Define: Neutral Citation

Neutral citation is a method of citation used in legal writing to reference court judgements in a standardised and uniform manner. It typically includes the court’s name, the year of the judgement, an abbreviation for the jurisdiction, and a unique identifier for the case. Neutral citations provide a neutral and consistent way of referencing judgements across different legal jurisdictions, regardless of the law report or publication in which they are published. This system facilitates easier access to legal decisions, particularly in electronic databases, and enhances transparency and accountability in the legal process. Neutral citation is widely used in common law jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Since a Practice direction in 2001 to this effect, and its amendment by another in 2002, it has been a requirement that where cases are cited in documents tendered into court, the ‘neutral citation’ form should be used where possible. Conventionally cases have been cited from the report series in which they are found, with the Law reports series being considered most authoritative. The neutral form denotes simply the court that issued the judgement, the case number, and — where necessary — the paragraph. The Practice Direction also calls for cases to be transcribed without page numbers, but with paragraph numbers.

At present, the courts that are reported in this way are the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the Court of Appeal (denoted ‘EWCA Crim’ and ‘EWCA Civ’ respectively) and the High Court (‘EWHC’). The court abbreviation is followed by the case number (issued consecutively from ‘1’) and, in the case of the High Court, an abbreviation for the division of the court. These are Ch (Chancery), Pat (Patents), QB (Queen’s Bench), Admin (Administrative Court), Comm (Commercial), Admlty (Admiralty), TCC (Technology and Construction), and Fam (Family).

The purpose of these changes is to make it easier to store and search judgements using computer-based text retrieval systems.

This site contains general legal information but does not constitute professional legal advice for your particular situation. Persuing this glossary does not create an attorney-client or legal adviser relationship. If you have specific questions, please consult a qualified attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.

This glossary post was last updated: 29th March, 2024.