Legal research guide

As part of your legal research, you will need to be able to identify where a case has been reported. Case law citations use abbreviations to indicate the series the case has been reported in, yet library catalogues generally use the full series title. This means you will need to be able to look up an abbreviation to find the full series name before you can search library resources for your case.

Example: State Revenue v Dick Smith Electronics (2005) 221 CLR 496, 509.

In the example above, the series abbreviation is "CLR", which stands for the reporting series Commonwealth Law Reports. There are a number of tools that can assist with finding the full name of a case law series or legal journal series

Additionally, Lexis+'s CaseBase feature allows you to access an abbreviation/subject list from the help menu:

A citation for an unreported case should include a unique court identifier, which will help you determine which court the case was heard in.

Example: Smith v Leveraged Equities Ltd [2020] WASCA 122 [33].

In the example above, the unique court identifier is "WASCA".

• To find the most common unique court identifiers for decisions with medium neutral decisions, see AGLC Rule 2.3.1, which lists the most common unique court identifiers for decisions with medium neutral decisions.
• Appendix A in the print edition of the AGLC lists all Law Report Abbreviations.
• Appendix B lists all Australian Medium Neutral Unique Court (and tribunal) Identifiers.

With a few exceptions, the choice of [square brackets] or (round brackets/parentheses) indicates the manner in which the case series is organised.

(Parentheses) are used to include the year when a reporting series numbered its volumes starting at 1 (so you would have no idea of the age of the case without this extra information).

[Square Brackets] are used for reporting series that number volumes according to the year. This places the emphasis on the year for location purposes rather than on a recurring volume number.

Compare the following examples:

• Byrne v Australian Airlines Ltd (1995) 185 CLR 410 
• Byrne v Australian Airlines Ltd [1995] HCA 24

The first citation is from Commonwealth Law Reports ('CLR'), which has volumes that are numbered sequentially, from number 1 onwards. This volume number is only used once, and is thus unique, so the case can be found without reference to a year. So the year is not necessary to identify the correct volume.

The second is a medium-neutral citation from the High Court of Australia. The year is necessary to identify the case. 

Notes:

• Square brackets are regularly seen in unreported judgments
• Some exceptions occur in particular case series where the publisher has chosen not to adhere to standard conventions. For example: Corbett v Pallas [1995] Aust Torts Reports 62,236. This is particularly common in Australian reporting series.

The "party names" section of case citations commonly include the following abbreviated terms:

V

The written "v" between party names in a case title is derived from the Latin word 'versus', meaning against. In speaking of a case, most Commonwealth countries, including Australia, follow the English common law tradition of saying:

• 'And' in the case of civil action  eg: Mabo v Queensland
• 'Against' in the case of criminal actions  eg Tuting v The Queen

This rhyme may help you remember:

And or against in court, versus only in sport.

R

In writing, where the Queen or King is the first named party, it is written as R (e.g., R v Reid). R is derived from the Latin Rex (King) or Regina (Queen). R is typically used in criminal matters where the Crown is a party.

In speech, R is spoken as 'The Queen' or 'The King'. In writing, when the Queen or King is the respondent, R is not used. Instead, it is written "The Queen" or "The King" (e.g., Honeysett v The Queen).

You will see that there is sometimes a variation in the citation of a case. For instance R v Arndel (1906) 3 CLR 557 was initially written up as The King, on the Prosecution of Harard Freeman v Arndel. Today it is cited as R v Arndel.

& Ors/& Anor

Where many people are part of an action the first party's name is usually cited with "& Ors" (and others).

If there are only two parties the second party may be cited as "& Anor" (and another). Sometimes only the first party is cited in a citation, e.g. Mabo & Ors v State of Queensland and Ors (No. 2) is usually cited as Mabo v State of Queensland (No. 2). 

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, 2018) requires that '& Ors' and '& Another' not be used, with only the first named plaintiff and the first named defendant being cited (ALGC rule 2.1.1).

An abbreviated form of the jurisdiction in which the legislation was passed should appear in parentheses (round brackets) following the year.

The following abbreviations are used for Australian jurisdictions:

Acts

In an Act citation, a pinpoint reference will usually comprise of an abbreviation and a number, separated by a space. Common abbreviations are as follows:

• s - section
• ss - sections
• sub-s - subsection
• sub-ss - subsections
• sch - schedule
• schs - schedules
• app - appendix
• apps - appendices

Note: Where a subsection is added, it will appear in parenthesis after the section number with no space.

In the example below, the section number is 122A and the subsection number is 3.

Example: Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) s 122A(3)

Delegated legislation

Delegated legislation may use additional abbreviations to those listed above.

• ord - order
• ords - orders
• reg - regulation
• regs - regulations
• r - rule
• rr - rules

Note: Where a sub-regulation is added, it should appear in parenthesis after the regulation number with no space.

In the example below, the regulation number is 41 and the sub-regulation number is 7. 

Example: Environmental Protection (Controlled Waste) Regulations 2004 (WA) reg 41(7).

Bills

The citations for bills may include pinpoint references to a clause or clauses, abbreviated to ‘cl’ and ‘cls’ respectively.

More information

See the "Abbreviations" section of our AGLC guide for more information on AGLC abbreviation rules:

A citation for an explanatory memorandum for a bill may include:

• Type of document (in this case, "Explanatory Memorandum")
• Citation of bill
• Pinpoint reference

The Explanatory Memorandum for a Bill is cited the same as the Bill, prefixed with the term 'Explanatory Memorandum' as in the example above. Pinpoint references should be to page, or pages, or paragraphs of the memorandum.

See Reading legislation citations section of this guide for help understanding the citation of the bill:

A citation for a second reading speech from a parliamentary debate (or Hansard) may include:

• Jurisdiction
• Type of material
• Chamber (which house of parliament was the speech heard in)
• Date of debate
• Pinpoint reference
• Name of speaker
• Position of speaker (if they hold a position within a ministry or shadow minister that is particularly relevant)

For more information about extrinsic materials, see the Legislation guide:

The citation for a parliamentary paper (government publication) or Parliamentary Committee report may include:

• Committee
• Legislature
• Title
• Document type
• Series number
• Full date
• Pinpoint reference

Note: Where a committee is from one chamber of Parliament and this is not clear, this should be added to the start of the committee's name.

Note: Where the report includes both page and paragraph numbers, the paragraph numbers may form part of the pinpoint reference in addition to the page numbers.

A citation for a Law Reform Commission report may include:

• Author/name of Law Reform Commission
• Title
• Document type
• Series number
• Full date
• Pinpoint reference

Example: Australian Law Reform Commission, Elder Abuse (Discussion Paper No 83, December 2016) 4.

A citation for a Royal Commission report may include:

• Title
• Document type
• Series number
• Document number
• Full date
• Pinpoint reference