Anaya Nolan
Case law refers to law established by judicial decisions in cases. Case law references are used to cite a particular case in a law report. The traditional form of legal citation requires the case name, year of decision, volume number, reporter title, series number, and page or paragraph number. For example, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) indicates that the case can be found in volume 347 of the United States Reports, starting on page 483, and was decided in 1954. Case law references may vary depending on the jurisdiction and specific citation standards or guides, such as the use of neutral citations or electronic databases.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Case name | In italics |
| v to separate names | Indicates language of case is English |
| Year of decision | In round brackets |
| Court identifier | Abbreviated |
| Judgment number | Allocated by the court |
| Pinpoint references | Refer to paragraph numbers |
| Official reporter | Published or sanctioned by the court |
| Unofficial reporter | Commercially published |
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What You'll Learn
Case law referencing in England and Wales
Case law referencing is a standardised way of citing a judicial decision in a case. In England and Wales, there are no official law reports, but the Law Reports series published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting are regarded as the most authoritative reports. They include the arguments of counsel and are checked by both counsel and the judge. If a case is reported in this series, it should be cited in preference to any other report.
The general structure of a case law reference is as follows:
Case Name (in italics), Year, Volume, Reporter Title (Series), Page, Court. For example, R v Latimer (1995), 126 DLR (4th) 203 (Sask CA). Here, R v Latimer is the case name, 1995 is the year, volume 126 identifies the exact volume, DLR stands for Dominion Law Reports, 4th series, and the case begins on page 203, as heard by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, abbreviated as Sask CA.
If a judgment is not reported in the Law Reports, cite the Weekly Law Reports or the All England Law Reports. Only if a judgment is not reported in one of these general series should you refer to a specialist series, such as the Lloyd's Law Reports or the Family Law Reports.
In the case of European Court Reports, refer to the official reports, which are cited as ECR. If an ECR reference is not available, the second-best report is usually the Common Market Law Reports (CMLR). When citing an opinion of an Advocate General, add the words 'Opinion of AG [name]' after the case citation and before any pinpoint.
When citing electronic versions of decisions, include the name of the database or online source. Oxford University, for example, uses OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities). Since 2001, there has been a shift towards 'neutral' citations, which provide a naming system that does not depend on the publication of the case in a law report. A neutral citation includes the case name, the year, and a unique court identifier code.
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Citing EU cases
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is divided into two courts: the Court of Justice and the General Court (known as the Court of First Instance until 2009). The European Case-Law Identifier (ECLI) system has been adopted by the Court of Justice of the European Union to provide an unambiguous reference to both national and European case-law. The ECLI is composed of a prefix, the code corresponding to the Member State of the court, the abbreviation of the court that delivered the decision, and an ordinal number.
When citing cases from the Court of Justice or the General Court, the following should be included:
- Case number
- Case name
- Year
- Report abbreviation
- First page
If the case number and name have been given in the text of your work, the footnote can be structured as such: [year] report abbreviation page number. If the case number and name have not been given, the footnote should include the case number, followed by the name, year, report abbreviation, and page number. To pinpoint a specific paragraph, follow the citation with a comma, the word 'para', and the paragraph number. If citing multiple paragraphs, use 'paras' and insert a dash between the paragraph numbers.
For example, the ECLI of the judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 July 2005, Schempp (C-403/03), is: ‘EU:C:2005:446’. The case name is written in italics, with the case number in brackets, followed by the report citation.
It is important to note that for cases decided by the Court of Justice since 1989, the case number will include the prefix "C". Cases decided by the General Court, created in 1989, will include the prefix "T". For example, Case T-340/99 Arne Mathisen AS v Council [2002] ECR II-2905.
Since 2012, cases adjudicated in the EU court system are published online only. For cases from 2012 onwards, cite the Court's website, which contains cases from 1954 onwards.
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Case law citation standards in Canada
Case law citation in Canada has several standard formats, including the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (also known as "The McGill Guide"), the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide, and the Bluebook when writing for publication in an American journal. The Bluebook is a standard citation guide for law in the United States.
The McGill Guide is a comprehensive guide to legal citation in Canada, covering a range of topics such as citing cases, legislation, and secondary sources. It provides specific rules and examples for constructing Canadian legal citations, including how to indicate the jurisdiction and court that decided the case. For example, the guide instructs users to assume that a law is up-to-date as of the date of publication. Thus, the citation "Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46" refers to the current version of the Criminal Code, including any recent changes.
The Canadian Guide to Legal Citation, often referred to as the McGill Guide, is the basis for the Douglas College library's guides. It provides a neutral citation standard, which permits the identification of a case independently of a printed reporter. Courts assign neutral citations when rendering a decision, and they are the preferred citation format. A neutral citation includes the case name (also known as the style of cause) in italics, followed by a comma and "v" to separate the parties' names. The date of implementation for the neutral citation standard varies for British Columbia courts.
The Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide is another resource for case law citation in Canada. It provides guidance on how to cite cases, legislation, and other legal sources. This guide includes information on standard abbreviations for jurisdictions and courts, as well as specific implementation dates and abbreviations for Canadian courts.
In general, when citing case law in Canada, it is important to include the case name, the year of the decision, the court identifier, and the page or paragraph number if relevant. The specific format may vary depending on the citation guide being used, but the goal is always to provide clear and consistent citations that allow readers to easily locate the referenced legal information.
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Official and unofficial reporters in India
In India, there are over 300 law reports published today, compared to none during pre-British rule. Official reports are published by the authorities and are governmentally approved. They are not very popular as they are updated slowly and are often quite expensive. One example of an official law report in India is the Indian Law Reports.
Unofficial reports, on the other hand, are published by commercial publishers and are generally considered non-official. They are often favoured over official reports due to their speedy publication. However, they may charge high fees for their services and tend to be repetitive. An example of an unofficial all-India report is the All India Reporter.
Unofficial reports may include editorial enhancements such as headnotes, which are brief summaries of specific points of law decided in a case. While headnotes are great research tools, they are not considered legal authority and should not be cited.
In the legal field, it is expected that lawyers are equipped to navigate through these reports and databases efficiently. However, due to the multitude of reports available, individuals may need to subscribe to multiple reports to understand the full picture, which can be costly.
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Neutral citations
A case law reference is a way of citing a previous case in a legal document. Case law references are also known as legal or case citations.
> Smith v Jones [2001] EWCA Civ 10 at [30], [2001] QB 124, [2001] 2 All ER 364, etc.
Here, the neutral citation is " [2001] EWCA Civ 10 at [30]". The paragraph number, " [30]", must be the number allotted by the court in all future versions of the judgment.
If a case is unreported but has a neutral citation, this should be given. If an unreported case does not have a neutral citation (which will always be the case before 2001), give the court and the date of the judgment in brackets after the name of the case.
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Frequently asked questions
A case law reference is a citation to a previous judicial decision in a case.
The traditional form of legal citation requires the following elements: case name (also known as the style of cause) in italics, 'v' to separate the names (indicating the language of the case is English) in italics, and the year of the decision in round brackets.
There are two main types of case law references: neutral citations and printed reporter citations. Neutral citations are assigned by the court when a decision is rendered and do not depend on the publication of the case in a law report. Printed reporter citations are found in official or unofficial reporters, which are series of books containing court decisions arranged in chronological order.
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