Standards for Headnoting: Case Identification

J.V. Rahilly was an engineering librarian in Ontario.

This report is based on studies of in-house style manuals — those used by legal publishers, the courts, and law libraries. It tries to establish a series of rules for coverage of cases in legal matters. At this stage it is still a “draft,” with its draft standards. But there are excellent suggestions for headnoting and the naming of cases in appeals, crown as party, the use of initials, partnerships, institutions, foreign names, wills and estates, consolidated or multiple actions, cases reported in French, the use of abbreviations, the use of automated searching, and the naming of courts (along with their numbering systems).

Certainly, if the recommendations and standards set forth here are followed, it will make life much easier for legal scholars, librarians, and the legal publishing industry (not to mention detectives and investigative journalists).