canlii-mcp

Search CanLII for cases, legislation, and commentary by keyword. This is the primary entry point for legal research. Returns case citations and titles ranked by relevance — does NOT include keywords, dates, or URLs. Call get_case_metadata on promising results to get full details before citing a case. Search is keyword-based, not semantic — use specific legal terms rather than natural language. Common terms: 'best interests of the child', 'material change in circumstances', 'standard of review', 'duty to consult', 'reasonable expectation of privacy'. Include jurisdiction to narrow results (e.g., 'Ontario', 'Alberta'). Date filters are NOT supported on search. Always cite the CanLII citation and provide the case URL so the user can verify the source.

List all available court and tribunal databases in Canada. Returns database IDs needed for other tools. Key databases: onsc (Ontario Superior Court), onca (Ontario Court of Appeal), oncj (Ontario Court of Justice), onscdc (Divisional Court), csc-scc (Supreme Court of Canada), bcsc (BC Supreme Court), abkb (Alberta King's Bench). Use this to discover valid databaseId values for browse and citator tools.

List case law decisions from a specific court database. Use date filters to narrow results. Useful for browsing recent decisions from a specific court. Results are ordered by most recently added. Use get_case_metadata to get full details on a specific case.

Get detailed metadata for a specific case including its CanLII URL, citation, decision date, docket number, keywords, and topics. The URL field links directly to the full decision text on canlii.org — always provide this to the user for verification. Use after finding a case via search or browse to get complete details before citing it.

Look up citation relationships for a case. Critical for verifying if a case is still good law. Use 'citingCases' to see what later cases cite this decision — if many recent cases cite it approvingly, it is strong authority. Use 'citedCases' to see what authorities this case relied on. Use 'citedLegislations' to see what statutes the case references. Returns the full list of citing/cited items.

Quick preview of citation relationships (max 5 results). Faster than the full citator. Use this for a quick check on whether a case has been cited, then use get_case_citator for the complete list if needed.

List all available legislation databases in Canada. Returns database IDs for browsing statutes and regulations. Key databases: ons (Ontario Statutes), onr (Ontario Regulations), cas (Canada Statutes), car (Canada Regulations), bcs (BC Statutes), abs (Alberta Statutes).

List all legislation items in a specific database. Use to find legislation IDs for metadata lookup. Key statutes by database — ons: Children's Law Reform Act, Family Law Act, Employment Standards Act. cas: Divorce Act, Criminal Code, Canada Labour Code, Federal Child Support Guidelines.

Get metadata for a specific statute or regulation including its CanLII URL, citation, and table of contents. The URL links directly to the full legislation text on canlii.org — always provide this to the user.