Law Reports available at SFU Library

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If you need help, please contact Yolanda Koscielski, Liaison Librarian for Criminology, Psychology & Philosophy at or ysk6@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

This guide provides a detailed listing of the many Law Reports you have access to via SFU Library, in print and/or online. In most cases, researchers are simply looking for a particular case regardless of law reporter, and should refer to the guide, How to find legal cases by citation. 

Use this guide in the rare instance you are looking for a version of case law as reported upon by a particular legal reporter, such as:

  • I have a reference to a case headnote prepared by the reporter, Weekly Criminal Bulletin: R. v. Donoghue, 155 W.C.B. (2d) 424. I need to track down this particular reporter's version of the case.
  • I need to find a case as reported upon by Tariff Board Reports from 1965. Do you have access to this at SFU Library?

Note that almost all Canadian law reports can be found online in free sources such as CanLii (official Federal/Supreme Court reporters), or subscription sources such as Westlaw Next Canada (includes LawSource) or Lexis Advance Quicklaw. The fastest way to locate a particular case is usually to search directly in one of those sources.

Definition: Law reports are reports of a judge's decision in a legal case (also known as case law or judgments), but with a small amount of summarizing or editorializing content added by the court reporter.  Specifically, law reports prepared by reporters contain a headnote which summarizes the judgment as well as some key terms at the top of the case which can help you quickly determine the subject matter of the case law.

About law reports and court reporters

Several reporters may be reporting on the same case. The main content -- the judgment -- should be identical, regardless of reporter. However, the headnote content (the brief abstract summarizing the facts and legal arguments of the case) and catchlines (words or brief phrases separated by em dashes which summarize the case) will be unique, as these are written by individual authors. A headnote written by a law reporter with a specific focus - such as business law - might emphasize different aspects of a particular case than, say, a criminal case law reporter would.

Cases may be reported or unreported. Cases are reported when they are deemed to be significant (aka leading cases). However, unreported cases are also available via sources such as Westlaw Next Canada and Lexis Advance Quicklaw. These unreported cases are unedited versions of judgments and may lack a headnote and contain incorrect citations or typos. As these cases have not been deemed legally significant enough by law report editors to be officially reported, they are not treated with the same editorial scrutiny as reported cases. Before a law report is distributed via a law reporter or a database, it is referred to as a reason for decision.

Court reporters are either official, semi-official, or not official. There are currently only two active official court reporters: Canada Supreme Court Reports and Federal Court Reports. These are published by the Queen's Printer. Semi-official reports - of which there are about a dozen - are mostly no longer actively publishing, and were published under the care of various law societies. The majority of court reporters are "not official", being prepared by private publishers.

Historical and current case coverage: Databases continually expand or even drop content, so it's worth double-checking coverage scope for individual case law databases.

Canadian court reporters: A list of all Canadian court reporters (plus their abbreviations) can be found in the Uniform Guide to Canadian Legal Citation, Appendix C. There are several dozen court reporters in Canada.

For more information on how the law report publication system works in Canada, please read the helpful Queen's University Library Guide on Reporters Generally.

Canadian law reports available online

CanLii
CanLii does not include the reports of non-official court reporters, as these are proprietary. However reports by official reporters such as Supreme Court Reports (with their accompanying headnote) are available in CanLii. The range of cases covered are listed on CanLii's Primary Law Database page, with deeper historical coverage for federal courts. For instance, CanLii coverage of Supreme Court of Canada cases goes back as far as 1877, whereas CanLii coverage of British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) cases only begins in 1990.

Lexis Advance Quicklaw
At present, exact court reporter coverage is not available for listing. Please check Quicklaw directly, as many court reporters can be found in this database.

Westlaw Next Canada
Court reporter coverage is outlined on the What's in LawSource page. Historical court case and tribunal coverage is extensive for those law reports published by the databases' same publisher, Carswell, as well as by Canada Law Book. Plus, selective deep case coverage is available for other key reporters and courts. Otherwise, "Westlaw Canada's mandate is to provide coverage of [all] unreported court decisions from 1986 forward and reported court decisions from 1977", and all tribunals from 1997.

SFU Library print + LawSource coverage of court reporters (detailed listing)

For your reference, law reporter coverage in print at SFU Library and in LawSource (via Westlaw Next) is highlighted here. 

* Indicates LawSource coverage of non-Carswell reporters goes back to 1977 and tribunal decisions appearing in these reporters back to 1997.

A - B 

  • Administrative Law Reports
    Abbreviation: Admin L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1983-
  • Alberta Court of Appeal
    Online: 2004 -
  • Alberta Labour Relations Board Reports *
    Abbreviation: Alta. L.R.B.R
    Online: LawSource
  • Alberta Law Reports *
    Abbreviation: Alta. L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1908-1933;1977-
  • Alberta Provincial Court
    Online: 2004 -

     
  • British Columbia Court of Appeal
    Online: January 1990-
  • British Columbia Decisions. Labour Arbitration
    Abbreviation: B.C.D.L.A.
    Bennett Library HD 5508 B7 B74 1982-2008
  • British Columbia Law Reports
    Abbreviation: B.C.L.R.
    Bennett Library KEB 104 B751 1977-2008
    Online: LawSource 1977-
  • British Columbia Reports
    Abbreviation: B.C.R.
    Bennett Library KEB 104 B75 1867-1947
    Online: 1867-1948
  • British Columbia Supreme Court
    Online: January 1990-
  • British Columbia Tax Reporter
    Abbreviation: B.C.T.R.
    Bennett Reference HJ 3374 B8 C65 1971-2009
  • Business Law Reports
    Abbreviation: B.L.R.
    Bennett Library HF 1278 B8
    Online: LawSource 1977-2008

C

  • Canada Federal Court Reports
    Abbreviation: F.C.
    Bennett Library KE 142 1971 C35 1971-2003
    Online: 1997-2001 (selective, with a few pre-1997), 2001-
  • Canada G.S.T. Cases
    Abbreviation: G.S.T.C.
    Online: LawSource 1992-
  • Canada Industrial Relations Board *
    Abbreviation: C.I.R.B.
    Online: LawSource
  • Canada Law Reports (Ex. Ct.)
    Abbreviation: Ex.C.R.
    Lam Collection KE 142 1923 C35 1923-1970
  • Canada Law Reports, Supreme Court of Canada
    Abbreviation: S.C.R.
    Bennett Library KE 140 1878 C35 / KE 140 1923 C35 / KE 140 1970 C35 1878-
    Online: 1876-1945 (selective); 1946-
  • Canada Tax Cases
    Abbreviation: C.T.C.
    Bennett Library: HJ 3370.5 C4 and HJ 3370.5 C42
    Online: LawSource 1917-
  • Canadian Bankruptcy Reports
    Abbreviation: C.B.R.
    Online: LawSource 1920-
  • Canadian Cases on Employment Law
    Abbreviation: C.C.E.L.
    Bennett Library HD 7837 C58
    Online: LawSource 1983-
  • Canadian Cases on Pensions and Benefits
    Abbreviation: C.C.P.B.
    Online: LawSource 1994-
  • Canadian Cases on the Law of Insurance
    Abbreviation: C.C.L.I.
    Online: LawSource 1983-
  • Canadian Cases on the Law of Securities (discontinued)
    Abbreviation: C.C.L.S.
    Online: LawSource 1994-1998
  • Canadian Cases on the Law of Torts
    Abbreviation: C.C.L.T.
    Online: LawSource 1976-
  • Canadian Criminal Cases
    Abbreviation: C.C.C.
    Bennett Library KE 8805.8 C35
    Online: Nexis Uni Full-text decisions from 1987; headnotes only from 1971
    Online: LawSource 1970-
  • Canadian Environmental Law Reports
    Abbreviation: C.E.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1987-
  • Canadian Human Rights Reporter *
    Abbreviation: C.H.R.R.
    Bennett Library JC 599 C2 C32
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Intellectual Property Reports (discontinued)
    Abbreviation: C.I.P.R.
    Online: LawSource 1984-1990
  • Canadian Labour Arbitration Summaries
    Abbreviation: C.L.A.S.
    Bennett Library HD 5508 A3 C3
  • Canadian Labour Law Cases *
    Abbreviation: C.L.L.C.
    Bennett Library HD 7837 C6 1944-1996
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Labour Law Reporter
    Abbreviation: C.L.L.R.
    Bennett Library HD 7837 C7
  • Canadian Labour Relations Boards Reports *
    Abbreviation: C.L.R.B.R.
    Bennett Library HD 5507 C35
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Law Times
    Abbreviation: C.L.T.
    Bennett Library Microform Periodicals 1881-1922
  • Canadian Native Law Bulletin
    Abbreviation: C.N.L.R.
    Bennett Library E 92 C36
  • Canadian Native Law Cases
    Abbreviation: C.N.L.R.
    Bennett Library E 92 S63
    Online: Canadian Native Law Cases1763-1978
  • Canadian Native Law Reporter *
    Abbreviation: C.N.L.R.
    Bennett Library E 92 C361
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Patent Reporter *
    Abbreviation: C.P.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Reports, Appeal Cases
    Abbreviation: C.R.A.C.
    Online: LawSource 1871-1878; 1912-1913
  • Canadian Rights Reporter *
    Abbreviation: C.R.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Canadian Sales Tax Reporter
    Abbreviation: Can.S.T.R.
    Bennett Library HJ 5715 C2 C6
  • Canadian Securities Law Reporter
    Abbreviation: Can.S.L.R.
    Bennett Reference HG 5154 C65
  • Canadian Transport Cases
    Abbreviation: C.T.C.
    Lam Collection HE 215 A15 C25
  • Carswell's Practice Cases
    Abbreviation: C.P.C.
    Online: LawSource 1976-
  • Construction Law Reports
    Abbreviation: C.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1983-
  • Court Martial Appeal Reports
    Abbreviation: C.M.A.R.
    Lam Collection UB 855 C2 A2
  • Coutlee's Canada Supreme Court Cases
    Abbreviation: Cout. S.C.
    Online: LawSource 1875-1906
  • Criminal Reports
    Abbreviation: C.R.
    Bennett Library KE 8805.8 C75
    Online: LawSource 1946-

D - F

  • Dominion Law Reports *
    Abbreviation: D.L.R.
    Bennett Library KE 132 D65
    Online: Nexis Uni Full-text decisions from 1987; headnotes only from 1955.
  • Dominion Report Service
    Abbreviation: D.R.S.
    Bennett Library KE 132.2 D65
  • Dominion Tax Cases *
    Abbreviation: D.T.C.
    Bennett Library HJ 13 A4
    Online: LawSource

     
  • Eastern Law Reporter
    Abbreviation: E.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1906-1914
  • Estates and Trusts Reports
    Abbreviation: E.T.R.
    Online: LawSource 1977-

     
  • Federal Trial Reports *
    Abbreviation: F.T.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Fox Patent Cases
    Abbreviation: Fox Pat.C
    Online: LawSource 1940-1971

I - M

  • Immigration Appeal Cases
    Abbreviation: I.A.C.
    Lam Collection JV 7242 C35
  • Immigration Law Reporter
    Abbreviation: Imm.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1987-
  • Insurance Law Reporter *
    Abbreviation: I.L.R.
    Online: LawSource

     
  • Labour Arbitration Cases *
    Abbreviation: L.A.C.
    Bennett Library HD 5508 A3 L23 [1948 -]
    Online: LawSource
  • Land Compensation Reports *
    Abbreviation: L.C.R.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection HD 1158 C3 L35
    Online: LawSource

     
  • Manitoba Reports *
    Abbreviation: Man.R
    Online: LawSource
  • Maritime Provinces Reports
    Abbreviation: M.P.R.
    Online: LawSource 1929-1968
  • Motor Vehicle Reports
    Abbreviation: M.V.R.
    Online: LawSource 1977-
  • Municipal and Planning Law Reports
    Abbreviation: M.P.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1976-

N - P 

  • National Reporter *
    Abbreviation: N.R
    Online: LawSource
  • New Brunswick Reports *
    Abbreviation: N.B.R.
    Online: LawSource 1867-1929
  • Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island Reports *
    Abbreviation: P.E.I.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Northwest Territories Reports
    Abbreviation: N.W.T.R.
    Online: LawSource 1983-1998
  • Nova Scotia Reports
    Abbreviation: N.S.R.
    Online: LawSource 1886-1929

     
  • Ontario Appeal Cases *
    Abbreviation: O.A.C.
    Online: LawSource
  • Ontario Court of Appeal
    Online: January 1998-
  • Ontario Labour Relations Board Reports *
    Abbreviation: O.L.R.B.Rep.
    Online: LawSource
  • Ontario Municipal Board Reports *
    Abbreviation: O.M.B.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Ontario Practice Reports
    Abbreviation: P.R.
    Online: LawSource 1896-1904
  • Ontario Reports
    Abbreviation: O.R.
    Bennett Library KEO 117.4 O57
    Online: LawSource 1935-
  • Ontario Weekly Reporter
    Abbreviation: O.W.R.
    Online: LawSource 1902-1916

     
  • Pension Review Board Reports
    Abbreviation: P.R.B.R.
    Lam Collection UB 375 C2 C26
  • Personal Property Security Act Cases
    Abbreviation: P.P.S.A.C.
    Online: LawSource 1977-
  • Public Service Staff Relations Board Decisions
    Abbreviation: P.S.S.R.B.
    Bennett Library HD 5507 P82
    Online: PSLRB-Decisions by Year

R - T

  • Real Property Reports
    Abbreviation: R.P.R.
    Online: LawSource 1977-
  • Reports of Family Law
    Abbreviation: R.F.L.
    Bennett Library HQ 559 R47
    Online: LawSource 1971-
  • Reports of Family Law, Reprint Series
    Abbreviation: R.F.L.Rep.
    Bennett Library: HQ 559 R465
    Online: LawSource 1824-1970

     
  • Saskatchewan Law Reports
    Abbreviation: Sask.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1916-1931
  • Saskatchewan Reports *
    Abbreviation: Sask.R.
    Online: LawSource
  • Supreme Court of Canada
    Online: LawSource 1875-

     
  • Tariff Board Reports
    Abbreviation: T.B.R.
    Lam Collection HF 1761 C25
  • Tax Appeal Board Cases
    Abbreviation: Tax A.B.C.
    Lam Collection HJ 13 A38
    Online: LawSource 1949-1971

W - Y 

  • Weekly Criminal Bulletin
    Abbreviation: W.C.B.
    Bennett Reference Index KE 8802 W44
  • Western Labour Arbitration Cases
    Abbreviation: W.L.A.C
    Bennett Library HD 5508 B7 W48
  • Western Law Reporter
    Abbreviation: W.L.R.
    Online: LawSource 1905-1916
  • Western Weekly Reports
    Abbreviation: W.W.R.
    Bennett Library KE 156.2 W4
    Online: LawSource 1911-
  • Workplace Safety & Insurance Appeals Tribunal Reporter *
    Abbreviation: W.S.I.A.T.R.
    Online: LawSource

     
  • Yukon Reports *
    Abbreviation: Y.R.
    Online: LawSource

* Indicates LawSource coverage of reporters back to 1977 and tribunal decisions appearing in these reporters back to 1997

UK / English law reports

  • All-England Law Reports.
    Abbreviation: A.E.R. / All E.R. / All E.R. Rep.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 288 A64 A38
  • Criminal Appeal Reports. 1908-
    Abbreviation: Cr. App. R.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 7865 A2 C7
  • English Reports.
    Abbreviation: E.R.
    Bennett Library Microforms Classified KD 02 2
  • Law Reports. Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Cases. [1865-1875]
    Abbreviation: L.R. A. and E.
    Lam Collection KD 279.2 A25
  • Law Reports. Appeal Cases. House of Lords.
    Abbreviation: A.C. / L.R. App. Cas. / L.R.A.C.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 275.4 L36
  • Law Reports. Chancery Appeal Division. 1865-
    Abbreviation: L.R.Ch.App. / L.R.Ch.D / L.R.Ch.
    Lam Collection KD 276 A25
  • Law Reports. Chancery Division.
    Abbreviation: L.R.Ch.App. / L.R.Ch.D / L.R.Ch.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 276.3 A25
  • Law Reports. Commmon Pleas / Division. 1865-1880.
    Abbreviation: L.R.C.P. / L.R.C.P.D.
    Lam Collection KD 277.3 A25 and KD 277.4 A25
  • Law Reports. Crown Cases Reserved. 1865-1875.
    Abbreviation: L.R.C.C.R.
    Lam Collection KD 8256 A25
  • Law Reports. English and Irish Appeals. [1866-1875].
    Abbreviation: L.R.H.L.
    Lam Collection KD 275 L36
  • Law Reports. Equity Cases. [1866-1875].
    Abbreviation: L.R.Eq.
    Lam Collection KD 276.2 A25
  • Law Reports. Exchequer Division.
    Abbreviation: L.R.Eq. / L.R.Ex.D.
    Lam Collection KD 277.6 A25
  • Law Reports. Family Division.
    Abbreviation: L.R.Fam.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 279.4 L36
  • Law Reports. Privy Council Appeals. [1865-1875].
    Abbreviation: L.R.P.C.
    Lam Collection KD 275.3 L36
  • Law Reports. Probate and Divorce. 
    Abbreviation: L.R.P and D.
    Lam Collection KD 279 A25
  • Law Reports. Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division.
    Abbreviation: L.R.P.D. / L.R.P.
    Lam Collection KD 279.3 A25
  • Law Reports. King's / Queen's Bench.
    Abbreviation: L.R.Q.B / L.R.Q.B.D. / L.R.K.B
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 277 A25 and KD 277.7 A25
  • Law Reports. Scotch and Divorce Appeals. [1866-1875].
    Abbreviation: L.R.Sc. and Div.
    Lam Collection KD 275.2 L36
  • Revised Reports. 1785-1866.
    Abbreviation: R.R.
    Lam Collection KD 270 R45
  • Weekly Law Reports. 1977-
    Abbreviation: W.L.R.
    Bennett Library and Lam Collection KD 282 W44

United States and other international law reports

For other international and American state and federal law reports and court decisions, use the database Nexis Uni.