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vijay kumar (Tutor)     12 April 2017

What is the correct way to cite or quote a judgement in

Hello to all ,

I have a query , I would like to know, how to quote or refer to a judgement in a written statement , written argument or any other legal document ? 
Am I supposed to quote whole paragraph below after refering to a jugement ?
How to quote a jugement which does not have any paragraph numbering ?
Am I also supposed to provide a copy of judgement at court/forum/tribunal etc or just reference and quotation will do ?

thanks.



Learning

 6 Replies

Dr. Atul [9013898936] (Lawyer, Scholar)     12 April 2017

Quote very limited portions of the Judgment, such which is absolutely relevant and essential to your case. Even when quoting a paragraph, you my leave out unnecessary words and phrases from the paragraph to ensure brevity, but make absolutely sure that leaving out any portion of the paragraph does not have an affect on the meaning of a sentence. Indicate omitted text by ... where you are quoting. 

Format quoted text as italics and within inverted commas.

You should quote from reputed law reporter/Journal like SCC, AIR or state specific like ALT, DLT ... or Court/subject specific like CPJ, CompCas, PTC, ArbLR (Supreme Court accepts SCC citations only and AIR, only where case is not reported in SCC). All of them will have paragraph number. SCC and SCR will have a placitum in addition to the paragraph number. Placitums are small alphabetical characters along the margins of the page that aid in further pin-pointing the location of the text on the page. Refer to citation, page no. and paragraph no. in your Written Submissions/pleadings.

Before Supreme Court, you need not give a copy of the Judgment, just a list of cases to the Court Master on the morning of hearing before the Bench assembles. Before High Court, it's better if you give a copy of the Judgments along with the list of cases. Before the lower Court, it's a must that you give a copy of the judgments and Court doesn't usually bother about your list of cases!

Before lower Court, you may also underline relevant portions of the judgment to make it easier for the Bench to copy-paste!  But do not do any marking in High Court or the Bench would be all over you.

dr g balakrishnan (advocate/counsel supreme court)     13 April 2017

only cite ratio decidenti aspecxt only nothing more.

vijay kumar (Tutor)     17 April 2017

Originally posted by : Atul (public ID)
Quote very limited portions of the Judgment, such which is absolutely relevant and essential to your case. Even when quoting a paragraph, you my leave out unnecessary words and phrases from the paragraph to ensure brevity, but make absolutely sure that leaving out any portion of the paragraph does not have an affect on the meaning of a sentence. Indicate omitted text by ... where you are quoting. 

Format quoted text as italics and within inverted commas.

You should quote from reputed law reporter/Journal like SCC, AIR or state specific like ALT, DLT ... or Court/subject specific like CPJ, CompCas, PTC, ArbLR (Supreme Court accepts SCC citations only and AIR, only where case is not reported in SCC). All of them will have paragraph number. SCC and SCR will have a placitum in addition to the paragraph number. Placitums are small alphabetical characters along the margins of the page that aid in further pin-pointing the location of the text on the page. Refer to citation, page no. and paragraph no. in your Written Submissions/pleadings.

Before Supreme Court, you need not give a copy of the Judgment, just a list of cases to the Court Master on the morning of hearing before the Bench assembles. Before High Court, it's better if you give a copy of the Judgments along with the list of cases. Before the lower Court, it's a must that you give a copy of the judgments and Court doesn't usually bother about your list of cases!

Before lower Court, you may also underline relevant portions of the judgment to make it easier for the Bench to copy-paste!  But do not do any marking in High Court or the Bench would be all over you.

I presume same rule applies for quoting any act, notice , memorandum . 

sir i do not have access to those journals, I use internet to locate the jugement on the official website.

https://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=18540

d.r j.j merchant & ors vs shrinath chaturvedi

this official jugement does not have any paragraph nubering.

there are a few jugementts that do not have paragraph numbers . How to to quote them ? .

so lower court/forum will not consider the jugements quoted in statement or argument if i am not giving the copy of jugement to them ? 

vijay kumar (Tutor)     17 April 2017

@dr g balakrishnan @Atul (public ID)

thanks for your feedback and  help !

Dr. Atul [9013898936] (Lawyer, Scholar)     17 April 2017

Originally posted by : Vijayendra
I presume same rule applies for quoting any act, notice , memorandum . 

sir i do not have access to those journals, I use internet to locate the jugement on the official website.

https://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=18540

d.r j.j merchant & ors vs shrinath chaturvedi

this official jugement does not have any paragraph nubering.

there are a few jugementts that do not have paragraph numbers . How to to quote them ? .

so lower court/forum will not consider the jugements quoted in statement or argument if i am not giving the copy of jugement to them ? 

 

Why would you quote an Act? But yes, if you insist on quoting it, follow the same pattern.

It won't be correct to say that lower Court will not consider a judgment at all if you don't provide a copy of reported judgment. But keep this in mind, as much as it is the Court's duty to render justice, it is your duty to assist the Court in the process. The Court is under no obligation to go out of its way to find a reported citation of a judgment relied upon by you and then to locate the paragraph quoted by you.  It is a practice to ensure uniformity and authenticity and you better follow it if you want to be heard effectively. I've seen some lawyers use Indiankanoon prinouts in lower Courts, but it's just not proper.

As for J. J. Merchant v. Shrinath Chaturvedi, it is reported at (2002) 4 SCC 480, i.e. SCC year 2002, volume 4, page 480. Now, the High Court Bar Association library will not permit entry to a non-lawyer. But I think lower Court library staff are not so stringent; you may try going to a lower Court library and source a copy of the reported Judgment from there. For Supreme Court judgments post 2010, at least check the Supreme Court published Supreme Court Report (SCR) which is available online at Supreme Court website for free 2010 onwards.

vijay kumar (Tutor)     18 April 2017

Originally posted by : Atul (public ID)



Originally posted by : Vijayendra



I presume same rule applies for quoting any act, notice , memorandum . 

sir i do not have access to those journals, I use internet to locate the jugement on the official website.

https://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/imgs1.aspx?filename=18540

d.r j.j merchant & ors vs shrinath chaturvedi

this official jugement does not have any paragraph nubering.

there are a few jugementts that do not have paragraph numbers . How to to quote them ? .

so lower court/forum will not consider the jugements quoted in statement or argument if i am not giving the copy of jugement to them ? 





 

Why would you quote an Act? But yes, if you insist on quoting it, follow the same pattern.

It won't be correct to say that lower Court will not consider a judgment at all if you don't provide a copy of reported judgment. But keep this in mind, as much as it is the Court's duty to render justice, it is your duty to assist the Court in the process. The Court is under no obligation to go out of its way to find a reported citation of a judgment relied upon by you and then to locate the paragraph quoted by you.  It is a practice to ensure uniformity and authenticity and you better follow it if you want to be heard effectively. I've seen some lawyers use Indiankanoon prinouts in lower Courts, but it's just not proper.

As for J. J. Merchant v. Shrinath Chaturvedi, it is reported at (2002) 4 SCC 480, i.e. SCC year 2002, volume 4, page 480. Now, the High Court Bar Association library will not permit entry to a non-lawyer. But I think lower Court library staff are not so stringent; you may try going to a lower Court library and source a copy of the reported Judgment from there. For Supreme Court judgments post 2010, at least check the Supreme Court published Supreme Court Report (SCR) which is available online at Supreme Court website for free 2010 onwards.

sir i do check official websites of the coutrs .and I get the judgements from there. And as for quoting notice/memorandum and act, i want to quote is for the same reasons why i would quote a jugement. Furthermore I need to quote multiple acts, so it would be easier to relate without going through pages of acts notice and memorandum.which may or may not be available at the courts.


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