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The Australian Guide to Legal Citation ('AGLC') contains various rules for formatting case party names. Some of these are outlined below.
Rule | Outline |
2.1.1 |
Given names and initials are not included in party names. Only the first named plaintiff and defendant are used as party names. Do not include & Anor or & Ors. |
2.1.2 | Business corporations are abbreviated in line with this rule. |
2.1.3 |
The Commonwealth appears as Commonwealth. The States appear as Queensland or New South Wales etc. |
2.1.4 |
This generally applies in criminal cases. The Crown as the first-listed party is abbreviated to R. The Crown as a respondent is formatted as The Queen or The King (depending who was the Monarch at the time). |
2.1.7 |
Attorney-General or Director of Public Prosecutions appears in abbreviated format in footnote case citations, followed by the abbreviated jurisdiction in parentheses, eg A-G (Qld) or DPP (NSW). The position is written out in full if the case name is used within the text of an assignment. |
2.1.8–2.1.10 | Explains the meaning of Re, Ex parte and ex rel in party names. |
2.1.11 | The v separating the parties’ names is italicised and is not followed by a full-stop. In speech it is pronounced ‘and’ for civil actions and ‘against’ for criminal actions, not versus. |
2.1.13 | Shows the format for multiple proceedings between the same parties, eg [No 2], [No 3] etc, or assigning a descriptive short title. |