First Principles of Business Law

10.1. Citing cases that are published in a law report series

Victorian Reports and New South Wales Law Reports

Individual cases are referred to by what is known as a 'citation'. Citations follow certain conventions.

The citation of a case that is published in a law report series consists of the case name together with a reference to the particular law report series in which it is published and the relevant volume and page number. For example, the citation Taylor v Johnson (1983) 151 CLR 422 begins with the name of the parties and indicates that the report can be found in volume 151 of the Commonwealth Law Reports on page 422. The year of the decision (1983) is shown in round brackets because the volume number (151) does not indicate the year of the decision.

The citation Watt v Rama [1972] VR 353 begins with the name of the parties and indicates that the report can be found in the 1972 volume of the Victorian Reports on page 353. Square brackets are used in this citation because the volume number reflects the year of the decision. If there is more than one volume for each year, they are numbered 1, 2, 3 etc. An example is Home Office v Dorset Yacht Club Co Ltd [1970] 2 All ER 294.

Other series, such as the NSWLR, number their volumes consecutively, starting with 1 for the first volume. The volume number is used in citations but the year of the report is also included in the citation, in round brackets. An example is Lynch v Lynch (1991) 25 NSWLR 411.  It is important, when citing cases, to do it accurately and correctly. The best way is to follow the citation in published tables and indexes.