Legal citation, used in legal research and writing, as well as in court documents can sometimes be difficult to understand as they look very different from typical citations. This page will help you to understand the basics of legal citations and how to retrieve the legal documents based on these citations.
The focus of legal research in NTU is on Singapore law hence this guide will concentrate on resources specific to Singapore, however we've also added several links for generic legal research as well.
In general, there are two types of case citations: Reported and Neutral.
In this example, the case Creative Technology Ltd v Aztech Systems Pte Ltd was reported in the Singapore Law Reports (Reissue) in 1996, volume 3, starting from page 673 of the report.
The Singapore Law Reports, published by the Singapore Academy of Law, reports cases heard in the Singapore High Court, Court of Appeal and the Privy Council. Cases which are reported in the Singapore Law Reports (SLR) will usually have the SLR citations.
Abbreviations for Law Reports reporting on Singapore cases:
In this example, the case Global Yellow Pages Ltd v Promedia Directories Pte Ltd was the 97th case in 2010 decided in the Singapore High Court.
Neutral Citation can be used when the case was not reported or if it has been reported in multiple publications and you only want to refer to the facts of the case rather than a particular report. Not all cases will be reported in the Singapore Law Report but all cases will have a neutral citation.
For quick reference, here are some abbreviations of Singapore Courts:
| Court | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Court of Appeal | SGCA |
| Constitutional Tribunal | SGCT |
| District Court | SGDC |
| Family Court | SGFC |
| High Court | SGHC |
| Juvenile Court | SGJC |
| Magistrates Court | SGMC |
| Privy Council | SGPC |
| Supreme Court | SGSC |
| Small Claims Tribunal | SGSCT |
Together with Case Law, Legislation which includes Statutes and Subsidiary Legislation) form the primary sources of law.
Statutes are cited by their short titles and chapter numbers (abbreviated as Cap). The Pinpoint reference gives the Section, Subsection and Paragraph number for you to go to the specific part of the Act for the specific information you need.
The following abbreviations are used for subsidiary legislation:
| Part of Subsidiary Legislation | Abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Rule number | R |
| Regulation number | Rg |
| Order number | O |
| Notification number | N |