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Harvard Referencing: Legal cases

Format of the reference - Option 1 (before 2001, no neutral citation)

Citation order:

  • Name of case
  • Year of publication
  • Title of law report
  • Volume number of law report
  • Page numbers

 

Format:

'Name of case' (year) Name of publication volume number, volume number, page range of case.

 

Example:

‘R v. Edward (John)’ (1991) Weekly Law Reports , 1, pp. 207– 208.

In-text citation: The case of R v Edward (John) (1991) ….

Format of the reference - Option 2 after 2001, include neutral citation)

Neutral citations

Neutral citations were introduced in the UK in 2001 for judgments from all divisions of the High Court. This is so the judgment of the case can be written up quickly for online resources.

If the case is important, the details and commentary will be published months later in a law report. You must include both the neutral citation and the law report details in your reference.

Citation order:

  • Party names
  • Year the case was heard
  • Court and case number
  • Database or website
  • DOI or Available at:
  • Date accessed

 

Format:

'Party names' (year) Court, case number. Database. Available at: www.URL.co.uk (Accessed day month year).

 

Example:

‘Humphreys v. Revenue and Customs’ (2012) United Kingdom Supreme Court, case 18. BAILll . Available at: http://www. bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2012/18.html (Accessed: 17 September 2018).

In-text citation: The case of Humphreys v. Revenue and Customs (2012)…