When dealing with European materials, it is important to distinguish between cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union (formerly the European Court of Justice) and the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance), and those from the European Court (and Commission) of Human Rights. The former are the judicial machinery of the European Union. The latter come under the auspices of the Council of Europe – a different body with different membership and different institutional machinery. Different rules apply with respect to each.

The general form for citing cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the General Court (GCE), as well as their predecessor bodies the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (CFI) is as follows:

Eg Case C-34/89 Smith v EC Commission [1993] ECR I-454.

(a) Case number

Always insert the case number before the name of the case. Since 1989, these case names have been prefixed with either a “C” (decisions from the CJEU or ECJ) or a “T” (decisions from the GCE or CFI). Include this prefix in the citation of post-1989 cases.

Do not separate the case number and name with a comma.

Eg Case 19/84 Pharmon BV v Hoescht AG [1985] ECR 2281.

Eg Case C-422/99 French Republic v Commission [2002] ECR I-4397.

Eg Case C-315/94 De Vos v Stadt Bielefeld [1996] ECR 1417.

(b) Report series

The European Court Reports (ECR) is the official report series and should always be preferred.

If the ECR citation is not available, then either the Common Law Market Reports (CLMR) or an English report series can be used.

Eg Regulation 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulations [2002] OJ L248/1.

(a) Legislation type

Indicate the legislation type, for example regulation or directive.

(b) Number and title

After the legislation type, include the number and title.

(c) Publication details

Following the number and title, include the publication details for the Official Journal of the European Union.

The OJ citation takes the form: [Year] OJ series number/page.

Prior to 1972, no English version of the Journal Officiel was produced. Cite pre-1972 material by reference to the Special Edition of the Official Journal, which was produced following the United Kingdom joining the EC.

Eg Directive 68/221 on the Free Movement of Workers [1963-4] OJ Spec Ed 117.

The general form for citing cases from the European Court of Human Rights is as follows:

Eg Mauer v Austria (1997) 25 EHRR 91 (ECHR) at 92.

(a) Court identifier

The court identifier for cases before November 1998 is “ECHR”.

After November 1998, the European Court of Human Rights was split into a Chamber with five sections and a Grand Chamber.

For cases after November 1998, the court identifiers are: Section I, ECHR; Section II, ECHR; Section III, ECHR; Section IV, ECHR; Section V, ECHR; and Grand Chamber, ECHR.

(b) Judgments

Cases are reported in the European Human Rights Reporter (EHRR) and Butterworths Human Rights Cases (BHRC).

Prior to 1998, all cases before the European Court of Human Rights were referred to it by the European Commission of Human Rights. While this body is no longer in existence, it is sometimes necessary to cite its past decisions.

The general form for citing cases from the European Commission on Human Rights is as follows:

Eg Morissens v Belgium (1988) 56 DR 127.

Eg Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v Greece (1969) 12 Yearbook 186 (EComHR) at [186].

(a) Background

The official report series of the European Commission of Human Rights was the Decisions and Reports of the Commission (DR) and, prior to this, the Yearbook of the ECHR. Some decisions also appear in the EHRR.

(b) Court identifier

A court identifier is not required when citing to the DR because it only reports decisions of the Commission.

Eg X and Y v United Kingdom (1977) 12 DR 32.

However, when citing to the EHRR or Yearbook include a court identifier. The identifier is “EComHR.”

Eg Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v Greece (1969) 12 Yearbook 186 (EComHR) at [186].