This document provides an introduction to case law citations and how to read them. It discusses the components of a case citation including the case name, court, year and page number. It explains neutral citations used in Singapore and England/Wales and how each case is assigned a sequential number. It also notes some common abbreviations used in case citations and provides a resource to look up legal abbreviations.

1. Introduction to Case Law

2. Case Name Case Citation
Horton v Sadler [2007] 1 AC 307

3. Reading the Case Name
• Civil Cases
 Indo Commercial (Pte) Ltd v Ebrahim & Anor
(S’pore)
 Fisher v Bell (UK)
• Criminal Cases
 Public Prosecutor v Too Yong Wei (S’pore)
 R v Smith (UK)

4. Year Vol PgReport
[1992] 2 SLR(R) 667
This citation tells us that the case is reported in
volume 2 of the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue)
for 1992, starting on page 667.

5. Year Vol PgReport
[1893] 1 QB 491
This citation tells us that the case is reported in
volume 1 of the Queens Bench Law Report for
1893, starting on page 491.

6. Reading Citations
Neutral Citation
Year of decision Court
[2007] SGHC
Singapore Neutral Citations:
• SGCA – Court of Appeal
• SGDC – District Court
• SGFC – Family Court
• SGHC – High Court
• SGJC – Juvenile Court
• SGMC – Magistrates Court
• Supreme Court
• SGSCT – Small Class
Tribunal
This a system of citation where each written judgement from a
particular level of court is assigned a sequential number, starting
from 1 at the beginning of each calendar year
Sequential
Number
24

7. Reading Citations
• Neutral Citation
Year of decision Court
[2007] SGHC
This a system of citation where each written judgement from a particular level of court is
assigned a sequential number, starting from 1 at the beginning of each calendar year
Case Number
24
England & Wales Neutral Citations:
• UKHL – House of Lords
• UKPC – Privy Council
• EWCA Civ – Cour of Appeal Civil Division
• EWCA Crim – Court of Appeal Criminal
Division
• EWHC Admi – High Court (Administrative)
• EWHC Admlty – High Courts (Admiralty)
• EWHC Ch – High court (Chancery)
• EWHC Comm – High Court (Commercial)
• EWHC Fam – High Court (Family)
• EWHC Pat – High Court (Patents)
• EWHC QB – High Court (Queen’s Bench)
• EWHC TCC – High Court (Tech &
Construction)

8. Checking Abbreviations
• What do abbreviations mean?
• How do you know whether it is a
Singapore case or an English case?
Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
http://www.legalabbrevs.Cardiff.ac.uk/

11. Finding out the Abbreviation
• [2002] 2 WLR 1315

12. Appropriate Use of Electronic Resources Policy