(a) Official reports

The official reports for England and Wales are called the Law Reports and are published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. Cite to the Law Reports where possible.

The main series in the Law Reports are listed below with the relevant abbreviation and time period.

(b) WLR

The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales also publishes the Weekly Law Reports (WLR). Unlike the Law Reports, the WLR do not include the argument of counsel. Because they are published by the Council, where available use the WLR in preference to unofficial report series.

Eg Universal Thermosensors Ltd v Hibben [1992] 1 WLR 840 (Ch).

NOT Universal Thermosensors Ltd v Hibben [1992] 3 All ER 257 (Ch).

Volume 1 of the WLR contains cases that the Council does not intend to publish in the Law Reports. Volumes 2 (January to June) and 3 (July to December) contain cases that will later be published in the Law Reports. Accordingly, only cite to volumes 2 and 3 if the case has not yet been published in the Law Reports; there may be changes in the Law Reports version.

Eg Foskett v McKeown [2001] 1 AC 102 (HL).

NOT Foskett v McKeown [2000] 2 WLR 1299 (HL).

(a) Background

The English nominate reports are a group of unofficial report series that were produced privately between 1220 and 1867. These reports are often named after the person or persons who were their publishers or reporters. Each series has its own volume numbers and pagination. Well-known cases are commonly reported in a number of different nominate reports and it is quite common for these reports to be substantially different.

Nearly all of the nominate reports have been collected together and reprinted. The first reprint series was published as the Revised Reports. Another series is the English Reports.

(b) Method of citation

Cite the nominate reports by giving the nominate report citation followed by the citation to either the English Reports or the Revised Reports. Cite to the English Reports in preference to the Revised Reports. Separate the two citations by a comma and give the year of the case only once after the case name.

Eg Re Beloved Wilkes's Charity (1851) 3 Mac & G 440, 42 ER 330 (Ch).

A list of abbreviations to the various nominate reports can be found in the "Index Chart" that accompanies the English Reports. For abbreviations for nominate reports not included in the English Reports, a complete list of abbreviations may be found in the first volume of Halsbury's Laws of England.

(c) Court identifier

Where the court can be identified, indicate this in the usual way. If there is no standard abbreviation for the relevant court, the name may be written out in full.

Eg Vernon v Wright (1858) 7 HLC 34, 11 ER 15 (HL).

Although the name of the court may not appear at the start of the report, it can usually be identified by turning to the first page of the particular volume of the reprinted nominate report.

(d) Pinpoint reference

When giving a pinpoint reference to a nominate report, make reference to both the page number in the nominate report and the page in the reprint being cited.

Eg Saunders v Vautier (1841) 4 Beav 115 at 116, 49 ER 282 at 282 (Ch).

When making a subsequent reference to a nominate report in a footnote, cite the page number of the nominate report. A subsequent reference to Saunders v Vautier would take this form:

Eg Saunders v Vautier, above n x, at 117.

(a) Early law reports

Pre-1875, it is not always easy or possible to determine which court decided a particular reported case. Accordingly, in this period it may not be possible to include court identifiers. If it is possible to identify the court but there is no standard abbreviation, the name may be written out in full.

(b) Modern reports

For post-1875 cases, include a court identifier for every case. Use the following court identifiers:

(a) Availability

When citing an unreported decision, use an official neutral citation if available.

The following list indicates when the various neutral citations were officially adopted.

* The divisions and specialist courts of the High Court all have the court identifier "EWHC". They are distinguished by indicating the division or specialist court after the judgment number in round brackets.

Eg Thomson v Berkhamsted Collegiate School [2009] EWHC 2374 (QB).

The following identifiers are used.

(a) Law Lords

Where a judge in the House of Lords (a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, more commonly called a Law Lord) had a geographic designation as part of his or her title, he or she may be referred to either with or without that geographic designation.

Eg Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe OR Lord Walker

Even if the geographic designation is used on first reference, it may be omitted in subsequent references.

(b) Justices of the Supreme Court