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Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation: Cases

Also known as the "McGill Guide"

CASES

References for this section are taken from E-222 to E-224 of the McGill Guide (8th ed) 

A) General Form

A standard citation will contain the

  • names of the parties to the case
  • year of publication
  • volume number of the law reporter
  • abbreviation of the law reporter
  • first page of the case and
  • level of court/jurisdiction (if applicable). 

B) Forms of Citation

Here are examples of how to cite Singapore court judgments:

Source of Case Law Law Report or Court Abbreviations Applicable Time Period Examples
Singapore Law Reports SLR 1965 -  Public Prosecutor v Chow Chian Yow Joseph Brian, [2016] 2 SLR 335.
Singapore Law Reports (Reissue) SLR(R) 1965 - 2009 The “Alexandrea”, [2002] 1 SLR(R) 812 (HC).
Malayan Law Journal MLJ 1932-92

Include the abbreviation Sing in parantheses at the end of the citation if the case is not from the SLR or SLRR.

Yusuf Jumabhoy v Law Society of Singapore,[1988] 1 MLJ 491 (Sing HC).
Straits Settlements Law Reports SSLR 1867 - 1942 Cheong Chark v Gammon (Malaya) Ltd, [1939] SSLR 63.
Straits Law Journal  SLJ 1839-91 Lavino v Syed Mohamed Bin Salim Al Sree, [1890] 3 SLJ 75.
Kyshe’s Reports KY 1808 - 1939 Kyshe v Inche Nap Pendek & Ors, [1808-1884] 1 KY 624.

Unreported judgements with
Neutral citations

(Neutral citations are assigned by the courts and are independent of any law report)

Examples:
SGCA (Court of Appeal)

SGHC (High Court)

SGMC (Magistrates’ Court)

SGDC (District Court)		 2001 -

For pinpoint: provide the paragraph number in
brackets "[ ]"

Ho Sheng Yu Garreth v Public Prosecutor, [2012] SGHC 19 [135].

 

C) Abbreviations for Singapore Courts and Law Reporters

Abbreviations for Singapore courts (for the purposes of neutral citations) and law reporters can be found in Appendix B and Appendix C of the McGill Guide respectively.

If an abbreviation is not listed in the McGill Guide, then you may refer to the Singapore Legal Abbreviations index published by the C J Koh Law Library.

D) Citation Practice

Where a case is cited in a few law reporters, it should be cited in the following order of preference as established by s106(6) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021:

1. Singapore Law Reports (2010 - ) (SLR current series)

2. Singapore Law Reports (Reissue) (SLR (R))

3. Singapore Law Reports (1965-2009) (SLR 1965 - 2009)

4. Malayan Law Journal (MLJ)

Note: Cases reported in the Singapore Law Reports shall be cited using their Singapore Law Reports citations, in priority to their neutral citations (s106(8)(a) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021).

Illustration 1

The Court of Appeal judgment in the case of Public Prosecutor v Mohammed Liton Mohammed Syeed Mallik has 3 citations:

1) Public Prosecutor v Mohammed Liton Mohammed Syeed Mallik, [2008] 1 SLR(R) 601 (CA).
2) Public Prosecutor v Mohammed Liton Mohammed Syeed Mallik, [2008] 1 SLR 601 (CA).
3) Public Prosecutor v Mohammed Liton Mohammed Syeed Mallik, [2007] SGCA 48.

Which of these should be cited? 
The SLR(R) citation should be cited in preference to the SLR and neutral citations.

Frequently Asked Question: How do I check whether a case has an SLR(R) citation on LawNet if I only have the SLR citation? 

Answer: Check the "Parallel Citations" tab on LawNet. The example below shows how to find all parallel citations under the "Related Documents" tab on LawNet.

Illustration 2

You wish to cite the High Court judgment for the case Seng You Morris v International Bank of Qatar. However, a search on LawNet only pulls out the neutral citation and it is stated that "There are no related documents for this case". How should this judgment be cited? 

This is an unreported judgement. It does not have an SLR(R) nor SLR citation as it has not been published in the law reporter.

You will thus use the neutral citation: Seng You Morris v International Bank of Qatar, [2016] SGHC 22.

References for this section are taken from E-115 to E-117 of the McGill Guide (10th ed).

The 10th ed. does not provide specific guidelines for citing cases from England and Wales but takes a uniform approach to cases for all foreign common law jurisdictions - rules for Canadian jurisprudence are to be adopted for the style of cause (section 3.3), year (section 3.4), pinpoints (section 3.6), printed reporters (section 3.7), and case history (section 3.11).

A) General 

Type Citation
General Form

Style of cause | (year of the decision), | main citation | pinpoint, | parallel citation | (court | jurisdiction) | [short title].

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd (2008), [2008] AC 884 at 887, [2008] 2 WLR 499 (HL UK).
Neutral Citation

Style of cause, | [year of decision] | jurisdiction and court | sequential number.

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd, [2008] UKHL 13.
Publicly Accessible
Online Database

Style of cause, | main citation | (online database) | pinpoint, | parallel citation | (jurisdiction | court).

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd, [2008] UKHL 13 (BAILLI) at para 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B) The Official Law Reports

The official Law Reports are published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales (ICLR).

Here are some examples of case citations from the series:

The Law Report Series Abbreviations Citations

Appeal Cases
UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; previously included House of Lords decisions

 AC

Anns v Merton London Borough Council (1977), [1978] AC 728, [1977] 2 WLR 1024 (HL UK)

Note: As there is no separate reporter for the Supreme Court, Privy Council and House of Lords, include the abbreviation of the court, e.g. HL, at the end of of each citation to a case heard in that court.
Chancery
Chancery Division and appeals therefrom
in the Court of Appeal		 Ch Gilford Motor Co Ltd v Horne (1933), [1933] Ch 935 (CA UK).
Queen's Bench / King's Bench
Queen's (previously King's) Bench Division and
appeals therefrom in the Court of Appeal		 QB / KB

Fisher v Bell (1960), [1961] 1 QB 394, [1960] 3 WLR 919.

Chapelton v Barry Urban District Council (1940), [1940] 1 KB 532 (CA UK).

Akerblom v Price, Potter, Walker & Co (1881), 7 QBD 129 (CA UK)
Note: Include "D" for Division after the reporter to distinguish the 1875-1890 series of reporters from the later series of the same name.
Family (1972 -)
Family Division of the High Court and appeals therefrom in the Court of Appeal		 Fam Livingstone-Stallard v Livingstone-Stallard (1974), [1974] Fam 47, [1974] 3 WLR 302.
Probate (1891-1971)
Family Division, Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division, appeals therefrom, and Ecclesiastical Courts		 P Leslie v Leslie (1911), [1911] P 203.

C) English Reports

No specific guidance is provided in the 10th edition with regards the English Reports.

In the 9th edition, it states in section 7.3.2.5 - "For cases prior to 1865, cite to English Reports (ER) in preference to the nominate reporter, or provide a parallel citation."

Example: Parker v Gordon (1806), 6 Esp 41, 170 ER 824.

The English Reports have been fully digitised in CommonLII.

D) Citation Practice

i. For the citation of English cases in Singapore courts, the following order of preference has been established by s106(6)(c) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021:

1. Law Reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (e.g. Queen's Bench (QB), Appeal Cases (AC), Chancery (Ch), Family (Fam), Probate (P))

2. Weekly Law Reports (WLR)

3. All England Law Reports (All ER).

ii. In addition, the Practice Direction (Citation of Authorities) [2012] 1 WLR 780 states:
"If a judgment is not reported in the official Law Reports, the WLR or the All ER, but it is reported in any of the authoritative specialist series of reports which contain a headnote and are made by individuals holding a Senior Courts qualification (for the purposes of section 115 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990), the specialist report should be cited."

E) Abbreviations

i. Law Reporters

A list of UK law reporters and their abbreviations can be found in Appendix C of the McGill Guide.

Here is selection of law report abbreviations:

Law Reporters Abbreviations
All England Law Reports All ER
English Reports ER
Times Law Reports TLR
Weekly Law Reports WLR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ii. Neutral Citations

A list of courts and their abbreviations can be found in Appendix B (B-4) of the McGill Guide.

Here are selected court abbreviations for the purposes of neutral citations:

Courts Abbreviations
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom UKSC
House of Lords UKHL
Privy Council UKPC
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) EWCA Civ
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) EWCA Crim
England and Wales High Court EWHC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F) OSCOLA (4th ed.)

Where the McGill Guide does not provide guidance on a specific area, you may wish to refer to pages 13 to 23 of the OSCOLA Guide. See also Quick Reference Guide.