(a) Official reports
The official reports for England and Wales are called the Law Reports and are published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. Cite to the Law Reports where possible.
The current main series in the Law Reports are the Appeal Cases (AC), Chancery Division (Ch), Family Division (Fam), and Queen’s Bench (QB).
A fuller list of the main series in the Law Reports included in Appendix 4.
(b) WLR
The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales also publishes the Weekly Law Reports (WLR). Unlike the Law Reports, the WLR do not include the argument of counsel. Because they are published by the Council, where available use the WLR in preference to unofficial report series.
Eg Universal Thermosensors Ltd v Hibben [1992] 1 WLR 840 (Ch).
NOT Universal Thermosensors Ltd v Hibben [1992] 3 All ER 257 (Ch).
Volume 1 of the WLR contains cases that the Council does not intend to publish in the Law Reports. Volumes 2 (January to June) and 3 (July to December) contain cases that will later be published in the Law Reports. Accordingly, only cite to volumes 2 and 3 if the case has not yet been published in the Law Reports; there may be changes in the Law Reports version.
Eg Foskett v McKeown [2001] 1 AC 102 (HL).
NOT Foskett v McKeown [2000] 2 WLR 1299 (HL).
(a) Background
The English nominate reports are a group of unofficial report series that were produced privately between 1220 and 1867. These reports are often named after the person or persons who were their publishers or reporters. Each series has its own volume numbers and pagination. Well-known cases are commonly reported in a number of different nominate reports and it is quite common for these reports to be substantially different.
Nearly all of the nominate reports have been collected together and reprinted. The first reprint series was published as the Revised Reports. Another series is the English Reports.
(b) Method of citation
Cite the nominate reports by giving the nominate report citation followed by the citation to either the English Reports or the Revised Reports. Cite to the English Reports in preference to the Revised Reports. Separate the two citations by a comma and give the year of the case only once after the case name.
Eg Re Beloved Wilkes’s Charity (1851) 3 Mac & G 440, 42 ER 330 (Ch).
A list of abbreviations to the various nominate reports can be found in the “Index Chart” that accompanies the English Reports. For abbreviations for nominate reports not included in the English Reports, a complete list of abbreviations may be found in the first volume of Halsbury’s Laws of England.
(c) Court identifier
Where the court can be identified, indicate this in the usual way. A list of court identifiers is given below at rule 8.4.3. If there is no standard abbreviation for the relevant court, the name may be written out in full.
Eg Vernon v Wright (1858) 7 HLC 34, 11 ER 15 (HL).
Although the name of the court may not appear at the start of the report, it can usually be identified by turning to the first page of the particular volume of the reprinted nominate report.
(d) Pinpoint reference
When giving a pinpoint reference to a nominate report, make reference to both the page number in the nominate report and the page in the reprint being cited.
Eg Saunders v Vautier (1841) 4 Beav 115 at 116, 49 ER 282 (Ch) at 282.
When making a subsequent reference to a nominate report in a footnote, cite the page number of the nominate report. A subsequent reference to Saunders v Vautier, using the “, above n x,” format, would take this form:
Eg Saunders v Vautier, above n 3, at 117.
(a) Early law reports
Pre-1875, it is not always easy or possible to determine which court decided a particular reported case. Accordingly, in this period it may not be possible to include court identifiers. Where it is possible to identify the court, use the following court identifiers:
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Assizes Court of Chancery Court of Common Pleas Court for Crown Cases Reserved Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Court of Exchequer |
Assizes Ch Comm Pleas Cr C R Div & Mat Exch |
Court of Exchequer Chamber Court of King’s Bench Court of Probate Court of Queen’s Bench High Court of Admiralty
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Exch Ch KB Prob QB Admir
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Eg Moses v Macferland (1706) 2 Burr 1005, 97 ER 676 (KB).
Eg Jeffrey v Coles (1747) Willes 634, 125 ER 1359 (Comm Pleas).
Eg Collen v Wright (1857) 8 EL & BL 645, 120 ER 241 (Exch Ch).
If it is possible to identify the court but there is no standard abbreviation, write the name of the court out in full.
(b) Modern reports
For post-1875 cases, include a court identifier for every case. Use the following court identifiers:
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Supreme Court House of Lords Privy Council Court of Appeal Court of Criminal Appeal |
SC HL PC CA Crim App |
Chancery Division Family Division King’s Bench Queen’s Bench
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Ch Fam KB QB
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Note that when citing an English case in one of the official reports it is always necessary to give a court identifier as all of the official reports include reports of decisions from more than one court.
When citing an unreported decision, use an official neutral citation if available.
The House of Lords, Privy Council and Court of Appeal adopted neutral citation in 2001. All Supreme Court judgments have a neutral citation. The courts and divisions of the High Court adopted neutral citation in 2002 (except for the Administrative Court which adopted neutral citation in 2001).
The table in Appendix 4 sets out the full list of court identifiers used in neutral citations.
Note that some earlier decisions have been given what look like neutral citations by the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII). These are not official and should not be used.
(a) Justices of the Supreme Court
The Justices of the Supreme Court are referred to simply as “Lord Mance” or “Lady Hale”. For further information about referring to Justices of the Supreme Court, see rule 1.1.6(d)(ii) above.
(b) Law Lords
Where a judge in the House of Lords (a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, more commonly called a Law Lord) had a geographic designation as part of his or her title, he or she may be referred to either with or without that geographic designation.
Eg Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe OR Lord Walker
Even if the geographic designation is used on first reference, it may be omitted in subsequent references.
(c) Lord Chief Justice
The name of the Lord Chief Justice may be abbreviated to “Lord Judge CJ”.
(d) Master of the Rolls
The name of the Master of the Rolls may be abbreviated by placing “MR” after the judge’s title, for example Sir Anthony Clarke MR or Lord Neuberger MR.
(e) Court of Appeal
The name of a Court of Appeal judge (a Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal) may be abbreviated to “Buxton LJ” or, in the case of multiple judges, “Brooke, Sedley and Richards LJJ”. However, where the judge is a peer, use Lord, for example Lord Denning MR.
(f) High Court
The name of a High Court judge (a Justice of the High Court) may be abbreviated to “Lewison J” or, in the case of multiple judges, “Eady and Ouseley JJ”.