Avoiding a 404: When to Add URLs to Legal Citations

Legal citation isn’t what most would consider a good ‘ol time. I’m sympathetic to student complaints! But, alas, it is important and must be taught. Part of teaching is preventing bad habits. While grading assignments I’ve noticed a common practice of copying and pasting a URL in lieu of a citation, or tacking a URL on the end of a semi-complete or complete citation. Hyperlinks seem helpful and modern—just one click to get to the source! In legal writing, however, a citation should allow the reader to quickly identify, locate, and verify the source across platforms and over time. A proper legal citation to primary law and traditional secondary sources often does that work without any URL at all.

But I Like URLs!

Me too—when they’re in an address bar. Remember that a legal citation has two basic functions: (1) It credits and identifies the source that has been relied on and (2) it enables a reader to locate that source from multiple entry points. Providing a lone URL does neither of these reliably and tacking it onto the end of a citation is often just clutter.

Despite the name “Uniform Resource Locator,” a URL does not guarantee persistent access. Links break, sites change, servers hiccup, domains lapse, and access to proprietary platforms varies. And when dropped at the end of a citation unnecessarily, long URLs can distract from the elements that matter.

Would you prefer to read the example on the left or right? (COAL, 1st rev ed)

But I found it on [Insert Website or Platform]. Isn’t Including the URL Precise Citation?

Well, consider that primary law and traditional secondary sources began as print resources (e.g., case law, legislation, journals, books). Many of these sources are now digitised and published directly online, but their citations remain formatted as if they were referring to the print. This is because the print format is where the stable, descriptive elements that direct a reader to the correct source originated. A citation, wherever possible, should be medium-agnostic and platform-agnostic. It should not lock a reader to a single website or platform.

For example, a journal article has consistent elements: an author, article title, journal title, volume, and issue. It might be available in a library catalogue, HeinOnline, CanLII, a journal’s website, Lexis, or all of the above. These elements, or metadata, will be applied consistently wherever an article is indexed or published, whether in print or online. Similarly, a statute citation will always indicate the title, jurisdiction, type of statute, year, and chapter. These stable elements will allow retrieval from the library stacks, a legislature’s website, CanLII, Lexis, or Westlaw.

A notable outlier is electronic judgements, which have been standardised with neutral citations (and now CanLII citations).[1] Neutral citations were designed to be “unique, complete, immediately available and permanent.”[2] They were a direct result of online publication by courts, the rapid growth of electronic media, and a desire to keep citation simple.[3] As shown in the image above, URLs do not simplify most citations.

Then When Should I Use a URL?

There are scenarios where a URL earns its keep and becomes a core element of a citation. When citing a born-digital item with no unique identifier, no stable print equivalent, and minimal traditional, durable citation elements, a URL is appropriate.

For example, a blog is a born-digital source that generally has an author, title, and date of publication or modification, but it may lack a formal publisher or a unique identifier. It’s also susceptible to change, whether through editorial updates or any of the URL errors mentioned above. Adding an archived URL (e.g., a Wayback Machine or Perma.cc capture) that points to a copy of a webpage from a specific date and time alongside the citation is recommended to avoid volatility, but is not a requirement.

Archived URLs are particularly helpful for things like government pages with general information and interactive dashboards, where content is likely to be updated on a regular basis. If a URL can’t be archived, including just the live URL is fine, so long as it is edited to meet the relevant citation guide. COAL does a particularly good job of simplifying use of URLs for webpages and websites.[4]

Is there a URL Rule I Can Follow?

To avoid hyper use of hyperlinks, consider utility versus clutter. Does adding a URL provide access that the citation cannot otherwise ensure or does it simply add clutter without improving findability or verification?

This isn’t a perfect rule, but a general one: Omit the URL when a complete, stable citation makes the source easy to find across multiple websites and platforms. Include a URL, and ideally an archived link, for born-digital or version-specific items, when traditional citation elements are limited.

Conclusion

Per Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message.”[5] Maybe legal citation’s distaste of excessive URLs is a subtle, philosophical resistance to unstable, easily altered online information. Or maybe it’s just easier to read. Regardless, the main takeaways are that most traditional legal sources can be cited in a manner that is platform and medium agnostic, URLs should only be included for utilitarian purposes, and if you copy and paste a URL into a citation, don’t forget to go back and edit!

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[1] H. Rosborough, “McGill Guide 10th Edition: Hierarchy of Sources” (17 October 2023), https://www.slaw.ca (archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250827032823/https://www.slaw.ca/2023/10/17/mcgill-guide-10th-edition-hierarchy-of-sources/).

[2] Canadian Citation Committee, “A Neutral Citation Standard for Case Law” (revised on 18 December 2000) https://www.lexum.com/ (archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250828075444/https://lexum.com/ccc-ccr/neutr/neutr.jur_en.html) (Canadian Citation Committee) (There are multiple hyperlinked URLs in this document that result in 404s!).

[3] Canadian Citation Committee.

[4] COAL-RJAL Editorial Group, Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide, 1st rev ed (2025) at ss 1.3, 3.8 (This citation was confirmed with the Editor-in-Chief of COAL. No URL is required!).

[5] M. McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (Ginko Press, 2013) at ch 1.