(a) When to use

When citing unreported judgments from a court or tribunal with a single registry (for example the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal) it is not necessary to include a court abbreviation as the court will be obvious from the file number.

However, when citing unreported judgments from a court or tribunal with multiple registries (for example the High Court and District Courts) it is necessary to include a court abbreviation.

(b) Abbreviations

Use an abbreviation to identify the court or tribunal that decided the case. Use “HC” for the High Court, “DC” for the District Court and “FC” for the Family Court.

Eg R v Kahui HC Auckland CRI-2006-057-1135, 12 October 2007.

Eg Hard to Find But Worth the Effort Quality Second Hand Books (Wellington) Ltd v He DC Wellington CIV-2005-085-632, 21 August 2006.

Eg KAB v PRJ FC Tauranga FAM-2008-070-1800, 17 February 2009.

Appendix 1 contains a list of court identifiers for other New Zealand courts and tribunals.