Cases
You may need to consult more than one section to accurately represent the source used (eg. number of authors and source descriptions)
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Report series organised by volume
Format for reference list
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name (Year) Volume Law Report Series Abbreviation Starting Page, Pinpoint.
Example
Theophanus v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 104.
Format for bibliography
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name (Year) Volume Law Report Series Abbreviation Starting Page
Example
Theophanus v Herald & Weekly Times Ltd (1994) 182 CLR 104
Style notes for the reference type
- Volumes of law report series are organised by either year or by volume number. Where a law report series is organised by volume number, the year in which the decision was handed down should appear in round brackets '( )'.
- Parties’ names should appear in italics, as they appear on the first page of the decision.
- Where the parties are individuals only surnames should be cited.
- 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 AGLC 4.
- Where ‘the’ forms part of a corporation or firm 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 (e.g. ‘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 organised by year
Format for footnotes
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name [Year] Law Report Series Abbreviation, Starting Page, Pinpoint.
Example
Nydam v The Queen [1977] VR 430, 455.
Format for bibliography
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name [Year] Law Report Series Abbreviation, Starting Page
Example
Nydam v The Queen [1977] VR 430
Style notes for this reference type
- Volumes of law report series are organised by either year or by volume number. Where the volumes of a law report series are organised by year, the year of the volumes in which the case is reported should appear in square brackets '[ ]'. If more than one volume number is produced in a single year, the volume number should be included between the year and the report series abbreviation.
- Parties’ names should appear in italics, as they appear on the first page of the decision.
- Where the parties are individuals only surnames should be cited.
- 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 AGLC 4.
- Where ‘the’ forms part of a corporation or firm 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 (e.g. ‘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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Decisions with a medium neutral citation
Format for footnotes
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case name [Year] Unique Court Identifier Judgement Number [Pinpoint].
Example
Quarmby v Keating [2009] TASSC 80, [11].
Format for bibliography
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case name [Year] Unique Court Identifier Judgement Number
Example
Quarmby v Keating [2009] TASSC 80
Style notes for this reference type
- Media neutral citations should only be used where the citation was allocated by the court itself. See the table on page 55 of AGLC 4 for a list of unique court identifiers and details on when the courts allocated medium neutral citations.
- 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 page 55 of AGLC 4.
- Case names should adhere to AGLC 4 rule 2.1.
- Pinpoint references should appear as paragraph numbers and should adhere to AGLC 4 rules 1.1.6-1.1.7.
- In accordance with AGLC 4 rule 2.2.2, a case should generally not be cited as unreported if it has been reported.
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Decisions without a medium neutral citation
Format for footnotes
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name (Court, Judge(s), Full Date) Pinpoint.
Example
Ross v Chambers (Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Kriewaldt J, 5 April 1956) 77-8.
Format for bibliography
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Case Name (Court, Judge(s), Full Date)
Example
Ross v Chambers (Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Kriewaldt J, 5 April 1956)
Style notes for this reference type
- Case names should adhere to AGLC 4 rule 2.1.
- The names of judicial officers should appear to AGLC 4 rule 2.4.1.
- Pinpoint references are generally to page numbers and refer to the copy of the judgment itself (as delivered by the court).
- In accordance with AGLC 4 rule 2.2.2, a case should generally not be cited as unreported if it has been reported.
Before selecting a referencing style check with your tutor, lecturer or supervisor for the style preferred by the School or Department.
Introduction to the style
The following style notes provide a brief introduction to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th Edition (AGLC 4). AGLC is commonly used as the legal citation standard in Australia.
AGLC 4 is a footnote referencing system.
AGLC 4 is divided into five parts:
- Part 1: General rules (covering topics such as how to deal with subsequent references (rule 1.4) quotations (rule 1.5), and punctuation (rule 1.6)
- Part 2: Domestic sources (cases in chapter 2, legislation in chapter 3)
- Part 3: Secondary sources (such as general rules for citing secondary sources in chapter 4 and discussed below, journal articles in chapter 5, books in chapter 6, and more).
- Part 4: International materials
- Part 5: Foreign domestic materials (citing the laws of selected countries other than Australia)
Access to the full style manual
This guide is based on the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, 4th Edition by Melbourne University Law Review Association and Melbourne Journal of International Law.
The full style manual is available as a free digital PDF copy. Print copies are available from the University of Melbourne library. Consult the official manual for more information.
General rules
Pay close attention to the general rules in part 1 and the general rules for citing secondary sources at the start of part 3. Many of the general rules found in these parts are cross-referenced in rules for citing specific sources. For example, the general rules for citing secondary sources in chapter 4 cover:
- rules about citing authors’ and editors’ names including how to deal with post-nominals and honorific titles;
how to cite multiple authors; - publications authored by a body such as a government department or non-governmental organisation;
- citing judicial officers and former judicial officers, citing judges written judgments (curially), and citing judges writing in publications such as law reviews (extra-curially)
- how to cite titles, including punctuation, capitalisation, subtitles and italicisation, and rules for short titles;
- the inclusion of URLs and archived URLs using permalink
Rule 1.13 provides the rules for bibliographies. Where a bibliography is required it should list all sources that were relied upon, not only those referred to in the text and footnotes. Rule 1.13 also includes a suggestion of how to organise your bibliography according to source type.
Abbreviations
Information about law report abbreviations, Australian Medium Neutral Citations and pinpoint abbreviations are included as appendices in the print edition. Acceptable abbreviations in the reference list include:
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