Style of cause
The formal name of a case, listing the parties, e.g. R. v. Jordan or Hryniak v. Mauldin; the Canadian term for a case name.
The style of cause is the formal title of a legal proceeding, made up of the names of the parties, italicized and separated by 'v.' in Canadian citation practice. In criminal cases the prosecuting Crown appears as 'R.' (for Rex or Regina), as in R. v. Gladue; in civil cases the parties' names appear, as in Hryniak v. Mauldin.
The style of cause is the first element of a case citation and the most common way lawyers refer to a decision in conversation and writing. Note that party order can change on appeal and that some proceedings use special forms, such as 'Re' for references and estate matters. When searching a legal database, searching by style of cause is often the fastest way to retrieve a known case.