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Citations

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England and Wales

The official vendor neutral citation system was introduced for the United Kingdom starting in January 2001. BAILII started assigning unofficial citations prior to the official adoption of the system and these BAILII neutral citations apply to all judgments on BAILII up to the introduction of any given official vendor neutral citation and in courts and tribunals still lacking an official system. Further details regarding the neutral citation system used in England and Wales, and relating generally to the citation of authorities in England and Wales, can be found in various Practice Directions but they are summarised in the following:

The courts that have "official" vendor/media neutral citations from 11 January 2001 are the:
United Kingdom House of Lords [year] UKHL number
United Kingdom Privy Council [year] UKPC number
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) [year] EWCA Civ number
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) [year] EWCA Crim number
England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court)                      [year] EWHC Admin number

The courts that have "official" vendor/media neutral citations from 14 January 2002 are the:

England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) [year] EWHC number (Ch)
England and Wales High Court (Patents Court) [year] EWHC number (Pat)
England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) [year] EWHC number (QB)
England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) [year] EWHC number (Admin)
England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court) [year] EWHC number (Comm)
England and Wales High Court (Admiralty Court) [year] EWHC number (Admlty)
England and Wales High Court (Technology & Construction Court) [year] EWHC number (TCC)
England and Wales High Court (Family Division) [year] EWHC number (Fam)

The courts that have "official" vendor/media neutral citations from 22 April 2014 are the:

England and Wales Family Court [year] EWFC number
England and Wales Court of Protection [year] EWCOP number

For 2002 onwards, there are no duplicated EWHC numbers (ie there is not a [2002] EWHC 1 (QB) as well as a [2002] EWHC 1 (Comm) ). However the non-authoritative BAILII-assigned citations for earlier years do use the same number for judgments given in different divisions of the English High Court, so for these judgments it is necessary to cite the division suffix as well as the number.

Citing cases in the courts of England and Wales

Where cases are to be cited in court, practitioners should comply with the Practice Directions. These include requirements as to the published reports which should be used in court (reproduced here), and limitations on the citation of authorities. In relation to civil cases see also Harvey Shopfitters Limited V ADI Limited [2003] EWCA Civ 1757 at [19]-[23]. In relation to citation of authorities in criminal appeals, and in particular in relation to avoiding excessive citation of authorities, see R v. Erskine [2009] EWCA Crim 1425 at [74]-[81]:

"if it is not necessary to refer to a previous decision of the court, it is necessary not to refer to it. Similarly, if it is not necessary to include a previous decision in the bundle of authorities, it is necessary to exclude it. That approach will be rigidly enforced."

Scotland

Further details regarding the neutral citation system used in Scotland and regarding judgments generally can be found as follows:

The courts that have "official" vendor/media neutral citations from 1 January 2005 are the:
Scotland High Court of Justiciary [year] HCJT number
Scotland Court of Criminal Appeal [year] HCJAC number
Scotland Court of Session, Outer House [year] CSOH number
Scotland Court of Session, Inner House) [year]CSIH number

Northern Ireland

Further details regarding the neutral citation system used in Northern Ireland and regarding judgments generally can be found as follows:
Northern Ireland Court of Appeal [year] NICA number
Northern Ireland, High Court, Queen's Bench division [year] NIQB number
Northern Ireland, High Court, Family division [year] NIFam number
Northern Ireland, High Court, Chancery division [year] NICh number
Northern Ireland Crown Court [year] NICC number
Northern Ireland Master's Decisions [year] NIMaster number

Ireland

Further details regarding the neutral citation system used in Ireland:
Supreme Court of Ireland Decisions [year] IESC number
Irish Court of Criminal Appeal [year] IECCA number
Irish Court of Appeal [year] IECA number
High Court of Ireland Decisions [year] IEHC number

Other Courts and Tribunals

All other vendor neutral citations and paragraph numbering may have been added by BAILII and should be considered unofficial, but are nevertheless useful for referring to cases on BAILII.

Paragraph Numbers

In line with international standards, references to paragraphs within a judgment should be in square brackets and the end of the citation (to distinguish them from page numbers) as in:
Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd & Ors [2014] UKSC 64 at [11]
Within BAILII you can create a paragraph link by simply adding #para and the paragraph number to the URL. For example, the URL link for paragraph 11 in Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd & Ors [2013] UKSC 34 is: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2013/34.html#para11

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URL: https://www.bailii.org/bailii/citation.html