Civil law cases

In-text citations

Paraphrasing

In a case that involves a long-running dispute over ... (Todd v Nicol [1957] SASR 72, para. 5).

Direct quote

Place direct quotes between single quotation marks ' ' and provide the title of the case, year, page number, section heading (if applicable) and paragraph number.

Hungry Jacks argued that Burger King 'must act reasonably in exercising its powers under the Development Agreement; and that there was an implied obligation  ...' (Burger King Corp v Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2001] NSWCA 187, para 141).

Reference list

Template

Plaintiff v Defendant (Year). Volume. Law report. Page number.

Plaintiff v Defendant [Year]. Series (if present). Law report. Page number.

Examples

Oceanic Sun Line Special Shipping Co Inc v Fay (1988) 165 CLR 197

Esso Petroleum Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise [1976] 1 AII ER 117

Burger King Corp v Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd [2001] NSWCA 187

Todd v Nicol [1957] SASR 72

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562

Notes on style

** Check with your teacher or lecturer to confirm their particular requirements.

  • Formatting of civil law cases appears the same in the reference list as in your text.
  • Start with the name of the plaintiff, followed by v (stands for ‘and’ or ‘against’), then the name of the defendant, all in italics.
  • The year is next in brackets. If the law report series is ordered according to year (such as in the UK Appeal Cases), the year the case was reported, is in square brackets. If the series is based on volume number (such as in the Commonwealth Law Reports), the year the case was decided is in round brackets.
  • After the year may be a volume number (as in Ex 30/1 above). Volume numbers may be used in two situations: (1) if the series is based on years but has more than one volume for a given year, or (2) where the whole series appears in sequentially numbered volumes. Otherwise, where the series is based on year of reporting, it could simply be the abbreviation for the law report as in Ex 30/3, 30/4 and 30/5 above. Include the page number in the law report where the case begins.