How to read a legal citation
“347 U.S. 483 (1954).” “[1932] AC 562.” “BVerfGE 7, 198.” Every legal system has its own shorthand for pointing at a case or a law. Pick a system below and click each piece of a real citation to see what it means.
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Choose a legal system
United States
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
England and Wales
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL)
OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities)
Ireland
Byrne v Ireland [1972] IR 241
OSCOLA (Ireland version) and court practice
Canada
R v Oakes, [1986] 1 SCR 103
Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide)
Australia
Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1
Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC)
New Zealand
Peters v Davison [1999] 2 NZLR 164 (CA)
New Zealand Law Style Guide
India
Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala (1973) 4 SCC 225, AIR 1973 SC 1461
No single national style; the Bluebook-based and OSCOLA-based styles are both used
South Africa
S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC)
South African law reports style (Law Reports and the Pretoria University Law Press style)
Germany
§ 823 Abs. 1 BGB
Local conventions and the abbreviations of the major commentaries
France
T. confl., 8 févr. 1873, Blanco
French academic and court conventions
Italy
Corte cost., sent. n. 1/1956
Italian academic and court conventions
Spain
STC 53/1985, de 11 de abril
Spanish academic and court conventions
Netherlands
HR 31 januari 1919, NJ 1919/161
Dutch conventions and the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI)
Japan
最大判昭和48年4月4日 刑集27巻3号265頁
Japanese court and academic conventions
Brazil
STF, ADI 4277 (2011)
ABNT standards and court conventions
European Union
Case C-131/12 Google Spain and Google, EU:C:2014:317
The Court of Justice's own conventions (and OSCOLA for English-language writing)
European Court of Human Rights
Soering v United Kingdom (1989) 11 EHRR 439
The Court's own HUDOC database and OSCOLA for English-language writing
International law
Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America), Merits, ICJ Reports 1986, p 14
OSCOLA International Law Standard and the Bluebook rules on international materials
Ideas you will meet everywhere
Neutral citation
A citation that the court itself gives each judgment, such as [2019] UKSC 41 or 2016 SCC 27. It is the same in print and online, so you can find the judgment without owning any particular book.
Square or round brackets?
In England, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, square brackets mean the year is part of the address of the volume. Round brackets mean the year is only extra information.
Pinpoint citation
The exact page or paragraph you mean, added after the first page: 347 U.S. 483, 495 in the United States, or [2019] UKSC 41 [50] in England.
Parallel citations
The same case printed in more than one series. Indian and American courts often list several, so you can find the case in whichever series you have.
ECLI
The European Case Law Identifier. It has the same shape in every country that uses it (ECLI:country:court:year:number), which makes cross-border research easier.
The code name goes last (or first)
German citations put the section first and the code last (§ 823 BGB). French and Italian ones put the article first, then the code. Anglophone ones name the Act first, then the section.
A note on accuracy
Every example is a real, well-known authority, and the explanations describe the standard conventions. Courts and journals sometimes vary, so for anything you submit or publish, check the style guide named on each page. This is an educational guide, not legal advice.
Cite this page
TheLawToKnow Tools. How to Read a Legal Citation. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/legal-citations.
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