Low Risk

validate_citation

Validate a Canadian legal citation against the database — zero-hallucination check. Parses the citation, checks that the document and provision exist, and returns warnings about status (repealed, amended). Use this to verify any citation BEFORE including it in a legal analysis. Supports formats: ...

Part of the Canadian Law MCP server. Enforce policies on this tool with Intercept, the open-source MCP proxy.

AI agents call validate_citation to retrieve information from Canadian Law without modifying any data. This is common in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows where the agent needs context before taking action. Because read operations don't change state, they are generally safe to allow without restrictions -- but you may still want rate limits to control API costs.

Even though validate_citation only reads data, uncontrolled read access can leak sensitive information or rack up API costs. An agent caught in a retry loop could make thousands of calls per minute. A rate limit gives you a safety net without blocking legitimate use.

Read-only tools are safe to allow by default. No rate limit needed unless you want to control costs.

eu-ansvar-canadian-law-mcp.yaml
tools:
  validate_citation:
    rules:
      - action: allow

See the full Canadian Law policy for all 13 tools.

Tool Name validate_citation
Category Read
Risk Level Low

View all 13 tools →

Agents calling read-class tools like validate_citation have been implicated in these attack patterns. Read the full case and prevention policy for each:

Browse the full MCP Attack Database →

Other tools in the Read risk category across the catalogue. The same policy patterns (rate-limit, allow) apply to each.

What does the validate_citation tool do? +

Validate a Canadian legal citation against the database — zero-hallucination check. Parses the citation, checks that the document and provision exist, and returns warnings about status (repealed, amended). Use this to verify any citation BEFORE including it in a legal analysis. Supports formats: "Section 5 PIPEDA", "s. 342.1 Criminal Code", "ss. 5-10 Privacy Act".. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Canadian Law MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on validate_citation? +

Add a rule in your Intercept YAML policy under the tools section for validate_citation. You can allow, deny, rate-limit, or validate arguments. Then run Intercept as a proxy in front of the Canadian Law MCP server.

What risk level is validate_citation? +

validate_citation is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit validate_citation? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the validate_citation rule in your Intercept policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block validate_citation completely? +

Set action: deny in the Intercept policy for validate_citation. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides validate_citation? +

validate_citation is provided by the Canadian Law MCP server (@ansvar/canadian-law-mcp). Intercept sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policies on Canadian Law

Open source. One binary. Zero dependencies.

npx -y @policylayer/intercept
github.com/policylayer/intercept →
// GET IN TOUCH

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