Neutral citations and law-report citations
A neutral citation identifies a judgment independently of a report publisher. A report citation identifies its publication in a law-report series.
Read the two formats
In [2015] UKSC 11, UKSC identifies the court and 11 identifies the judgment within that year's sequence. In [1932] AC 562, AC identifies the report series and 562 is its opening page.
For a reported judgment with a neutral citation, OSCOLA normally places the neutral citation before the preferred report citation. Only combine references after checking that they identify the same judgment.
A missing report reference in a lookup tool does not establish that a case is unreported.
View a neutral-citation example · View a report-citation example
Based on Oxford's OSCOLA fifth edition, sections 2.1.1–2.1.6. Follow your institution's requirements and check the source before submission.