📆 What You Were Looking at in 2017: CanLII’s Top Cases

[This post is being published simultaneously on our blog]

At the end of a year that saw the news take a more central role in our lives and when so much is uncertain, some things remain constant and one of them is the list of cases that is most accessed on CanLII. All of the top three cases were in the top three last year, and only one of the top 10 cases was issued in 2017. Eight of the cases were on the list last year. Six of the cases are the same as were on the list in 2014.

As this year comes to an end I take comfort in the fact that the principle of stare decisis continues to ensure decisions are made in the same way over time and which evens out the upheavals of the day.

If you’d like to know more about the decisions and their significance, we invite you to check on CanLII Connects, as almost all of the cases listed have been discussed there.

Here is the list:

R. v. Jordan, [2016] 1 SCR 631, 2016 SCC 27. (CanLII Connects)

Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, [2008] 1 SCR 190, 2008 SCC 9. (CanLII Connects)

Meads v. Meads, 2012 ABQB 571. (CanLII Connects)

Abdulaali v Salih, 2017 ONSC 1609. (CanLII Connects)

Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [1999] 2 SCR 817, 1999 CanLII 699 (SCC). (CanLII Connects)

Bhasin v. Hrynew, [2014] 3 SCR 494, 2014 SCC 71. (CanLII Connects)

Hryniak v. Mauldin, [2014] 1 SCR 87, 2014 SCC 7. (CanLII Connects)

R. v. Grant, [2009] 2 SCR 353, 2009 SCC 32. (CanLII Connects)

Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), [2015] 1 SCR 331, 2015 SCC 5. (CanLII Connects)

Housen v. Nikolaisen, [2002] 2 SCR 235, 2002 SCC 33. (CanLII Connects)

Some cases have English and French versions, and the statistics have been combined in creating this list. If this hadn’t been done R. v Jordan would have been on the top 10 list in both English and French and was viewed approximately twice as much as the next most viewed case.

Because we know you all wonder about these kinds of things, here are the most accessed cases issued in 2017:

Abdulaali v Salih, 2017 ONSC 1609. (CanLII Connects)

R. v. Antic, [2017] 1 SCR 509, 2017 SCC 27. (CanLII Connects)

R. v. Cody, 2017 SCC 31. (CanLII Connects)

Saadati v. Moorhead, [2017] 1 SCR 543, 2017 SCC 28. (CanLII Connects)

Wood v. Fred Deeley Imports Ltd., 2017 ONCA 158. (CanLII Connects)

Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp., 2017 SCC 30. (CanLII Connects)

R. c. M.C., 2017 QCCQ 12348. (CanLII Connects)

Styles v Alberta Investment Management Corporation, 2017 ABCA 1. (CanLII Connects)

Douez v. Facebook, Inc., 2017 SCC 33. (CanLII Connects)

R v Barton, 2017 ABCA 216. (CanLII Connects)

At that we will leave off and wish you all happy holidays!