TIP: It is better to search by a case citation, if you have it, than a case name.
For more info on case names, see the box below on Understanding Case Names.
It can be tricky to search by case names for two reasons:
TIP: It is faster and more precise to search by the case citation than the case name.
A civil case name will show the name of the Plaintiff (the person bringing the action) versus the Defendant. Here are two examples:
Image source: JES-BC
A criminal case name will show the Crown versus the Accused. Here is an example:
Crimes are considered to be offences against the state, not only an individual victim. The monarch (who wears a crown) is the head of state. The case against a person accused of a crime is led by the Crown Prosecution on behalf of the monarch. Hence, the name of a criminal case will almost always be R v Accused. The letter "R" is short for Regina (Latin for Queen) or Rex (Latin for King), depending on who is on the throne.
Some cases do not disclose the full name(s) of parties involved. Only their initials are given. This is often done to protect the identities of youth in criminal and family law cases. It can be difficult to search for these in legal databases.
For example, if an accused party was named Larry Martin, the case name might be shown as:
The current Canadian legal citation standard (called the "McGill Guide") does not use periods after most abbreviations in case names.
However, you will come across many case names which include periods, e.g. Mustapha v. Culligan. These are likely from older publications, or from courts which have not adopted the McGill style of citation. If you cite these older decisions in a paper, however, you would use the new McGill format and leave out the periods.