New Zealand Law Style Guide

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:

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.

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.

If the case is unreported, the notification in the Official Journal (OJ) may be used. This is searchable online at <www.eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm>. This website will also advise whether a case has been reported in the ECR.

Since 1989, the ECR has been split into two volumes. Where present, the volume number should attach to the page number and not the report series.

The ECR I contains CJEU and ECJ cases (“C” prefix) and the ECR II contains GCE and CFI cases (“T” prefix).

When citing to the ECR a court identifier is not required for cases from 1989 onwards because the court is clear from the volume and case number.

For cases prior to 1989 or where another report series is used, include one of the following court identifiers: CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union); ECJ (European Court of Justice); GCE (General Court); or CFI (Court of First Instance).

Eg Case C-363/16 European Commission v Hellenic Republic ECLI:EU:C:2018:12 at [34]–[35].

In 2014, the European Union introduced the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) to make it easier to identify and locate cases. An ECLI has been retrospectively assigned to all European Union cases (back to 1954). However, these should only be used for European Union case citations for decisions from 2012 onwards; decisions prior to 2012 should be cited in accordance with rule 10.5.1(b).

The ECLI is a code for each judgment that identifies the originating jurisdiction, the court, the year of the judgment and its number. Each component is separated by a colon. For example, the ECLI of the judgment of the Court of Justice of 11 October 2016 in Case C-601/14 Commission v Italy is “ECLI:EU:C:2016:759”.

Decisions delivered by the Court of Justice are indicated by the letter “C” and those of the General Court by the letter “T”.

After November 1998, the European Court of Human Rights was split into a Chamber (with five sections) and a Grand Chamber. If the case was heard before the Grand Chamber, the court identifier is “Grand Chamber, ECHR”. Otherwise, the court identifier is simply “ECHR”.

As the Reports of Judgments and Decisions (ECHR) only publish decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, cases prior to November 1998 will require no court identifier and cases after November 1998 will only require a court identifier to identify where a case is from the Grand Chamber. Similarly, with the Series A reports, no court identifier is needed.

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:

Element

Examples

Morissens v Belgium

(1988)

127

Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v Greece

(1969)

Yearbook

186

(EComHR)

at [186]

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].

Element	Case number	Case name	Year	Report series	Page number
Example	Case C-34/89	Smith v EC Commission	[1993]	ECR	I-454
Rule	10.5.1(b)(i)			10.5.1(b)(ii)	10.5.1(b)(iii)

Element	Case number	Case name	ECLI number	Pinpoint reference
Example	Case C-363/16	European Commission v Hellenic Republic	ECLI:EU:C:2018:12	at [34]–[35]
Rule	10.5.1(c)(i)		10.5.1(c)(ii)

Element	Legislation type	Number and title	Publication details for the Official Journal of the European Communities
Example	Regulation	1605/2002 on the Financial Regulations	[2002] OJ L248/1
Rule	10.5.2(a)	10.5.2(b)	10.5.2(c)

Element	Case name	Year	Volume number	Report series	Page number	Court identifier	Pinpoint reference
Examples	Mauer v Austria	(1997)	25	EHRR	91	(ECHR)	at 92
Examples	Svinarenko v Russia	[2014]	5	ECHR	181	(Grand Chamber)