The Chief Justice, the Honourable T F Bathurst AC has issued a new Practice Note that came into operation on 15 May 2015. Practice Note 20 applies to the citation of authorities in all proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Court of Appeal and the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The Practice Note sets out the court’s preferred report where a party is referring to an earlier case. For example:
- High Court authorities should be cited from the Commonwealth Law Reports; and
- Supreme Court authorities should be cited from the New South Wales Law reports.
The Practice Note provides alternative sources should the court’s preferred source not be available.
Others reports should only be used when a judgment is not reported in an authorised report. The Practice Note makes clear that unreported judgments should not usually be cited unless they contain a statement of legal principle which is not found in reported decisions.
The implementation of Practice Note 20 will help ensure greater consistency in future decisions of the court and reduce the appearance of unreported decisions in judgments.