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Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past
court case
A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either civil or criminal law. In most legal cases there are one or mor ...
decisions, either in series of books called
reporters
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
or
law reports, or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case citations are formatted differently in different
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
J ...
s, but generally contain the same key information.
A legal citation is a "reference to a legal precedent or authority, such as a case, statute, or treatise, that either substantiates or contradicts a given position." Where cases are published on paper, the citation usually contains the following information:
* Court that issued the decision
* Report title
* Volume number
* Page, section, or paragraph number
* Publication year
In some report series, for example in England, Australia and some in Canada, volumes are not numbered independently of the year: thus the year and volume number (usually no greater than 4) are required to identify which book of the series has the case reported within its covers. In such citations, it is usual in these jurisdictions to apply square
brackets "" to the year (which may not be the year that the case was decided: for example, a case decided in December 2001 may have been reported in 2002).
The Internet brought with it the opportunity for courts to publish their decisions on websites and most published court decisions now appear in that way. They can be found through many national and other websites, such as
WorldLII an
AfricanLII that are operated by members of the
Free Access to Law Movement
The Free Access to Law Movement (FALM) is the international movement and organization devoted to providing free online access to legal information such as case law, legislation, treaties, law reform proposals and legal scholarship. The movement b ...
.
The resulting flood of non-paginated information has led to numbering of paragraphs and the adoption of a medium-neutral citation system. This usually contains the following information:
* Year of decision
* Abbreviated title of the court
* Decision number (not the court file number)
Rather than utilizing page numbers for pinpoint references, which would depend upon particular printers and
browsers, pinpoint quotations refer to paragraph numbers.
Pronunciation of case titles
In
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
countries with an
adversarial system
The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to det ...
of justice, the names of the opposing parties are separated in the case title by the abbreviation ''v'' (usually written as ''v'' in
Commonwealth countries and usually as ''v.'' in the U.S.
) of the Latin word ''versus'', which means ''against''. When case titles are read out loud, the ''v'' can be pronounced, depending on the context, as ''and'', ''against'', ''versus'', or ''vee''.
Commonwealth pronunciation
Most Commonwealth countries follow English legal style:
*
Civil cases
Civil law is a major branch of the law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non- criminal law. The law r ...
are pronounced with ''and''. For example, ''Smith v Jones'' would be pronounced "Smith Jones".
[ School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) Library, ]
Understanding UK Case Law
', Research Guide (London: SOAS Library, August 2012), pp. 5–6. 'The small letter “v” is an abbreviation of versus. However, the term “and” is used to pronounce it, rather than “v” or “versus”, e.g. the case “Smith v Jones” would be pronounced “Smith and Jones.” . . . A riminalcase can be pronounced in a number of ways, e.g. “R. v Smith” would be pronounced either “the Crown against Smith”, or it can be referred to as simply “Smith.” '
*
Criminal cases are pronounced with ''against''. For example, ''R v Smith'' would be pronounced "the Crown Smith".
The Latin words ''Rex'', ''Regina'', and ''versus'' are all rendered into English.
* In Australia and the United Kingdom, ''versus'' and ''vee'' are arguably incorrect.
* In
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, both civil and criminal cases are pronounced using "against" in the place of "v".
American pronunciation
In the United States, there is no consensus on the pronunciation of the abbreviation ''v.'' This has led to much confusion about the pronunciation and spelling of court cases:
* ''Versus'' is most commonly used, leading some newspapers to use the common abbreviation ''vs.'' in place of the legal abbreviation ''v.''
* ''Against'' is a matter of personal style. For example,
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
and
John Paul Stevens preferred to announce cases at the Supreme Court with ''against''.
* ''And'' is used by some law professors, but other law professors regard it as an affectation.
* ''Vee'' is used almost exclusively for ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', probably due to its widespread invocation in American culture.
During
oral arguments
Oral arguments are spoken presentations to a judge or appellate court by a lawyer (or parties when representing themselves) of the legal reasons why they should prevail. Oral argument at the appellate level accompanies written briefs, which also a ...
in ''
Planned Parenthood v. Casey'' (1992), the participants demonstrated the lack of consensus on the pronunciation of "''v.''", using different pronunciations. Solicitor General
Ken Starr even managed to use all three of the most common American pronunciations interchangeably:
Australia
Legal citation in Australia generally mirrors the methods of citation used in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. A widely used guide to Australian legal citation is the ''
Australian Guide to Legal Citation'' (commonly known as AGLC), published jointly by the ''
Melbourne University Law Review'' and the ''
Melbourne Journal of International Law''.
The standard case citation format in Australia is:
As in Canada, there has been divergence among citation styles. There exist commercial citation guides published by Butterworths and other legal publishing companies, academic citation styles and court citation styles. Each court in Australia may cite the same case slightly differently. There is presently a movement in convergence to the comprehensive academic citation style of the
Australian Guide to Legal Citation published jointly by the ''
Melbourne University Law Review'' and the ''
Melbourne Journal of International Law''.
Reports
Neutral citation
Australian courts and tribunals have now adopted a neutral citation standard for case law. The format provides a naming system that does not depend on the publication of the case in a law report. Most cases are now published on AustLII using neutral citations.
[Austlii.edu.au](_blank)
/ref>
The standard format looks like this:
So the above-mentioned ''Mabo'' case would then be cited like this: ''Mabo v Queensland (No 2)'' 992
Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Worldwide
* Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...
HCA 23.
There is a unique court identifier code for most courts. The court and tribunal identifiers include:
References
Australian Guide to Legal Citation
Canada
''The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation''
There are a number of citation standards in Canada. Many legal publishing companies and schools have their own standard for citation. Since the late 1990s, however, much of the legal community has converged to a single standard—formulated in '' The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation / Manuel canadien de la référence juridique'', commonly known as the "McGill Guide
The ''Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation'' (''McGill Guide'' or ''Red Book''; french: Manuel canadien de la référence juridique) is a legal citation guide in Canada. It is published by the ''McGill Law Journal'' of the McGill University ...
" after the ''McGill Law Journal
The ''McGill Law Journal'' is a student-run legal publication at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal. It is a not-for-profit corporation independent of the Faculty and it is managed exclusively by students. The ''Journal'' also publishes t ...
'', which first published it. The following format reflects this standard:
:'' Hunter v Southam'', 984
Year 984 ( CMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – German boy-king Otto III (4-years old) is seized by the deposed Henry II ...
2 SCR 145.
Broken into its component parts, the format is:
The ''Style of Cause'' is italicized as in all other countries and the party names are separated by ''v'' (English) or ''c'' (French). Prior to 1984 the appellant party would always be named first. However, since then case names do not switch order when the case is appealed.
Undisclosed parties to a case are represented by initials (e.g., '' R v RDS''). Criminal cases are prosecuted by the Crown, which is always represented by ''R'' for ''Regina'' (queen) or ''Rex'' (king). Reference questions (advisory opinions) are always entitled ''Reference re'' followed by the subject title.
If the year of decision is the same as the year of the report and the date is a part of the reporter's citation, then the date need not be listed after the ''style of cause''. If the date of the decision is different from the year of the report, then both should be shown.
Where available, cases should be cited with their neutral citation immediately after the ''style of cause'' and preceding the print citation. For example,
:'' Chaoulli v Quebec (Attorney General)'', 2005 SCC 35, 0051 SCR 791.
This format was adopted as the standard in 2006, in the sixth edition of the McGill Guide. Prior to this format, the opposite order of parallel citation was used.
The seventh edition of the McGill Guide, published 2010-08-20, removes most full stop/period (".") characters from the citations, e.g., a citation to the Supreme Court Reports that previously would have been 0051 S.C.R. 791, is now 0051 SCR 791. Most full stops are also removed from styles of cause. The seventh edition also further highlights the significance of neutral citations (i.e., tribunal-assigned citations that are publisher-independent).
Reports
Neutral citation
In 1999 the Canadian Judicial Council
The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC; french: Conseil canadien de la magistrature) is the national council of the judiciary of Canada, overseeing the country's federal judges.
The Council has 41 members, composed of chief justices and associate chi ...
adopted a neutral citation standard for case law. The format provides a naming system that does not depend on the publication of the case in a law report.
The standard format looks like this:
Court identifiers
There is a unique court identifier code for most courts.
Denmark
Denmark has no official standard or style guide governing case citation. However, most case citations include the same elements.
Published decisions
Citations of decisions published in a reporter usually consist of the ''name or abbreviation of the reporter'', the ''year or volume'', the ''page number'' where the decision begin (sometimes followed by an ''identifying number'' if more than one judgment is on a page), as well as the ''name or abbreviation of the court which decided the case''. As an example, the "Aalborg Kloster-judgment", a precedent-setting Supreme Court judgment regarding strict liability, is published in Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen volume 1968 as the second judgment on page 84. A citation of this case could take the form , , , or something similar. In this case ''U'', ''UfR'' and ''Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen'' identify the reporter, ''1968'' identifies the year or volume, ''84'' identifies the starting page, ''/2'' indicates that the judgment is the second one on that particular page, and ''H'' identifies the court which decided the case.
Certain reporters, such as Tidsskrift for Skatter og Afgifter, do not identify published decisions by page number, but by a serial number. Citations to these reporters use the serial number in place of a page number.
Unpublished decisions
If a decision has not been published in a reporter, more identifying information is needed. Generally, citations to unreported cases involve the ''name of the court'', the ''date of the decision'' and the ''case number'' assigned by the court. For example: Sø- og Handelsrettens dom af 3. maj 2018 i sag nr. V-17-17 (The Maritime and Commercial Court's judgment of May 3 in case no. V-17-17). Certain authors format these citations to mimic the "short citation" of published cases.
Neutral citations and the ECLI
The Danish Court Administration
The Danish Court Administration ( da, Domstolsstyrelsen) is the national council of the judiciary of Denmark. It is an independent institution responsible for the management and development of the Courts of Denmark, Danish court system and Appeals ...
is currently working on a public database which will make all judgments available to the public (currently only the Supreme Court as well as the Maritime and Commercial Court do this). The database is expected to implement the European Case Law Identifier
The European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) is an identifier for court decisions in Europe. The identifier consists of five elements separated by colons: ECLI:'' ountry code':'' ourt identifier':''ear of decision':'' pecific identifier'. The standard ...
, which will make uniform, neutral citations of decisions possible.
Reporters
References
*
* '' Biao v. Denmark'', no. 38590/10, § 26
* ''Christensen v. Denmark'', no. 247/07, § 59
* FT 2015-16, appendix A
L 22 as submitted
, pp. 9–10
* ''Jersild v. Denmark'', no. 15890/89, § 18
*
Germany
In Germany there are two types of citation: the full citation of a case and its shortened form. In e.g. scientific articles, the full citation of a particular case is only used at its first occurrence; after that, its shortened form is used. In most law journals, the articles themselves only use the shortened form; the full citations for all articles sometimes are summarized at the beginning of that journals edition.
A third type (yet not too widely spread) is the citation by using the European Case Law Identifier
The European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) is an identifier for court decisions in Europe. The identifier consists of five elements separated by colons: ECLI:'' ountry code':'' ourt identifier':''ear of decision':'' pecific identifier'. The standard ...
, a ″neutral″ citation system introduced by the Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
in 2011, which Germany is participating in.
Federal Constitutional Court
The most important cases of the Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...
are published by the court in its official collection. This collection is abbreviated ''BVerfGE'', whereas ''BVerfG'' is short for , the German court name, and ''E'' stands for (decision).
Starting in 2004, the court also publishes the BVerfGK collection, containing decisions made only by a , a specific panel of the court.
The so-called ' for example could be cited
:BVerfGE 65, 1 (43), Urteil des Ersten Senats vom 15. Dezember 1983 auf die mündliche Verhandlung vom 18. und 19. Oktober 1983, Az. 1 BvR 209, 269, 362, 420, 440, 484/83.
in full and
:BVerfGE 65, 1 (43).
in short.
For the meaning of the different case numbers of the BVerfG see the German article.
If decisions are not yet published by the court, or will not be published at all, law journals can be cited, e.g.,
:BVerfG, NJW 2009, 1234 (1235 f.).
Where ''NJW'' stands for the law journal '' Neue Juristische Wochenschrift'', 2009 is the year, 1234 the page of the beginning and 1235 the cited page(s) – "f." stands for "seq.". In general, citations of the official collections are preferred.
Federal Court of Justice
The Federal Court of Justice
The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...
(, short BGH) publishes the official collections for its criminal law decisions and for those in private law.
The ' e.g. would be cited
:BGHSt 35, 347 ff., Urteil des 4. Strafsenats vom 15. September 1988, Az. 4 StR 352/88.
in full and
:BGHSt 35, 347 ff.
in short (in this example, the page cited is not specifically page 347 but that and those which follow, as indicated by the abbreviation "ff.").
Other federal courts
The official collection of the Federal Social Court
The Federal Social Court (''Bundessozialgericht'') is the German federal court of appeals for social security cases, mainly cases concerning the public health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and occupational accident insu ...
(, BSG) is abbreviated .
The official collection of the Federal Fiscal Court
The Federal Fiscal Court (''Bundesfinanzhof'') is one of five federal supreme courts of Germany, established according to Article 95 of the Basic Law. It is the federal court of appeal for tax and customs matters in cases which have already bee ...
(, BFH) is .
The official collection of the Federal Labour Court
The Federal Labour Court (''Bundesarbeitsgericht'') is the court of the last resort for cases of labour law in Germany, both for individual labour law (mostly concerning contracts of employment) and collective labour law (e.g. cases concerning st ...
(, BAG) is .
The official collection of the Federal Administrative Court (, BVerwG) is .
Other courts
For other courts, generally the same rules apply, though most do not publish an official collection, so they must be cited from a law journal.
European Case Law Identifier
According to the ECLI system the ''Volkszählungsurteil'' would be cited as
:ECLI:DE:BVerfG:1983:rs19831215.1bvr020983
and the ''Katzenkönigfall'' as
:ECLI:DE:BGH:1988:150988U4STR352.88.0
India
India's vast federated judicial system admits to a large number of reporters, each with their own style of citation. There are over 200 law reports in India – subject-wise and state (province)-wise, authorized and unauthorized.
Supreme Court of India
The official reporter for Supreme Court decisions is the Supreme Court Reports. These reports however lag behind other journals in the speed of reporting. While decisions themselves are uploaded by the Supreme Court itself on ''www.courtnic.nic.in'', the edited versions with headnotes in the official reporter take years to compile. However, some reporters have been authorised to publish the Court's decisions. The ''All India Reporter'' (AIR) is an old and respected reporter that, in addition to the Supreme Court, also reports decisions of the various State High Courts. Other popular reporters include ''Supreme Court Cases'', which has become the most cited report in the Supreme Court, the ''Supreme Court Almanac'', and ''Judgements Today''.
''Sebastian Hongray v. Union of India
Sebastian may refer to:
People
* Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films and television
* ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film
* ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film
...
'':
* AIR 1984 SC 571 – "AIR" refers to the ''All India Reporter'', "1984" is the year of judgement (AIR does not use a volume-based classification), "SC" refers to the Supreme Court of India, and "571" is the first page number of the report within the volume;
* (1984) 1 SCC 339 – "1984" is the year of publication, "1" is the volume number of the reporter, "SCC" stands for ''Supreme Court Cases'' (the name of the reporter), and "339" is the first page number of the report within the volume; and
* 1984 Cri LJ 289 (SC) – "1984" is the year of publication, "Cri LJ" is an abbreviation for the ''Criminal Law Journal'' (the name of the reporter), and "289" is the first page number of the report within the volume. The "SC" in parentheses indicates that the case was heard by the Supreme Court.
A citation of the "Supreme Court Almanac":
* '' Additional Secretary, Government of India v. Alka Subhash Gadia'' (1990) 2 Scale 1352
A citation in "Judgements Today":
* ''Premium Granites v. State of Tamil Nadu
Premium may refer to:
Marketing
* Premium (marketing), a promotional item that can be received for a small fee when redeeming proofs of purchase that come with or on retail products
* Premium segment, high-price brands or services in marketing ...
'' JT (1994) 1 SC 374
The "Supreme Court Cases (SCC)" published supplementary reports for a few years in the early 1990s. Those citations looked like this:
* ''Federation of Mining Associations v. State of Rajasthan
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...
'' 1992 Supp (2) SCC 239, which points to page 239 of the Second Supplementary Volume of the SCC reports in the year 1992. From 1996 the Supplementary Volumes were numbered in sequence after the regular volumes.
The SCC also have a separate series of subject-based reporting of the decisions of the Supreme Court:
* '' Rathinam Nagbhushan Patnaik v. Union of India'' 1994 SCC (Cri) 740, which refers to the SCC Criminal Reports
* ''Delhi Transport Corporation v. Mazdoor Congress
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
'' 1991 SCC (L&S) 1213, which refers to the SCC Labour & Services Reports
National Judicial Reference System ( NJRS)
National Judicial Reference System ( NJRS) is a project started by the Income-tax Department, Government of India. It has been envisaged as a tool to achieve efficiency in the tax litigation process of Income Tax Department (ITD). Within this project the Judicial Research & Reference System (JRRS) – JRRS is a repository of judicial orders as a single, indexed, searchable, cross-linked, database of Judgments / orders of ITAT, Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), HC and SC.
The Citation nomenclature followed within NJRS :
* '' Chandra Ranganathan & Ors. v. Commissioner of Income-tax'' 2009-LL-1021, which refers to NJRS citations.
This Citation further allows to add the Authority where the judgment / order was pronounced.
* '' Chandra Ranganathan & Ors. v. Commissioner of Income-tax'' 2009-LL-1021-SC, which refers to NJRS citations.
New Zealand
The standard case citation format in New Zealand is:
Several leading law reviews in New Zealand have also adopted the '' Australian Guide to Legal Citation'' (AGLC) such as the ''Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
Law Review''. The AGLC style is also rather similar to citation style in New Zealand.
Reporters
Additionally, a number of other report series exist for specialist areas such as Family, Employment and Tax Law.
Neutral citation
New Zealand courts and tribunals have begun to adopt a neutral citation standard for case law. The format provides a naming system that does not depend on the publication of the case in a law report.
The standard format looks like this:
There is a unique court identifier for each court or tribunal. These identifiers are:
Where both a neutral citation and a reporter citation exist, the neutral citation should come first e.g. ''R v AM'' 010NZCA 114, 0102 NZLR 750
Norway
The Norwegian standard case citation format for published court decisions is:
:Rt. 1952 s. 989 ''(Telefonsjikanedommen)''
where:
* Rt. identifies the report series.
** All supreme court judgments are published in Retstidende (Court Times), abbreviated Rt.
** Many judgments and decisions from lower courts are published in Rettens gang (RG).
* 1952 is the year of reporter
* s. is the Norwegian abbreviation for page. This is optional.
* 989 is the first page number of the decision in the reporter.
* Finally, one can add the popular name of the decision. It is unusual to refer to name of the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s), but often there is an unofficial name. ''Telefonsjikanedommen'' refers to a 1952 case where the Supreme Court ruled that telephone harassment ("telefonsjikane") was not illegal under the current criminal code.
Philippines
Despite the long-standing civil law tradition in the Philippines, reliance on judicial precedents has become indispensable since the period of American rule. Supreme Court decisions are expressly recognized as part of the internal law, and are thus frequently cited in court decisions and legal pleadings. Though there is only one Supreme Court in the Philippines, the citation of its decisions varies, depending on which reporter of a case is relied on by the person citing that case.
Supreme Court
''Philippine Reports''
The ''Philippine Reports'' is the official reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. The standard format for citation of the ''Philippine Reports'' is:
:''People v. Flores'', 442 Phil. 561 (2002)
where:
* ''People v. Flores'' is the name of the case
* ''442'' is the volume number of the ''Philippine Reports'' where the case may be found
* ''Phil.'' is the standard abbreviation of ''Philippine Reports''
* ''561'' is the page number in the ''Philippine Reports'' that contains the beginning of the decision. If this number is followed by a comma then another page number (i.e., ''442 Phil. 561, 563''), the latter number indicates the particular page where the annotated text can be found
* ''(2002)'' is the year the case was decided.
As of present, Philippine cases are contained in quarterly issues.The Supreme Court Reports Annotated or SCRA are cited as such:
Juarez v. Court of Appeals 214 SCRA 475
where 214 is the volume of the book, and 475 is the page number. There are already over 700 SCRAs in circulation.
''Supreme Court Reports Annotated''
In the last few decades, the ''Philippine Reports'' has suffered from production problems, resulting in long delays in publication, as well as significant gaps within its published series. As a result, the privately published ''Supreme Court Reports Annotated'' (published by Central Professional Books, Inc.) has become more widely used than the ''Philippine Reports'', even by the courts. The proper format for citation of the ''Supreme Court Reports Annotated'' is:
:''Fortich v. Corona'', G.R. No. 131457, 24 April 1998, 289 SCRA 624
where:
* ''Fortich v. Corona'' is the name of the case
* ''G.R. No. 131457'' is the case docket number originally assigned by the Supreme Court at the time the action was filed with the Court (G.R. stands for General Register)
* ''24 April 1998'' is the exact date the decision of this case was promulgated
* ''289'' is the volume number of the ''Supreme Court Reports Annotated'' where the case may be found
* ''SCRA'' is the standard abbreviation of ''Supreme Court Reports Annotated''
* ''624'' is the page number in the ''Supreme Court Reports Annotated'' that contains the beginning of the decision. If this number is followed by a comma then another page number (i.e., ''289 SCRA 624, 627''), the latter number indicates the particular page where the annotated text can be found
When citing cases not yet reported in the SCRA or ''Philippine Reports'', the above citation without reference to the SCRA is preferred (i.e., ''Fortich v. Corona'', G.R. No. 131457, 24 April 1988)
Lower court decisions
As there are no official or unofficial reporters that regularly publish decisions of the Court of Appeals
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
and other lower courts, citation of their decisions hews to the same format as cases not reported either in the Philippine Reports or the SCRA. Thus: (case name), (docket number), (date of promulgation of decision). For the Court of Appeals, docket numbers begin as CA-G.R. No., followed by either CR for criminal, CV for civil, and SP for the "Special Cases Section".
South Africa
Cape
Eastern Districts
Griqualand
Natal
Orange
Transvaal
Switzerland
Citations vary by court and by language. Cases of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court are cited as follows:
Officially published cases are cited as ''BGE 133 II 292 . 3.2 S. 296' (German: ''Bundesgerichtsentscheide'') or ''ATF 133 II 292 onsid. 3.2 p. 296' (French: ''arrêts du tribunal fédéral''). In this example, 133 is the annual issue of the court reports, II the part indicating the division of the Court, and 292 the page on which the decision begins. Optionally, "E. 3.2" and "S. 296" are the section and page specifically cited.
Supreme Court decisions not selected for official publication are cited as ''Urteil es Bundesgerichts
Es, ES, or similar may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* An alternate name for the musical note E♭ (E-flat)
* ''E's'', a manga series by Satoru Yuiga
* ''Es'' (film), the German title of ''It'', a 1966 West German film directed by Ulrich Scha ...
5C.260/2006 vom 30. März 2007'' or ''arrêt u Tribunal fédéral
U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pro ...
5C.260/2006 du 30 mars 2007'' respectively. In this example, 5C is the division of the Court, 260 the case number and 2006 the year in which the case was opened.
The citation style for cases of the inferior federal courts of Switzerland
The federal judiciary of Switzerland consists of the Federal Supreme Court, in Lausanne, the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, the Federal Patent Court, in St. Gallen and the Federal Administrative Court, in St. Gallen. These courts ar ...
is similar.
United Kingdom
Neutral citation
Since 2001, judgments in the House of Lords, Privy Council, Court of Appeal and Administrative Court have been issued with neutral citations. This system was extended to other parts of the High Court in 2002. Judgments with neutral citations are freely available on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute website (www.bailii.org).
Neutral citations identify judgments independently of any series of reports, and cite only parties, year of judgment, court and case number. For example, ''Rottman v MPC'' 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
UKHL 20 identifies the 20th judgment in 2002 in the UK House of Lords. UKHL stands for UK House of Lords. EWHC and EWCA identify the England and Wales High Court and Court of Appeal respectively. These abbreviations are generally followed by an abbreviation indicating the court or division (e.g. Admin, Ch, Crim, Pat).
How to cite a case
If a neutral citation is available for a judgment, it should immediately follow the party names. If the judgment has also been reported in a law reports series, follow the neutral citation with the ''best report'', which is usually from the official Law Reports series (Appeals Cases – AC, Chancery – Ch, Family – Fam, Queen's Bench – QB etc.).
The case of ''Rottman v MPC'' was reported in the Appeals Cases, so the citation should be:
*''Rottman v MPC'' 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
UKHL 20, 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
2 AC 692.
This means that a report of the case and the judgment can be found in the 2002 volumes, vol 2, of the Law Reports series called Appeals Cases, beginning at page 692.
To cite a particular paragraph from the judgment, add the paragraph number in square brackets at the end of the citation:
*''Rottman v MPC'' 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
UKHL 20, 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
2 AC 692 8
If a case is not reported in the Law Reports, the next best report is the Weekly Law Reports (e.g. 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
2 WLR 1315), and then the All England Reports (e.g., 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
2 All ER 865). In some situations, it might be preferable to cite a specialist series, e.g., ''Rottman v MPC'' was also cited in the Human Rights Law Reports, at 002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to:
Fiction
*002, fictional British 00 Agent
*''002 Operazione Luna'',
*1965 Italian film
*Zero Two, a ''Darling in the Franxx'' character
Airports
*0O2, Baker Airport
*O02, Nervino Airport
Astronomy
*1996 ...
HRLR 32.
For cases before 2001, cite the best report. If referring to a particular page of the judgment, give that page number after the page number on which the report begins. The following citation refers to page 573 of the ''Donoghue v Stevenson'' judgment:
*''Donoghue v Stevenson'' 932
Year 932 ( CMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – Alberic II leads an uprising at Rome against his stepfather Hugh of Provence ...
AC 562, 573.
*Se
Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities
England and Wales
The standard case citation format in England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
is:
In England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
as with certain Commonwealth countries, the abbreviation "R" for ''rex'' (king) or ''regina'' (queen), is used for cases in which the state is a party (typically criminal cases or judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...
cases). If the Attorney General for England and Wales
His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney G ...
or the Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales)
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the third most senior public prosecutor in England and Wales, ranking after the attorney general and solicitor general.
First created in 1879, th ...
prosecute the case, the abbreviation “AG” or “DPP” will be used instead of “R”
Square brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
" are used when the year is essential to locating the report (e.g., the official law reports either—as with ''Donoghue v Stevenson
was a landmark court decision in Scots delict law and English tort law by the House of Lords. It laid the foundation of the modern law of negligence in Common law jurisdictions worldwide, as well as in Scotland, establishing general principle ...
'', above—do not have volume numbers or, if there are multiple volumes in a single year, they are numbered 1, 2, etc.). Round brackets "( )" are used when the year is not essential but is useful for information purposes, e.g., in reports that have a cumulative volume number such as ''R v Dudley and Stephens
''R v Dudley and Stephens'' (188414 QBD 273, DCis a leading English criminal case which established a precedent throughout the common law world that necessity is not a defence to a charge of murder. The case concerned survival cannibalism foll ...
'', above.
Law Reports
The term "reporter", meaning a law report or a series of them, is not widely used in England and Wales. Before 1865, English courts used a large number of privately printed reports, and cases were cited based on which report they appeared in. (This system was also used in the United States and other common law jurisdictions during that period.)
Two main unofficial law reports report all areas of law: the ''Weekly Law Reports'' (WLR) and the ''All England Reports'' (All ER). In addition, a number of unofficial specialist law reports focus on particular areas, e.g., ''Entertainment and Media Law Reports'' (EMLR) or the ''Criminal Appeal Reports'' (Cr App R).
For the citation of "The Law Reports" of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, see Law Reports. These have been published since 1865. They have always been split into a number of different series, the current series being the Appeal Cases (AC), Chancery (Ch), Family (Fam), and Queen's Bench (QB) (or King's Bench—KB—depending on the monarch of the time). These four series are cited in preference to all others in court.
The table below is an incomplete list of law reports other than "The Law Reports", nominate reports and reprints.
The table below is a list of series that are reprints of earlier reports.
For nominate reports, see Nominate reports Nominate reports, also known as nominative reports, named reports and private reports, is a legal term from common-law jurisdictions referring to the various published collections of reports of English cases in various courts from the Middle Ages t ...
.
Scotland
The standard case citation formats in Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
are:
The Supreme Court has issued a practice note on the use of neutral citation. The ''Scots Law Times
The ''Scots Law Times'' is a commercially published law reports service and law magazine for Scotland, publishing over 1400 pages of reports each year. Published weekly during court term by W. Green, the ''Scots Law Times'' covers every Sco ...
'' is cited as "SLT".
United States
The standard case citation format in the United States is:
:''Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
where:
*''Roe v. Wade'' is the abbreviated name of the case. Generally, the first name (here, ''Roe'') is the surname of the plaintiff
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...
, who is the party who filed the suit for an original case, or the appellant
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
, the party appealing in a case being appealed from a lower court, or the petitioner {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition.
In the courts
The petitioner may seek a legal remedy if the state or ano ...
when litigating in the high court of a jurisdiction; and the second name (here, ''Wade'') is the surname of the defendant, the party responding to the suit, or the appellee
In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
, the party responding to the appeal, or the respondent, when defending in the high court of the jurisdiction. Litigants are generally referred to by their last name (when they are natural persons), and a case is generally referred to by the first named litigant on each side of the case. In this example, ''Roe'' refers to "Jane Roe
Norma Leah Nelson McCorvey (September 22, 1947 – February 18, 2017), also known by the pseudonym "Jane Roe", was the plaintiff in the landmark American legal case ''Roe v. Wade'' in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that individual s ...
," a pseudonym commonly used when it is appropriate to keep the identity of a litigant out of the public spotlight, and ''Wade'' refers to Henry Wade
Henry Menasco Wade (November 11, 1914 – March 1, 2001) was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Dallas County from 1951 to 1987. He participated in two notable U.S. court cases of the 20th century: the prosecution of Jack Ru ...
, the Dallas County Dallas County may refer to:
Places in the USA:
* Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name
* Dallas County, Arkansas
* Dallas County, Iowa
* Dallas County, Missouri
* Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...
District Attorney at the time.
*410 is the volume number of the " reporter" that reported the Court's written opinion in the case titled ''Roe v. Wade''.
*U.S. is the abbreviation of the reporter, or printed book of court opinions. Here, "U.S." stands for ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...
''.
*113 is the page number (in volume 410 of ''United States Reports'') where the opinion begins.
*1973 is the year when the court rendered its decision.
*The abbreviated name of the court is included inside the parenthesis before the year if the name of the court is not obvious from the reporter. This rule comes into play because certain reporters, such as members of the West National Reporter System
West's National Reporter System (NRS) is a set of case law reporters for federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the '' North Western Reporter'' in 1879 which has its origin in ''The Syllabi'' (1876, ).
...
, publish opinions originating from multiple courts. In this example, the name of the court (United States Supreme Court) is obvious (since only decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published in ''United States Reports'') and is thus omitted as a matter of convention.
Case citations are used to find a particular case, both when looking up a case in a printed reporter and when accessing it via the Internet or services such as LexisNexis or Westlaw.
This format also allows different cases with the same parties to be easily differentiated. For example, looking for the U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case of ''Miller v. California
''Miller v. California'', 413 U.S. 15 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court modifying its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, polit ...
'' would yield four cases, some involving different people named Miller, and each involving different issues.
Supreme Court of the United States
Cases from the Supreme Court of the United States are officially printed in the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, orders, case tables (list of every case decided), in alphabetical order both by the name of the petitioner ...
''. A citation to the ''United States Reports'' looks like this:
*''Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
*''Miranda v. Arizona
''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restricts prosecutors from using a person's statements made in response to ...
'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
Many court decisions are published in more than one reporter. A citation to two or more reporters for a given court decision is called a "parallel citation". For U.S. Supreme Court decisions, there are several unofficial reporters, including the ''Supreme Court Reporter'' (abbreviated S. Ct.) and ''United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition
The ''United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition'', or ''Lawyers' Edition'' (L. Ed. and L. Ed. 2d in case citations) is an unofficial reporter of Supreme Court of the United States opinions. The ''Lawyers' Edition'' was established by t ...
'' (commonly known simply as ''Lawyers' Edition'') (abbreviated L. Ed.), which are printed by private companies and provide further annotations to the opinions of the Court. Although a citation to the latter two is not required, some attorneys and legal writers prefer to cite all three case reporters at once:
*''Griswold v. Connecticut
''Griswold v. Connecticut'', 381 U.S. 479 (1965), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives withou ...
'', 381 U.S. 479, 85 S. Ct. 1678, 14 L. Ed. 2d 510 (1965)
The "2d" after the L. Ed. signifies the second series of the ''Lawyers' Edition''. United States case reporters are sequentially numbered, but the volume number is never higher than 999. When the 1,000th volume is reached (the threshold in earlier years was lower), the volume number is reset to 1 and a "2d" is appended after the reporter's abbreviation. Some case reporters are in their third series, and a few are approaching their fourth.
Some very old Supreme Court cases have odd-looking citations, such as ''Marbury v. Madison
''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes t ...
'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803). The "(1 Cranch)" refers to the fact that, before there was a reporter series known as the ''United States Reports'' compiled by the Supreme Court's Reporter of Decisions
The Reporter of Decisions (sometimes known by other titles, such as Official Reporter or State Reporter) is the official responsible for publishing the decisions of a court. Traditionally, the decisions were published in books known as case repor ...
, cases were gathered, bound together, and sold privately by the Court's Reporter of Decisions. In this example, ''Marbury'' was first reported in an edition by William Cranch
William Cranch (July 17, 1769 – September 1, 1855) was a United States circuit judge and chief judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. A staunch Federalist and nephew of President John Adams, Cranch moved his le ...
, who was responsible for publishing Supreme Court reports from 1801 to 1815. Such reports, named for the individual who gathered them and hence called "nominative reports Nominate reports, also known as nominative reports, named reports and private reports, is a legal term from common law, common-law jurisdictions referring to the various published collections of reports of English law, English cases in various court ...
", existed from 1790 to 1874. Beginning in 1874, the U.S. government created the ''United States Reports'', and at the same time simultaneously numbered the volumes previously published privately as part of a single series and began numbering sequentially from that point. In this way, "5 U.S. (1 Cranch)" means that it is the 5th overall volume of the ''United States Reports'' series, but the first that was originally published by William Cranch
William Cranch (July 17, 1769 – September 1, 1855) was a United States circuit judge and chief judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia. A staunch Federalist and nephew of President John Adams, Cranch moved his le ...
; four volumes of opinions prior to that were (for example) published by Alexander Dallas (for example, "4 U.S. (4 Dall.)"), and after Cranch's 9 volumes, 12 more were published by Henry Wheaton
Henry Wheaton (November 27, 1785 – March 11, 1848) was a United States lawyer, jurist and diplomat. He was the third reporter of decisions for the United States Supreme Court, the first U.S. minister to Denmark, and the second U.S. minister to ...
(e.g., "15 U.S. (2 Wheat.)"). See the Supreme Court of the United States Reporter of Decisions
The reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States is the official charged with editing and publishing the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, both when announced and when they are published in permanent bound volu ...
for other edition names. The name of the reporter of decisions has not been used in citations since the U.S. government began printing the ''United States Reports''.
When a case has been decided, but not yet published in the case reporter, the citation may note the volume but leave blank the page of the case reporter until it is determined. For example, ''Golan v. Holder,'' 565 U.S. 302 (2012) was properly cited as '' Golan v. Holder'', before publication.
In the caption of a Supreme Court case, the first name listed is the name of the petitioning (appealing) party, followed by the party responding (respondent) to the appeal. In most cases, the appealing party was the losing party in the prior court. This is no longer the practice used in cases in the federal courts of appeal, in which the original alignment of parties from the lower court is preserved.
Lower federal courts
United States court of appeals
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
cases are published in the ''Federal Reporter
The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...
'' (F., F.2d, or F.3d). United States district court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
cases and cases from some specialized courts are published in the ''Federal Supplement
The ''Federal Supplement'' ( is a case law reporter published by West Publishing in the United States that includes select opinions of the United States district courts since 1932, and is part of the National Reporter System. Although the ''Fe ...
'' (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, or F. Supp. 3d). Both series are published by Thomson West Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson Mi ...
; they are technically unofficial reporters, but have become widely accepted as the ''de facto'' "official" reporters of the lower federal courts because of the absence of a true official reporter. (Of the federal appeals and district courts, only one, the D.C. Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
, has an official reporter, ''United States Court of Appeals Reports'', and even that one is rarely used today.)
When lower federal court opinions are cited, the citation includes the name of the court. This is placed in the parentheses immediately before the year. Some examples:
*''Geary v. Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary School
Geary v. Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary School, 7 F.3d 324 (3d Cir. 1993), was a court case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit which considered whether a religious school in Darby, Pennsylvania could be sued for age dis ...
'', 7 F.3d 324 (3d Cir. 1993) – a 1993 case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* Ea ...
*'' Glassroth v. Moore'', 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (M.D. Ala. 2002) – a 2002 case in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama (in case citation
Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports, o ...
U.S. circuit and district court cases from 1789 to 1880 were reported in Federal Cases
''Federal Cases, circuit and district courts, 1789–1880'' (in case citations, abbreviated F. Cas.) was a reporter of cases decided by the United States district and circuit courts between 1789 and 1880. It is part of the National Reporte ...
, abbreviated F. Cas. An example of the citation form is: ''Wheaton v. Peters
''Wheaton v. Peters'', 33 U.S. (8 Pet.) 591 (1834), was the first United States Supreme Court ruling on copyright. The case upheld the power of Congress to make a grant of copyright protection subject to conditions and rejected the doctrine of a ...
'', 29 F. Cas. 862 (C.C.E.D. Pa. 1832) (No. 17,486).
State courts
State court decisions are published in several places. Many states have their own official state reporters, which publish decisions of one or more of that state's courts. Reporters that publish decisions of a state's highest court are abbreviated the same as the state's name (note: this is the traditional abbreviation, not the postal abbreviation), regardless of what the actual title of the reporter is. Thus, the official reporter of decisions of the California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
(titled ''California Reports'') is abbreviated "Cal." (or, for subsequent series, "Cal. 2d," "Cal. 3d", or "Cal. 4th").
*'' Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.'', 248 N.Y. 339 (1928), a case in the New York Court of Appeals, reported in ''New York Reports''. Note that the New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in New York. Because the ''New York Reports'' only report opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, there is no need to repeat the court designation before the year.
*''Green v. Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
Company'', 286 Ill. App. 3d 1 (1996) – a case in the Illinois Appellate Court
The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois Circuit Courts. Three Illinois Appellate Court judges hear each case and the concurrence of two is necessary to render a decision. The ...
, reported in ''Illinois Appellate Court Reports''. Note that, in contrast to New York, the Illinois Appellate Court is only the intermediate court of appeals in Illinois; decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court are reported in ''Illinois Reports'', abbreviated "Ill." (or "Ill. 2d"). Because the ''Illinois Appellate Court Reports'' are dedicated solely to reporting decisions of the Illinois Appellate Court, there is no need to repeat the court designation before the year.
*''Harte v. Hand'', 438 N.J. Super. 545 (Ch. Div. 2014). Note that although all published opinions of the New Jersey Superior Court
The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts.Jeffrey S. Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Pr ...
are published in the ''New Jersey Superior Court Reports'', the organization of the Superior Court into three divisions (the Law Division, the Chancery Division, and the Appellate Division) means the citation must specify which division issued the opinion. This is especially salient as the Appellate Division hears appeals from the Law and Chancery Divisions, as occurred with the example case (a rehearing on remand of ''Harte v. Hand'', 433 N.J. Super. 457 (App. Div. 2013)).
In addition to the official reporters, Thomson West Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson Mi ...
publishes several series of "regional reporters" that cover several states each. These are the ''North Eastern Reporter The ''North Eastern Reporter'','' North Eastern Reporter Second'' and ''North Eastern Reporter Third '' () are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company ...
'', ''Atlantic Reporter
The ''Atlantic Reporter'' () is a United States regional case law reporter. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now part of Thomson West.
The ''Atlantic Reporter'' contains ...
'', ''South Eastern Reporter The ''South Eastern Reporter'' and ''South Eastern Reporter Second'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now part of Thomson West.
...
'', ''Southern Reporter
The ''Southern Reporter'', the ''Southern Reporter Second'', and the ''Southern Reporter Third'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for the West Publishing Company.
T ...
'', ''South Western Reporter
The ''South Western Reporter'', ''South Western Reporter Second'', and ''South Western Reporter Third'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, ...
'', ''North Western Reporter
The ''North Western Reporter'' and ''North Western Reporter, Second Series'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now part of Thoms ...
'', and ''Pacific Reporter The ''Pacific Reporter'', ''Pacific Reporter Second'', and ''Pacific Reporter Third'' () are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now par ...
''. California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, and New York also each have their own line of Thomson West reporters, because of the large volume of cases generated in those states (titled, respectively, ''West's California Reporter'', ''Illinois Decisions'', and ''West's New York Supplement''). Some smaller states (like South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
) have stopped publishing their own official reporters, and instead have certified the appropriate West regional reporter as their "official" reporter.
Here are some examples of how to cite West reporters:
*''Jackson v. Commonwealth'', 583 S.E.2d 780 (Va. Ct. App. 2003) – a case in the Virginia Court of Appeals (an intermediate appellate court) published in the ''South Eastern Reporters 2nd series
*''Foxworth v. Maddox'', 137 So. 161 (Fla. 1931) – a case in the Florida Supreme Court published in the ''Southern Reporter''
*''People v. Brown'', 282 N.Y.S.2d 497 (N.Y. 1967) – a case in the New York Court of Appeals (New York's highest court) published in ''West's New York Supplements 2nd series. The case also appears in West's regional reporter: ''People v. Brown'', 229 N.E.2d 192 (N.Y. 1967). Note, in both forms, that "N.Y." is placed in the parenthetical, because both ''West's New York Supplement'' and the ''North Eastern Reporter'' report the opinions of more courts than only the New York Court of Appeals. A citation to the officially published reports, ''People v. Brown'', 20 N.Y.2d 238 (1967), however, does not require the court name in the parenthetical, because the official ''New York Reports'' only report opinions of the New York Court of Appeals.
Abbreviations for lower courts vary by state, as each state has its own system of trial courts and intermediate appellate courts. When a case appears in both an official reporter and a regional reporter, either citation can be used. Generally, citing to the regional reporter is preferred, since out-of-state attorneys are more likely to have access to these. Many lawyers prefer to include both citations. Some state courts require that parallel citations (in this case, citing to both the official reporter and an unofficial regional reporter) be used when citing cases from any court in that state's system.
Like the United States Supreme Court, some very old state case citations include an abbreviation of the name of either the private publisher or the reporter of decisions
The Reporter of Decisions (sometimes known by other titles, such as Official Reporter or State Reporter) is the official responsible for publishing the decisions of a court. Traditionally, the decisions were published in books known as case repor ...
, a state-appointed officer who originally collected and published the cases. For example, in ''Hall v. Bell'', 47 Mass. (6 Met.) 431 (1843), the citation is to volume 47 of ''Massachusetts Reports'', which, like ''United States Reports'', was started in the latter half of the 19th century and incorporated into the series a number of prior editions originally published privately, and began numbering from that point; "6 Met." refers to the 6th volume that had originally been published privately by Theron Metcalf
Theron Metcalf (October 16, 1784 – November 12, 1875) was an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts. He was a New England jurist and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Personal life
...
. An example of a case cited to a reporter that has not been subsequently incorporated into an officially published series is ''Pierson v. Post
''Pierson v. Post'' is an early American legal case from the State of New York that later became a foundational case in the field of property law. Decided in 1805, the case involved an incident that took place in 1802 at an uninhabited beach ne ...
'', 3 Cai. 175 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1804), reported in volume 3 of ''Caines' Reports'', page 175, named for George Caines, who had been appointed to report New York cases; the case was before the New York Supreme Court of Judicature (now defunct). Most states gave up this practice in the mid-to-late 19th century, but Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
persisted until 1920.
Some states, notably California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and New York, have their own citation systems that differ significantly from the various federal and national standards. In California, the year is placed ''between'' the names of the parties and the reference to the case reporter; in New York, the year is wrapped in brackets instead of parentheses
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
, while California uses brackets for parenthetical explanations of a case's holding or relevance. Both New York and California styles wrap an entire citation in parentheses when used as a stand-alone sentence to support the preceding sentence, although New York places the terminating period outside the parentheses, whereas California places it inside. New York wraps just the reporter and page references in parentheses when the citation is used as a clause.
Either way, both state styles differ from the national/Bluebook
''The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'' is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. law schools and is also used in a majority of federal ...
style of simply dropping in the citation as a separate sentence without further adornment. Both systems use less punctuation and spacing in their reporter abbreviations.
For example, assuming that it is being placed as a stand-alone sentence, the ''Brown'' case above would be cited (using the official reporter) to a New York court as:
*(''People v. Brown'', 20 NY2d 238 967.
And, again, as a stand-alone sentence, the famous ''Greenman'' product liability
Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause. Although the word "product" has b ...
case would be cited to a California court as:
*(''Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc.'' (1963) 59 Cal.2d 57.)
Unpublished decisions
A growing number of court decisions are not published in case reporters. For example, only 7% of the opinions of the California intermediate courts (the Courts of Appeal) are published each year. This is mainly because judges certify only significant decisions for publication, due to the massive number of frivolous appeals flowing through the courts and the importance of avoiding information overload.
It is also argued that this is in part because in many states, especially California, the legislature has failed to expand the judiciary to keep up with population growth (for various political and fiscal reasons). To deal with their crushing caseloads, many judges prefer to write shorter-than-normal opinions that dispose of minor issues in the case in a sentence or two. They avoid publishing such abbreviated opinions, however, so as not to risk creating bad precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
s.
Attorneys have several options in citing "unpublished" decisions:
* For cases that have not been published or put in an electronic database, or very recently decided cases that have not ''yet'' been published or put in an electronic database, a citation to the case's docket number before the court that decided it is required.
**''Groucho Marx Prods. v. Playboy Enters.'', No. 77 Civ. 1782 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 30, 1977) – a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; the docket number and specific date allow a researcher to track down the printed copy maintained by the court if needed (legal citation forms strongly prefer citations to traditional printed resources).
* Even though only some decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeal are considered "published" (those appearing in ''Federal Reporter''), Thomson West has recently started making available all decisions officially considered "unpublished" in a separate publication called ''Federal Appendix'' (abbreviated "F. App'x").
* Cases intentionally left officially unpublished are nonetheless often "published" on computer services, such as LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer info ...
and Westlaw
Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statu ...
. These services have their own citation formats based on the year of the case, an abbreviation indicating the computer service (or a specific database of that computer service), and an identification number; citations to online databases also usually include the case's docket
Docket may refer to:
* Docket (court), the official schedule of proceedings in lawsuits pending in a court of law.
*Agenda (meeting) or docket, a list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up
*Receipt
A receipt (a ...
number and the specific date when it was decided (due to the preference for citation to traditional printed resources). Examples include:
**'' Fuqua Homes, Inc. v. Beattie'', No. 03-3587, 2004 WL 2495842 (8th Cir. Nov. 8, 2004) – a case found on the Westlaw electronic database, decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (in case citations, 8th Cir.) is a United States federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States district courts:
* Eastern District of Arkansas
* Western Distr ...
; the citation includes the case's original docket number (No. 03-3587), and a citation to the electronic database that indicates the date of decision, the database (WL for Westlaw) and a unique serial number in that database (2495842).
**'' Chavez v. Metro. Dist. Comm'n'', No. 3:02CV458(MRK), 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11266 (D. Conn. June 1, 2004) – a case decided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut; the citation includes the case's original docket number (No. 3:02CV458(MRK)), the date of decision, the database (U.S. Dist. LEXIS, indicating the LexisNexis database for U.S. District Court cases), and a unique serial number in that database (11266).
Some court systems—such as the California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
state court system
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...
—forbid attorneys to cite unpublished cases as precedent. Other systems allow citation of unpublished cases only under specific circumstances. For example, in Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, unpublished cases from that state's courts can only be cited if the case was decided after January 1, 2003, and "there is no published opinion that would adequately address the issue before the court". From 2004 to 2006, federal judges debated whether the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. App. P.; colloquially FRAP) are a set of rules, promulgated by the Supreme Court of the United States on recommendation of an advisory committee, to govern procedures in cases ...
(FRAP) should be amended so that unpublished cases in all circuits could be cited as precedent. In 2006, the Supreme Court, over the objection of several hundred judges and lawyers, adopted a new Rule 32.1 of FRAP requiring that federal courts allow citation of unpublished cases. The rule took effect on January 1, 2007.
Vendor-neutral citations
With the rise of the web, many courts placed new cases on websites. Some were published while others never lost their "unpublished" status. The major legal citation systems required cites to the officially published page numbers, in which publishers such as West Publishing
West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West h ...
claimed a copyright interest.
A vendor-neutral citation movementAALL Citation Formats Committee
; accessed May 31, 2014. led to provisions being made for citations to web-based cases and other legal materials. A few courts modified their rules to specifically take into account cases "published" on the web.
An example of a vendor-neutral citation:
*''
Equal. Found. of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. v. City of Cincinnati'', 1997 FED App. 0318P (6th Cir.) – a 1997 case decided by the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of ...
; the citation to the numbering system adopted by the court ("1997 FED App. 0318P") eliminates the need to cite to a specific vendor's product, in this case
Thomson West Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson Mi ...
's ''
Federal Reporter
The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...
'' (i.e., 128 F.3d 289).
Pinpoint citations
In practice, most lawyers go one step farther, once they have developed the correct citation for a case using the rules discussed above. Most court opinions contain holdings on multiple issues, so lawyers need to cite to the page that contains the specific holding they wish to invoke in their own case. Such citations are known as pinpoint citations, "pin cites", or "jump cites".
For example, in ''Roe v. Wade'', the U.S. Supreme Court held that the word "person" as used in the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the unborn. That particular holding appears on page 158 of the volume in which the ''Roe'' decision was published. A full pin cite to ''Roe'' for that holding would be as follows:
* ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', 410 U.S. 113, 158 (1973).
And a parallel cite to all three U.S. Supreme Court reporters, combined with pin cites for all three, would produce:
* ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', 410 U.S. 113, 158, 93 S. Ct. 705, 729, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147, 180 (1973).
But in its opinions, the Court usually provides a direct pin cite only to the official reporter. The two unofficial reporters, when they reprint the Court's opinions, add on parallel cites to each other, but do not add pin cites. Therefore, a citation to ''Roe v. Wade'' in a later Supreme Court decision as viewed on Lexis or Westlaw would appear as follows:
* ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', 410 U.S. 113, 158, 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973).
Even then, such citations are still quite lengthy, and may look quite mysterious and intimidating to laypersons when they read court opinions. Since the 1980s, there has been an ongoing debate among American judges as to whether they should relegate such lengthy citations to footnotes to improve the readability of their opinions, as strongly urged by
Bryan A. Garner, one of the leading authors on
legal writing
Legal writing involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as legal memoranda and briefs. One form of legal writing involves drafting a balanced analysis of a legal problem or issue. Another form of lega ...
and style.
Most judges do relegate ''some'' citations to footnotes, but jurists such as Justice
Stephen Breyer and Judge
Richard Posner
Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American jurist and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chic ...
refuse to use footnotes in their opinions.
Types of citations
There are two types of citations: proprietary and
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
citations. There are many citation guides; the most commonly acknowledged is called ''
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'', compiled by the ''
Columbia Law Review
The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes.
It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...
'', ''
Harvard Law Review'', ''
University of Pennsylvania Law Review
The ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'' is a law review published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law journal in the United States, having been publishe ...
'', and ''
Yale Law Journal''. ''Public domain citations'' refer to the official reporters, rather than a publication service such as
Westlaw
Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statu ...
,
LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer info ...
, particular legal journals, or specialization-specific reporters. States with their own unique style for court documents and case opinions also publish their own style guides, which include information on their citation rules.
See also
*
Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities
The ''Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities'' (''OSCOLA'') is a style guide that provides the modern method of legal citation in the United Kingdom; the style itself is also referred to as OSCOLA. First developed by Peter B ...
(OSCOLA)
*
Case law reporters
*
Citator In legal research, a citator is a citation index of legal resources, one of the best-known of which in the United States is Shepard's Citations. Given a reference of a legal decision, a citator allows the researcher to find newer documents which ...
*
German legal citation
*
Law report
*
Legal research Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a prob ...
*
Template for citing cases on Wikipedia
Law by state (US)
State Laws, Code, & StatutesState Statutes by Topic
Notes and references
Notes
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter MartinFindLaw for Legal ProfessionalsOxford Standard Citation Of Legal AuthoritiesScreencast introduction to OSCOLACardiff Index to Legal AbbreviationsWorldLII''Australian Guide to Legal Citation'' official website''Australian Guide to Legal Citation'' in PDF format
*
Legal citation
Legal research