This document provides an introduction to case law citations and how to understand them. It discusses the components of citations for both civil and criminal cases from Singapore and the UK. It explains that a case citation includes the case name, court, year and page number. It also describes neutral citation systems used in Singapore and England/Wales which assign sequential numbers to written judgments. The document advises checking legal abbreviation references to understand abbreviations in citations and identifies countries. It aims to help readers learn how to read and interpret case citations.

1. Introduction to
Case Law
Rita Lam
Research Librarian, Law
28th July 2015

2. Horton v Sadler [2007] 1 AC 307
CASE NAME CASE CITATION

3. Reading the case name
Civil Cases
Indo Commercial Society (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. Reading the case citation
[1992] 2 SLR(R) 667
The citation tells us that the case is reported
in vol 2 of the Singapore Law Reports
(Reissue) for 1992, starting on page 667.
ReportVolYear Pg

5. English case citation
[1893] 1 QB 491
The citation tells us that the case is reported
in vol 1 of the Queens Bench Law Report for
1893, starting on page 491.
ReportVolYear Pg

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

7. Reading citations
Neutral citation
Year of decision Court Case
Number
[2009] EWCA Crim 1457
This is a system of citation where each written judgment from a particular level of
court is assigned a sequential case number, starting from 1 at the beginning of each
calendar year.
England & Wales Neutral Citations:
UKHL – House of Lords
UKPC – Privy Council
EWCA Civ – Court of Appeal Civil Division
EWCA Crim – Court of Appeal Criminal Division
EWHC Admin – High Court (Administrative)
EWHC Admlty – High Court (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 the 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. WLR citation
[2002] 2 WLR 1315

14. Questions?
Email library@smu.edu.sg