PD-2024/3 - Practice Direction No 3 of 2024 Adoption of Neutral Citations for Judgments (SL 45 of 2024)
In forceGrand Court Act (2015 Revision) PD 3 OF 2024 - ADOPTION OF NEUTRAL CITATIONS FOR JUDGMENTS (SL 45 of 2024)
Grand Court Practice Direction No. 3 of 2024 Adoption of Neutral Citations for Judgments (GCR Order 1, rule 12)
Neutral Citation of J udgments
#1. With effect from 1 January 2025, the Grand Court and Court of Appeal will adopt a form
of neutral citation for judgments, inspired by neutral citation systems used in other jurisdictions. A unique number for each judgment will be allocated by the Registries and endorsed on each judgment. The judgments will be numbered in the following way:
Court Format Example Grand Court, Criminal Division [name] [year] CIGC (Crim) xxx R v Smith and Jones [2023] CIGC (Crim) 234 Grand Court, Civil Division [name] [year] CIGC (Civ) xxx Smith v Jones [2023] CIGC (Civ) 234 Grand Court, Financial Services Division [name] [year] CIGC (FSD) xxx Smith Bank Inc v Jones Ltd [2023] CIGC (FSD) 234 Grand Court, Family Division [name] [year] CIGC (Fam) xxx Smith v Smith [2023] CIGC (Fam) 234 Court of Appeal, Criminal Division [name] [year] CICA (Crim) xxx R v Smith and Jones [2023] CICA (Crim) 234 Court of Appeal, Civil Division [name] [year] CICA (Civ) xxx Smith v Jones [2023] CICA (Civ) 234
#2. The neutral citation to be used will be the official number attributed to the judgment by
the court and must always be used in full when the judgment is first cited in a later judgment. Once the judgment is reported, the neutral citation shall be given before any citation from the law reports. Thus:
Smith v Jones [2023] CICA (Civ) 25, [2023 CILR 124] etc.
#3. Citation to passages within judgments should be by reference to the paragraph numbers,
using square brackets, rather than to page numbers. Thus, paragraph 43 in Smith v Jones, the 25th judgment issued by the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal in 2023, should be cited as:
Smith v Jones [2023] CICA (Civ) 25 at [43].
#4. Where more than one paragraph in a judgment is cited, each numbered paragraph should
be enclosed with a square bracket. Thus:
Smith v Jones [2023] CICA (Civ) 25 at [30], [35], and [40]–[43].
#5. Parties and attorneys are reminded that an unreported case should not usually be cited
unless it contains a relevant statement of legal principle not found in reported authority within the Cayman Islands, except in criminal cases.
Form of J udgments
#6. With effect from 1 January 2025, all judgments in every division of the Grand Court and
the Court of Appeal will be issued as approved judgments with paragraph numbering but no page numbers. In courts with more than one judge, the paragraph numbering will continue sequentially through each judgment, and will not start again at the beginning of the subsequent judgment(s). Indented paragraphs will not be given a number.
Issued by the Honourable Chief Justice on 1 November 2024 pursuant to GCR O.1, r.12.
The Hon. J ustice Margaret Ramsay-Hale Chief J ustice of the Cayman Islands