ENVR 3420 / EVSM 5270 - Environmental Law and Regulations: Understand Legal Citations

Why Cite cases? Legal citations are made to back up points by using previous decisions: "Precedents"

• Lawyers use them to support the legal argument that they are making
• Judges use them to reach judgments or support judgements.

Case Citation:  Often published in case reports.  This page on Law Reports by Oxford Faculty of Law explains about the hierarchy of law reports & the structure of a law report.

Examples: 

• Dimes v Grand Junction Canal Proprietors Ltd (1852) 3 HL Cas 759
• Congreve v Home Office (1976) 1 QB 629

Often made up of the following parts:

Try using WestLaw, unless you are pretty sure that it's only available in hard copy.

Other types of citation -

Mr. Pong 's citations:

• Journal of "Hong Kong Lawyer" 01 of 2002 Issue, at pp 38-43
  • Searched PowerSearch for Hong Kong Lawyer
• Legislative Council Debate - Government Gazette dated 26 June 2002 regarding the Noise Control (Amendment) Bill 2001
  • Not easy to browse at Government Gazette.
  • Instead,  find it more easily, if we consider it  as "Council Meeting" as part of Hansards!

Unlocking UK Legal Citations - more detailed and colorful, from Oxford University Library

Useful Resources

Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations (Reference KD400 .R35 2013)

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation  (E-Resources KF245 .M37)

Hong Kong Law Journal Style Guide - HKLJ
This house style guide was developed by HKLJ for contributors and includes referencing formats for Hong Kong and UK legislation, cases, and secondary materials.  It is also commonly adopted by law students in Hong Kong for their legal writing.  It's also available  in pdf for download at https://web.law.hku.hk/hklj/files/HKLJ%20Style%20Guide.pdf

OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for Citations of Legal Authorities) - University of Oxford. Law Faculty  website & (pdf - 4th ed.)
The Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities is the British equivalent of the (US) Bluebook.  It is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials, and is widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers in the UK and beyond.  There's a quick reference guide provided.

Video on Case Law -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VLbnTPIxpA&feature=youtu.be [ Recommend to use Firefox ]