Cases
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Report series with volume number
Entry in bibliography
Case name (Year) Volume Law report series’ Starting page
For example
Theophanus v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 104
Entry in footnote
Case name (Year) Volume Law report series’ abbreviation Starting page, Pinpoint.
For example
Theophanus v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 104.
Style notes
- Where a report series has a volume number, the year should be enclosed in round brackets, otherwise square brackets should be used.
- Parties’ names should appear in italics, as they appear on the first page of the report.
- Where the parties are individuals, given names and initials should be omitted.
- Where the case involves more than one action, only the first action should be cited.
- Abbreviations for business corporations and firms should follow the table at 2.1.2 of the AGLC3.
- Where ‘the’ forms part of a company name, it should be included.
- Where the Commonwealth of Australia is a party, ‘Commonwealth’ should be used.
- Where a party is an Australian state or territory, only the name of that state or territory should be used (For example, ‘Queensland’, not ‘State of Queensland’)
- Rex and Regina should be abbreviated to ‘R’ where the Crown is the first named party.
- Where the Crown is the respondent, ‘The King’ or ‘The Queen’ (as appropriate) should be written out in full.
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Report series without volume number
Entry in bibliography
Case name [Year] Law Report Series Abbreviation, Starting page
For example
Nydam v The Queen [1977] VR, 430
Entry in footnote
Case name [Year] Law Report Series Abbreviation, Starting page, Pinpoint.
For example
Nydam v The Queen [1977] VR, 430.
Style notes
- Where a report series has no volume number, the year should be enclosed in square brackets.
- Parties’ names should appear in italics, as they appear on the first page of the report.
- Where the parties are individuals, given names and initials should be omitted.
- Where the case involves more than one action, only the first action should be cited.
- Abbreviations for business corporations and firms should follow the table at 2.1.2 of the AGLC3.
- Where ‘the’ forms part of a company name, it should be included.
- Where the Commonwealth of Australia is a party, “Commonwealth” should be used.
- Where a party is an Australian state or territory, only the name of that State or Territory should be used (For example, Queensland, not State of Queensland).
- Rex and Regina should be abbreviated to ‘R’ where the Crown is the first-named party.
- Where the Crown is the respondent, ‘The King’ or ‘The Queen’ (as appropriate) should be written out in full.
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Unreported/pre media neutral
Entry in bibliography
Case name (Unreported, Court, Judge(s), full date)
For example
Ross v Chambers (Unreported, Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Kriewaldt J, 5 April 1956)
Entry in footnote
Case name (Unreported, Court, Judge(s), full date) Pinpoint.
For example
Ross v Chambers (Unreported, Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Kriewaldt J, 5 April 1956) 77-8.
Style notes
- This citation format is for unreported cases that occurred before the courts started allocating media neutral citations.
- Pinpoint references are generally referring to page numbers, and refer to the copy of the judgement itself (as delivered by the court).
- In accordance with AGLC 3 rule 2.3.1, a reported version of a case should be cited in preference to an unreported version.
- If paragraph numbers are used instead of, or in addition to page numbers, they should appear in brackets (in accordance with AGLC 3 rules 1.1.5 – 1.1.6).
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Report series (court identified)
Entry in bibliography
Case name [Year] Citation (Name of Court)
For example
Aldrick v EM Investments (QLD) Pty Ltd [2000] 2 Qd R 346 (Court of Appeal)
Entry in footnote
Case name [Year] Citation (Name of Court)
For example
Aldrick v EM Investments(QLD) Pty Ltd [2000] 2 Qd R 346 (Court of Appeal).
Style notes
- Generally the court name should not be included in a citation or a reported case, however, where it is important to include the court name, it should be entered as above.
- Where it is important to identify the court, and it is not otherwise apparent, the court may be identified in brackets. It should appear at the end of the citation, after any pinpoint references or parenthetical clauses.
- Where it is otherwise apparent, the jurisdiction should not be indicated (For example, as per authorised state law reports).
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Media neutral citations
Entry in bibliography
Case name [Year] Unique Court Identifier Judgement Number (full date)
For example
Maguire v Leather [2009] HCASL 48 (12 March 1999)
Entry in footnote
Case name [Year] Unique Court Identifier Judgement Number (Full date) [Pinpoint].
For example
Maguire v Leather [2009] HCASL 48 (12 March 1999).
Style notes
- Media neutral citations should only be used where the citation was allocated by the court.
- There should be no punctuation between the full date and any pinpoint.
- For a full list of preferred unique court identifiers for Australian Supreme and superior Commonwealth courts, including information on when the courts allocated judgement numbers, see the table on pages 53-54 of the AGLC3.
- The reported version of a case should be cited in preference to the unreported version.
- Some databases allocate media neutral designations retrospectively. To avoid confusion, media neutral citations should not be used to cite decisions prior to the years listed in the table on pages 53-54 of the AGLC3.
Please note the following notes for the AGLC 3 style are brief and general. For detailed citation work, please see the full AGLC 3 citation guide.
The AGLC is a reference/footnote system.
This style is based on the most recent version of AGLC – the third edition – Melbourne University Law Review Association Australian Guide to Legal Citation (online) or you can borrow a copy from the library (Melbourne University Law Review Association, 3rd ed, 2010) .
References cited in text must be listed in the bibliography and all references listed in the bibliography must be cited in the text. It should list all references relied upon, not just the references in text and footnotes. Fullstops must be used at the end of footnotes, but are not used for bibliographies.
Because referencing enables readers to locate the sources, reference data must be accurate.
Bibliography/reference list layout
Bibliography list order is done alphabetically by author surname.
Where an item has no author, the first word of the title is used.
Entries by the same single or multiple authors are arranged chronologically, by year of publication.
The bibliography may be divided into the section below. However a section may be omitted and other categories or subdivisions may be included as needed (with appropriate renumbering).
- Articles/books/reports
- Cases
- Legislation
- Treaties
- Other.
Journal, book, report, case, legislation and treaty titles are italicised. Eg Harvard Law Review .
Journal titles in the Bibliography must be spelled out fully – no abbreviated titles.
Starting page numbers for all articles and chapters in books should be included only not the page range.
Acceptable abbreviations in the bibliography for aspects of the citation and other publications include:
| Chap | Chapter |
| ed | Edition |
| eds | Editors |
| ed | Editor |
| 2nd ed | Second edition |
| No | Number |
| Vol | Volume |
| Cth | Commonwealth |
| pt | part |
| Rep | Report |
| art | Article |
Note: Official UN documents have their own specific abbreviations – see page 130 of the AGLC 3rd ed.
AGLC 3 uses smart quotes, single inverted commas.
For detailed information on reference types not covered here, please consult the online version of AGLC 3.