • Remedial CPD Plan Information
        • FAQs
        • Transition to One-Year CPD Term
      • Contact Us
      • Volunteers
      • Presenter Section
  • Shop
Law Society of Saskatchewan Legal Citation First Ever Citation Guide for the Courts of Saskatchewan, part 2

First Ever Citation Guide for the Courts of Saskatchewan, part 2

October 1, 2014

By Ann Marie Melvie, Librarian, Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
and Joanne V. Colledge-Miller, MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP

CitationGuide

As we mentioned in the first post of our series, the Citation Guide for the Courts of Saskatchewan stresses the importance of the neutral citation and mandates that if one is available for the decision cited, it must be used.

Why are neutral citations so important? Well, first of all, they are citations assigned by the courts and clearly identify for the reader where the decision is from and how old it is. Additionally, any decision with a neutral citation has had paragraph numbers added by the court, again making it easier to pinpoint to a specific portion of the decision that can be universally accessed by anyone.

The neutral citation contains three parts: the year of the decision; the tribunal identifier, which readily identifies both the jurisdiction and the level of court; and the ordinal number of the decision. The ordinal number is nothing more than a consecutive number assigned by the requisite court for each decision it issues each year.

As you can see from these examples, neutral citations have no punctuation in them and use no lower case letters: 2014 SCC 5; 2012 SKPC 104; 2009 SKQB 195.

Because the neutral citation is assigned by the court issuing the decision, it allows counsel and litigants to cite to and retrieve decisions without having to rely on a citation that is specific to a case law report or database. It is a permanent means of identifying cases, independent of individual products or particular publishers. With the neutral citation in hand, the case can be found electronically, regardless of the database used. This is especially important from an access to justice perspective, as it allows self-represented litigants to readily access these decisions for free, either using CanLII or the court’s judgment database.

Since 1999, Canadian courts have gradually adopted the neutral citation. The Supreme Court of Canada adopted its use in 2000, while here in Saskatchewan, the Court of Queen’s Bench started using it in 1999; the Court of Appeal in 2000; and the Provincial Court in 2002. Appendix A of the Guide contains a list of the dates various courts across the country started using the neutral citation.

For the first time, the Courts of Saskatchewan are requiring that any cases cited before them list the neutral citation and that this neutral citation be identified first before any other cite. If a decision is very recent, the neutral citation might be all that is available. Once the judgment is published in a print report, the print report should be used as a second and parallel citation. If a neutral citation is not available, then only one print report needs to be cited.

Don’t be fooled by some database identifiers that can look like neutral citations. For example, 1987 CanLII 4923 has some of the characteristics of a neutral citation, but it is not one. Not surprisingly, it is a CanLII citation.

Other database identifiers that might be confusing are those assigned by WestlawNext Canada (e.g., 2014 CarswellSask 571) or Quicklaw (e.g., [2014] S.J. No. 477). Again, these are not neutral citations. They are electronic database identifiers assigned to the decision by the publisher. As soon as you see “Carswell” in the citation, it is a WestlawNext Canada cite. And when you see an abbreviation for number (“No.”) in the citation, you can be pretty sure it is a Quicklaw database identifier. As a quick rule of thumb, a neutral citation only contains numbers and capital letters with no other punctuation.

So, again, what does this mean for you?

It means you must always provide the neutral citation when one is available and list it immediately after the case name.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

This is part 2 of a 7-part series on the Citation Guide for the Courts of Saskatchewan: Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Ann Marie Melvie is the Librarian at the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, having served in this position since 2001. She received her Bachelor of Education from the University of Saskatchewan and her diploma as a Library Technician from SIAST.

Joanne V. Colledge-Miller is currently an associate at MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP, practicing in the areas of commercial litigation and class actions.

 

 

Share this:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archives

Categories

Subscribe Now

Subscribe for the latest news from our blog "Legal Sourcery".

Submit News Post

Submission Guidelines

Archives

Categories

Online Tools

  • Search
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • LSS Initiatives
  • For Lawyers & Students
  • For the Public
  • Regulation
  • CPD

Subscribe Now

Subscribe for the latest news from our blog "Legal Sourcery".

Stay Connected

Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin

© 2022 Law Society of Saskatchewan. Website & Hosting by OmniOnline