(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 is 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).