(a) Court identifier
When citing a case with an official neutral citation, do not give a court identifier, as the court will be evident from the neutral citation.
Eg Muir v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [2007] NZCA 334, [2007] 3 NZLR 495.
NOT Muir v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [2007] NZCA 334, [2007] 3 NZLR 495 (CA).
However, when citing a case that does not have an official neutral citation, identify the court that decided the case in round brackets after the starting page. When using footnotes, the court identifier should appear in the footnote even if it is clear from the surrounding text in the body of the writing which court is being referred to. Give the court identifier before any pinpoint reference.
Eg Portland Holdings Ltd v Cameo Motors Ltd [1966] NZLR 571 (CA) at 581.
Eg W v F (2009) 27 FRNZ 535 (FC).
Identify the court using an abbreviation. If there is no official or commonly accepted abbreviation, then write the court out in full. A list of court identifiers for New Zealand courts and tribunals is given in Appendix 1.
Before 1980 the High Court of New Zealand was called the Supreme Court of New Zealand. When citing a judgment of that Court use “SC” as the court identifier. The year of the judgment will indicate whether the decision is of that Court or of New Zealand’s court of final appeal established in 2004, also called the Supreme Court.
Eg Canterbury Frozen Meat Co Ltd v Waitaki Farmers’ Freezing Co Ltd [1972] NZLR 806 (SC) at 815.
Where a report contains multiple judgments, give a separate citation for each judgment you wish to reference.
Eg Taylor Bros Ltd v Taylors Group Ltd [1988] 2 NZLR 1 (HC); and Taylor Bros Ltd v Taylors Group Ltd [1988] 2 NZLR 1 (CA).
NOT Taylor Bros Ltd v Taylors Group Ltd [1988] 2 NZLR 1 (HC and CA).
(b) Exceptions
Some report series only report decisions of a single court. When citing such series, do not include a court identifier. The main such report series are:
(c) Jurisdiction
It is generally unnecessary to indicate the jurisdiction of the court deciding the case being cited, as this will be obvious from the report series. However, indicate the jurisdiction when citing a case from a multijurisdictional report series. For New Zealand cases, this may be done by placing “NZ” before the court identifier without a space.
Eg R v B [1996] 1 LRC 517 (NZCA).
Occasionally, a report series that predominantly reports cases from one jurisdiction will include a case from another. When citing such a case, include the jurisdiction.
Eg State v Pickering [2003] NZAR 293 (Fiji HC).
Eg The “Tasman Discoverer” [2001] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 665 (NZHC).
When citing a case from the jurisdiction that such a report series predominantly reports, it is not necessary to include a jurisdiction identifier.
Eg Kastner v Jason [2005] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 397 (CA).
NOT Kastner v Jason [2005] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 397 (EWCA).