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Citing Case Law
Primary materials are documents containing the law. Primary Materials are made up of two major categories, case law and legislation.
In this topic, we will look at the requirements for citing cases.
The citation rules set out in The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, 2018) are the basis of instructions listed here.
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Cases are the records of the judgment or decision of the court. Every decision starts out as an unreported judgment which is distributed to the parties involved and is published online in the unreported or medium neutral format. Those decisions which are considered particularly important are published in authorised or official report series. The report series contain editorial analysis and summary information (the headnotes) and the judge(s) words (the decision or the judgment) while the unreported series contain only minimal headnotes as produced by the court, and the judge(s)' words. The image to the right shows the case Dalgarno v Hannah (1903) 1 CLR 1. This page shows information such as the appeal history, the court it was heard in, the judges, the dates of hearing and headnotes. |
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Authorised or official series:
The 'authorised' or 'official' report series is that which has been selected and approved by the judiciary, nominees or relevant government department as the preferred series of reports.
Each jurisdiction has only one series which is designated as authorised.
Cases which enunciate a general principle or point of law are usually included in the authorised series of reports.
While series of reports which are not authorised are still acceptable in courts, if a case has been reported in an authorised series as well as another series, it is preferable to cite the authorised report.
AGLC rule 2.2.2 requires that, where available, an authorised report be cited in preference to an unauthorised report (see also Rules of the Supreme Court 1971 (WA) 0.34.5.9A).
See the Authorised Report Series Quick Guide for a list of relevant report series.
Unauthorised series:
These report series are produced more quickly and many are directed towards satisfying the needs of specialist practitioners.
These are published in response to market forces.
There are several series of reports reproducing taxation and corporate law decisions.
Other areas with dedicated report series include family law, criminal law, motor vehicle reports, intellectual property reports and more.
Unauthorised series of reports include many reports of cases which may be published later in an authorised series.
However, they also include reports which may only be of transient interest, or illustrate the application of authoritative cases.
AGLC rule 2.2.2 requires that, where an authorised series report does not exist, a generalist unauthorised reports should be cited in preference to subject specific unauthorised reports.
For example, if a case report where to appear in both the ALRs (Australian Law Reports) and the LGERAs (Local Government and Environmental Reports of Australia), but not in an authorised series, the ALR citation should be used.
AGLC rule 2.2.7 requires that parallel citations not be used.
Unreported decisions:
When decisions are handed down by a judge or judges, they are described as being 'unreported'.
Decisions are then selected by the judge or judicial editorial board to be included in the authorised series, or by publishers for reporting in one of the subject series of reports.
Although there is debate about the precedent value of unreported decisions, in practice and in academia they are heavily used as they may contain the only statement on the law on a particular subject.
Unreported judgements have different citation rules (see AGLC rule 2.3) to law reports as noted below.
'Medium neutral' citation is a method of citing an unreported judgment which does not discriminate between judgments published in electronic or print formats.
Rule 2.2.2 Law Report Series Hierarchy
The authorised version of the report should always be used where available.
The version of a case to be cited should follow the preference order below (from top to bottom):
| Version | Examples |
|---|---|
| Authorised report | CLR, FCR, NSWLR, VR,WAR |
| Generalist unauthorised report | ALR, AJLR, FLR, ACTR |
| Subject-specific unauthorised report | A Crim R, ACSR, IR, IPR |
| Unreported (medium neutral citation) | HCA, FCA, NSWSC, VSC |
| Unreported (no medium neutral citation) | See rule 2.3.2 |
How to read a Case Citation
Students studying law are required to develop understanding and confidence reading case citations.
The following citation, taken from CaseBase on Lexis Advance, shows the different parts of an example case citation and what the abbreviations mean.
What does the series abbreviation mean?
The initial citation task is to identify where the case has been reported.
Library catalogues generally use the full series title which means you need to be able to use the appropriate tools to find what the abbreviation means.
The two main tools used to assist you with finding out the name of a case law series or legal journal series are:
- Cardiff University, Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations. This should answer the majority of your abbreviation questions.
- Raistrick, Donald, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations (3rd ed, London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2008). This is generally referred to as Raistrick's. A copy of this Index is shelved in the Law Library Reference collection at 340.0148 RAI 2008.
Other citation indexes are shelved at the same number in the Reference collection in Level 3 and are listed to the left of this text box.
Once you have found the unabbreviated name of the report series, you can enter this into Library Search.
This will give you a listing of the Library's holdings of the series, including whether it is available in print, electronically, or both.
Reported Cases
The essence of a case citation for a report series is:
Parties' names + year + volume (if any) + series abbreviation + starting page number +, pinpoint reference.
Notes:
The notes listed here are not exhaustive, but are designed to point students to the pertinent sections of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. AGLC rule 2 details the requirements for citing cases.
Parties' names
Where parties to a case are individuals, given names and initials should be omitted (AGLC rule 2.1.1).
Where there are many parties to the case, only the first named plaintiff and defendant should be included in the citation and the abbreviations & Anor and & Ors should not be used (AGLC rule 2.1.1).
AGLC rule 2.1 deals exhaustively with the requirement for citing party names including business names, states' names, the Crown, government departments and Ministers (AGLC rules 2.1.2 – 2.1.7).
AGLC rule 2.1 also details how cases including Re, Ex parte, and ex rel in the party names should be cited (AGLC rules 2.1.9 -2.1.10).
v
A ‘ v ’ should separate the parties’ names and it should be italicised and not followed by a full stop. In speech, the ‘v’ is spoken as ‘and’ in civil cases and ‘against’ in criminal cases (AGLC rule 2.1.11).
Parallel Citations
AGLC rule 2.2.7 states that parallel citations should not be used for Australian cases.
Multiple Proceedings
AGLC rule 2.1.13 specifies that where there are multiple proceedings between the parties, the number of the decision should appear in square brackets, if it appears in the case name itself. This rule applies equally for unreported judgments.
Year and Volume
Where the case report series is organised by volume, the year of the report being cited appears in round brackets, and where it is organised by year, the year of the report being cited appears in square brackets (AGLC rule 2.2.1).
Series Abbreviations
The abbreviation of the law report series should adhere to AGLC rule 2.2.3, and use the abbreviations which appear in the appendix to the AGLC.
First Page and Pinpoint Reference
The first page of the report should appear after the abbreviated form of the case series (AGLC rule 2.2.4).
A 'pinpoint' refers to a specific page or paragraph to which a reference is being made. Pinpoint references should appear after the start page and be preceded by a comma and a space.
Where the report is paginated, the pinpoint should be to a page number. If paragraph numbers are also present, the paragraph number may be included in addition, in square brackets (AGLC rule 2.2.5).
Unreported Cases
The essence of a case citation for an unreported judgment in medium neutral format is:
Parties' names + [Year of publication] + Unique court identifier + Judgment number + (Full date) + [Pinpoint].
Notes:
The notes listed here are not exhaustive, but are designed to point students to the pertinent sections of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. AGLC Part 2.3 details the requirements for citing cases.
Parties' Names
The same rules apply for citing parties' names in a medium neutral format as for a citation from a report series.
Multiple Proceedings
AGLC rule 2.1.13 specifies that where there are multiple proceedings between the parties, the number of the decision should appear in square brackets, if it appears in the case name itself (see the example above, where [No 2] appears in the case name). This rule applies equally for reported judgments.
Unique Court Identifier
AGLC rule 2.3.1 details how decisions with medium neutral citations should be cited. The preferred unique court identifiers for the superior courts are listed at this rule.
Judgment Number, Full Date and Pinpoint Reference
The judgment number follows the unique court identifier, followed by the full date in parenthesis and the pinpoint, which will be to a paragraph number, appears in square brackets (AGLC rule 2.3.1).
