Legal Research

CanLII Reaches Half a Million Cases

By Michel-Adrien Sheppard

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII), the source of free online Canadian legal information created by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, announced earlier this week that it has surpassed the 500,000 case mark in its database:

“When it was launched in the fall of 2000, CanLII contained less than 30,000 cases. Over the years, the content development went through various stages: first, recent cases from all appeal and superior courts, then from all courts, and so on. Recently, focus has been placed on the addition of important historical case law as well as administrative tribunals. All those efforts led us to our first half-million “

CanLII also draws attention to some interesting facts about itself:

• Largest database: the Court of Québec database with over 135,000 cases;
• Most cited decision: R. v. W.(D.), 1991 CanLII 93 (S.C.C.) with 2,500 citations;
• Most visited database: Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Cross-posted to Library Boy.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on May 07, 2008 (boomark / email).