Identifier in United Kingdom

Court identifiers

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. Where it is possible to identify the court, use the following court identifiers:

• Assizes: Assizes
• Court of Chancery: Ch
• Court of Common Pleas: Comm Pleas
• Court for Crown Cases Reserved: Cr C R
• Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes: Div & Mat
• Court of Exchequer: Exch
• Court of Exchequer Chamber: Exch Ch
• Court of King’s Bench: KB
• Court of Probate: Prob
• Court of Queen’s Bench: QB
• High Court of Admiralty: Admir

If it is possible to identify the court but there is no standard abbreviation, write the name of the court out in full.

Modern reports

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

• Supreme Court: SC
• House of Lords: HL
• Privy Council: PC
• Court of Appeal: CA
• Court of Criminal Appeal: Crim App
• Chancery Division: Ch
• Family Division: Fam
• King’s Bench: KB
• Queen’s Bench: QB

Note that when citing an English case in one of the official reports it is always necessary to give a court identifier as all of the official reports include reports of decisions from more than one court.

Neutral citations

When citing an unreported decision, it is advisable to use an official neutral citation, if available. Read more about neutral citations in this United Kingdom legal Encyclopedia here.

Judge identifier

Justices of the Supreme Court

The Justices of the Supreme Court are referred to simply as “Lord Mance” or “Lady Hale”. For further information about referring to Justices of the Supreme Court, see rule 1.1.6(d)(ii) above.

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.

Lord Chief Justice

The name of the Lord Chief Justice may be abbreviated to “Lord Judge CJ”.

Master of the Rolls

The name of the Master of the Rolls may be abbreviated by placing “MR” after the judge’s title, for example Sir Anthony Clarke MR or Lord Neuberger MR.

Court of Appeal

The name of a Court of Appeal judge (a Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal) may be abbreviated to “Buxton LJ” or, in the case of multiple judges, “Brooke, Sedley and Richards LJJ”. However, where the judge is a peer, use Lord, for example Lord Denning MR.

High Court

The name of a High Court judge (a Justice of the High Court) may be abbreviated to “Lewison J” or, in the case of multiple judges, “Eady and Ouseley JJ”.

Citation of cases reported in law reports in Scotland

Year and brackets

When citing a Scottish case, the year is included if it is an essential part of the citation (ie if the volumes of the report series are arranged by year), but it is not included in brackets.

Eg Musaj v Secretary of State for the Home Department 2004 SLT 623 (OH).

When the year is not an essential part of the citation (ie if the volumes of the report series are arranged by volume number), enclose the year in round brackets. (In such cases, the Scottish practice is sometimes not to include the year at all, however, this practice should not be followed in New Zealand.)

Eg Glenday v Johnston (1905) 13 SLT 467 (IH (1 Div)).

Square brackets are never used when citing Scottish law reports.

Court identifiers

The Court of Session is Scotland’s supreme civil court. The Court is divided into the Outer House (essentially the first instance division) and the Inner House (an appeal court). The Inner House is divided into two divisions: the First Division and the Second Division. The Divisions are of equal authority and are presided over by the Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk respectively. Due to the pressure of business an Extra Division often sits to hear cases.

The High Court of Justiciary is Scotland’s supreme criminal court. The Court sits as both a trial and appellate court.

Use the following court identifiers for the Scottish courts:

• Outer House: OH
• Inner House, First Division IH: (1 Div)
• Inner House, Second Division IH: (2 Div)
• Inner House, Extra Division IH: (E Div)
• High Court of Justiciary, Appeal Court: HCJAC
• High Court of Justiciary, Trial Court: HCJ

“Scot” may be included before the court identifier if necessary, to indicate that the decision is a Scottish one, with no space between “Scot” and the court identifier.

Neutral citations

Read about neutral citations in Scotland here.