Terms of use for sources cited in Supreme Court of Canada reasons for judgments (1998‐2016)
The Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada, recognizing that web pages or websites that the Court cites in its judgments may subsequently vary in content or be discontinued, has located and archived the content of most online sources that had been cited by the Court between 1998 and 2016 in order to preserve access to them. These sources were captured with a content as close as possible to the original content.
Since 2017, the links to internet sources cited in the Court’s judgments that have been captured and archived are provided in the “Authors Cited” section of the judgment.
All links to the archived web pages are provided for convenience only, and are subject to the following:
- In some cases, the archived content of a web page or site may differ from the content that was available at the time judgment was rendered.
- The Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada does not control or warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in the referenced materials.
- The referenced materials do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Court, nor do the links provided constitute an endorsement of those materials, their sources, or the views they express. Similarly, reference to a web page or site within a judgment does not signify the author’s agreement with the judgment.
- The content of the archived web pages may be the subject of copyright. These pages are provided to enable legal researchers and private individuals studying Supreme Court of Canada judgments to view the internet sources cited in the judgments. They are provided solely for use in compliance with the Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42. Uses which do not fall within fair dealing and the other statutory exceptions to copyright infringement may require the permission of the copyright owner of the content.
- Copyright owners and authors with concerns about an archived web page may contact the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why is it important to archive documents from the Web that are cited in the Supreme Court’s judgments?
To ensure each judgment’s integrity, it is essential to be sure that documents cited in the Court’s judgments are authentic and to maintain access to them.
What is meant by “link rot”, “broken link” and “reference rot”?
“Link rot” and “broken link” refer to a situation in which a hyperlink no longer leads to any site or content. In the case of “reference rot”, the hyperlink continues to work, but the content of the site to which it leads has changed.
Why are the original links not activated?
To avoid any possible confusion for readers, the only link that is activated is the one to the archived version. A reader can always copy and paste the original URL and go to the site in question if they so desire.
Some citations include a link to both an English and a French version, but there are others for which that is not the case. Why is this?
Some documents, government publications in particular, have been published in both of Canada’s official languages, which explains why they are found in both English and French. This is not true of all documents cited in judgments, however. There are also cases in which a cited document continues to be available in 1 language, but not in the other.
What are the copyright implications?
The content of the archived web pages is provided for convenience, to enable legal researchers and private individuals studying Supreme Court of Canada judgments to view internet sources cited in them. It is provided solely for research, private study, and other uses falling within the fair dealing and other exceptions to copyright infringement set out in the Copyright Act, R.S.C., c. C-42.
Copying for a purpose other than the uses permitted under the Act for the fair dealing and other exceptions may require the permission of the copyright owner.
Why do some of the pages in the 1998-2016 list have different URLs than their sources?
When an original URL was no longer available, the Office of the Registrar attempted to locate the cited page by finding a source that was dated as close as possible to the time when the case was heard and/or the judgment was rendered. To achieve this, searches were conducted in the cited source’s website or archive, followed by the Government of Canada Web Archive for Government of Canada websites and other similar sites, including the Internet archive (also known as the Wayback Machine), a website that harvests past versions of websites.