Wikipedia in U.S. and Canadian Case Law

The Tech Law Prof Blog had a post last week about some of the recent credibility problems of online collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia.

As explained, "The Wikipedia founder says that he regularly gets about 10 email messages from students per week saying they cited Wikipedia as their source and got Fs on their papers".

The post did mention that "20 federal courts have cited Wikipedia in opinions" [U.S. federal courts that is]. Quipped the blogger: "Pity the poor students and their failing grades. You'll have a better time citing Wikipedia when you become a judge."

I did a search on Quicklaw and found at least 5 Canadian cases that have cited Wikipedia:

• R. v. P.B.B., [2006] O.J. No. 2004 - Wikipedia article on "trust"
• R. v. Y.N., [2005] O.J. No. 4388 - quoted Wikipedia definition of "explanation"
• Gillet c. Arthur, [2005] J.Q. no 15034 - referred to Wikipedia article on "shock jock"
• Almrei v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2005] F.C.J. No. 437 - referred to Wikipedia article on the Maher Arar deportation and torture case
• Bajraktaraj v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), [2005] F.C.J. No. 293 - referred to Wikipedia material on Kosovo

Earlier Library Boy posts about the Wikipedia accuracy controversy:

• Following the Wikipedia Controversy (December 14, 2005)
• Encyclopedia Britannica Strikes Back At Wikipedia Comparisons (March 23, 2006)