Style Guide for the SINGAPORE LAW REPORTS

Transcription

1 Academy Publishing Style Guide for the SINGAPORE LAW REPORTS 2015 Edition 2015 Singapore Academy of Law. All rights reserved Edition 9 December 2015

2 SLR Style Guide Table of Contents PART 1: GENERAL RULES APPLICATION OF RULES FORMATTING RULES Styles, Typefaces and Font Size Headings Footnotes Paragraph Numbering Numbering Levels Quotations Information Not to be Disclosed in Judgments RULES OF EXPRESSION Spelling Abbreviations Date and Time Numbers Punctuation Foreign Words and Phrases Miscellaneous Rules of Expression PART 2: CITATION RULES CITATION OF CASES Citation of Reported Cases Citation of Unreported Judgments and Cases Citation of Cases Published in Electronic Form Citation of Digests of Cases Subsequent References CITATION OF LEGISLATION Citation of Singapore Legislation Citation of Foreign Legislation Subsequent References CITATION OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Citation of Parliamentary Debates Citation of Parliamentary Papers CITATION OF BOOKS Citation of Bound Books Citation of Bound Books that are Part of a Set Citation of Looseleaf Books Subsequent References CITATION OF ARTICLES Citation of Articles in Law Journals or Reviews Citation of Articles in Serial Publications... 44

3 SLR Style Guide 2015: Table of Contents Citation of Articles Published in Electronic Form Subsequent References CITATION OF UNPUBLISHED, FORTHCOMING AND OTHER TYPES OF MATERIALS Citation of Unpublished Materials Citation of Forthcoming Materials Citation of Law Reform Working Papers and Reports CITATION OF INTERNATIONAL MATERIALS Citation of Treaties Citation of International Cases Citation of United Nations Materials Citation of European Communities Materials Citation of Council of Europe Materials Citation of WTO and GATT Materials... 60

4 PART 1: GENERAL RULES (Refer to Appendix 1A for Examples on General Rules) 1 1 APPLICATION OF RULES The guidelines and rules contained in this style guide apply to the text of judgments, as well as to headings, catchwords and headnotes, unless otherwise indicated.

5 Part 1: General Rules FORMATTING RULES Styles, Typefaces and Font Size Where editing the soft copy of a draft judgment, check that there are already the inbuilt styles for each of the various components of a judgment. The correct style must be applied to each component of the judgment. When editing the hard copy, if there are changes needed, simply indicate the style to be applied, eg, H-1, J-2, Q-1, etc. If a case has an annex or schedule, apply the Judg-Headg-1 style to the title Annex or Schedule. The preferred style of emphasis is the italics font style (followed by the bold italics font style if additional emphasis is required) Headings Headings used in judgments should begin with an uppercase letter, but the remainder of the heading text should be in lowercase letters except for proper nouns, eg, Principle of consistency in sentencing, not Principle of Consistency in Sentencing. No full stop is required at the end of a heading. Abbreviations other than those defined by the judge specifically in the judgment should not be used Footnotes Footnotes are used in a judgment only to refer to court documents and exhibits; all citations to cases, legislation, articles, books or other authorities are to be done in the judgment text. When editing a judgment selected for reporting, delete the footnotes, and transfer any citations to the appropriate locations in the judgment text Paragraph Numbering Each paragraph in a judgment should be sequentially numbered using an Arabic numeral, ie, 1, 2, 3, etc. Do not put numerals in parentheses or type a full stop after a numeral Numbering Levels Numbering Level System Do not use bullet points to introduce items in a list. To number items in a list, use the numbering levels that are applied to sections and subsections in a statute, namely: First Level (a), (b), (c), (aa), (bb), (cc), etc. Second Level (i), (ii), (iii), etc. Third Level (A), (B), (C), (AA), (BB), (CC), etc. Fourth Level (I), (II), (III), etc.

6 SLR Style Guide The numbering level (1), (2), (3), etc, is not used for paragraphs or lists; it is used only for the Fourth Level Judgment Heading (inserted automatically by applying the Judg-Headg-4 style) Punctuation of Items in a Numbered List Items in a numbered list should be punctuated in one of the following ways: If the items in the list are incomplete sentences, each item should begin with a lowercase letter and end with a semicolon. The second-last item in the list should end with a semicolon followed by a conjunction, such as and or or. If the items in the list are complete sentences or consist of more than one sentence, each item should begin with an uppercase letter and end with a full stop Quotations Quotations within a Sentence Quotations within a sentence should be enclosed in double quotation marks ( ). A quotation within a quotation should be enclosed in single quotation marks ( ). Include punctuation within quotation marks only if a complete sentence is quoted. Where a sentence ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a closing quotation mark, it is not necessary to add a full stop after the latter Quotations in a Separate Block A quotation that exceeds three lines should be set out in a separate block. Apply the correct style to the paragraph and it will be indented and have its font resized accordingly. Do not enclose the quotation in quotation marks. Any quotation within this block quotation should be enclosed in single quotation marks ( ) Emphasis in Quotations Words, phrases or sentences in a quotation to be emphasised should be in italics with the phrase [emphasis added] or [emphasis in original] in brackets added to the end of the quotation. Where a quotation set out in a separate block consists of several paragraphs, the phrase [emphasis added] or its variants should be on a new line. Where emphasis is added to quotations that contain originally emphasised text, the added emphasis should be in italicised bold text and the phrase [emphasis added in bold italics] added to the end of the quotation.

7 Part 1: General Rules Changes to Quotations In general, a quotation should be reproduced as it appears in its source, with no changes to spelling, capitalisation or punctuation except that, if desired, citations may be omitted and the phrase [internal citations omitted] added to the end of the quotation. If it is necessary to make interpolations, corrections, explanations, translations or comments for clarity, these should be enclosed in brackets ( [ ] ). Omissions should be indicated with the use of an ellipsis ( ), which should consist of three full stops, no more or less, with a space before and after. Do not type a full stop after an ellipsis that ends a sentence Errors in Quotations Spelling or grammatical errors in quotations should be retained, with the word [sic] (Latin for thus or so ) in brackets inserted after the error. Do not overuse the word [sic] as a quotation that contains too many becomes difficult to read. If there are numerous errors that are obvious, do not use [sic] at all, in order to retain the original flavour of the quotation. Some minor erroneous words or phrases can be omitted entirely (using ellipses where appropriate) and the correct words or phrases inserted within brackets Information Not to be Disclosed in Judgments If an order has been made against, or no authorisation has been granted for, the disclosure of the name or address of a witness in a matter or proceeding, or evidence or other information likely to lead to the identification of the witness, such information must not be disclosed in a judgment. In such cases, the identifying information in the judgment must be replaced with the word [redacted].

8 SLR Style Guide RULES OF EXPRESSION Spelling British spelling conventions are to be applied, as set out in the current edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, but variant spellings in quotations (eg, from cases, letters or notes of evidence) should not be altered. The following preferred spellings should be especially noted. Variant Spellings -ce/-se defence, licence; offence; or defense, license, offense -g-/-ge- acknowledgment, judgment, lodgment; or acknowledgement, judgement, lodgement -l-/-ll- instalment, fulfil, fulfilment; or installment, fulfill, fulfillment -m/-mme gram, kilogram; or gramme, kilogramme -our/-or colour, labour, odour; or color, labor, odor -re/-er centre, litre, metre, theatre; or center, liter, meter, theater -se/-ze analyse, authorise, organisation, organise, paralyse, realisation, realise, recognise, sterilisation; or analyze, authorize, organization, organize, paralyze, realization, realize, recognize, sterilization -t/-ed burnt, learnt, spelt, spoilt; or burned, learned, spelled, spoiled disc or disk despatch or dispatch focused or focussed in so far or insofar Preferred Spelling -ce defence, licence; offence; but license and practise when used as a verb -g- acknowledgment, judgment, lodgment -l- instalment, fulfil, fulfilment, marshal; but install, marshalled -m gram, kilogram; but use program only in the context of a computer program, and programme for all other senses of the word -our colour, labour, odour -re centre, litre, metre, theatre; but meter for a measuring device -se analyse, authorise, organisation, organise, paralyse, realisation, realise, recognise, sterilisation -t burnt, learnt, spelt, spoilt disc (as in compact disc ); but use disk when referring to a computer peripheral such as a hard disk despatch focused in so far

9 Part 1: General Rules 9 Variant Spellings inquire, inquiry; or enquire; enquiry Koran or Qur an moneys or monies movable or moveable per cent or percent trade mark or trademark thumb print, finger print or thumbprint, fingerprint boy friend, girl friend or boyfriend, girlfriend Preferred Spelling inquire, inquiry; but enquiry may be used when referring to an informal request for information. Koran moneys movable per cent or % (if used with a numeral) trade mark thumbprint, fingerprint boyfriend, girlfriend Abbreviations Abbreviations are useful as they can improve the readability of a judgment. It should be borne in mind that abbreviations and acronyms that are readily understood by Singaporeans may not be clear to persons from other countries. Therefore, unless a name or phrase is internationally known, always state it in full when it first appears in a judgment and indicate its abbreviation after it in parentheses, thus: Housing and Development Board ( HDB ). The words and phrases that are set out in the tables in paragraphs and and other familiar internationally-recognised abbreviations listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (eg, UK for the United Kingdom, UNCITRAL for the United Nations Convention on International Trade Law and US for the United States of America) may be abbreviated in reports of judgments using the indicated short forms without first defining them in full. Do not place full stops after the letters in an abbreviation. When removing full stops from abbreviations, if there is no space between the full-stop and the next letter, do not insert spaces when removing the full-stops; where there are spaces, use nonbreaking spaces after removing the full-stops. A citation word abbreviation (eg, s, cl, O, para, rule, etc) should not be used if it is the first word in a sentence in such cases, the word or phrase must be spelt in full (ie, Section, Clause, Order, Paragraph, Rule, etc). A citation word abbreviation (eg, s, cl, O, etc) should not be used where there is no specific reference to either a name or a number, eg, There was a contravention of paras 12 and 15 and He breached the rules of the club are correct, but various cll of the agreement had been deleted is wrong.

10 SLR Style Guide Similarly, an abbreviation of a form of address may be used only in conjunction with the name of a person, eg, Assoc Prof Elaine Chong or SSgt Tan Ah Kow. Where the form of address does not refer to a named person, it should not be abbreviated or have an initial uppercase letter, eg, The doctor said that he noticed a bruise on her shoulder is correct, but The SSSgt testified that he saw the accused run away is wrong Words and Phrases That May be Abbreviated After the First Occurrence Subject to the general rules in paragraph 1 3.2, the words and phrases in this section must be spelt in full the first time they occur in the judgment; but thereafter, they may be abbreviated as shown. Ranks and honorifics remain abbreviated, even if they appear at the beginning of a sentence. For abbreviations of the honorifics or terms of address of judges, judicial officers, and other persons commonly encountered in a judicial setting, see the table Honorifics and forms of address commonly used in relation to judicial proceedings in Appendix 1A. For abbreviations of ranks of personnel in the police force and armed forces, see the table Ranks of personnel in the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Armed Forces in Appendix 1A. For any rank abbreviation not set out in the examples, if unsure what the rank stands for, just leave it abbreviated Words and Phrases That May Always be Abbreviated Subject to the general rules in paragraph 1 3.2, the words and phrases in this section may be abbreviated on their first and on every subsequent appearance in a judgment. See the various tables in Appendix 1A for abbreviations relating to Parts of names of companies and corporations, Forms of address, Units of measurement, Currencies, Words and phrases used in citations, and Other words and phrases that may always be abbreviated. For units of measurement or currency, the general rule is to use numeric form with the appropriate abbreviation for the currency or unit of measurement; and, unless otherwise specified, do not type a space between the numeral and the abbreviation (eg, 3m, 16.5mg, 25,400.50, RM105,000 ). To indicate multiple or a range of measurements it is acceptable to aggregate the units of measure thus: 3 to 4ft or 3 or 4cm. For citation word abbreviations, a non-breaking space should be typed between the abbreviation and the digit (eg, ss 4(5) and 4(6), O 14 of the Rules of Court ).

11 Part 1: General Rules 11 As indicated in the example, Number is abbreviated as No only for legislation citations or suit or application numbers. Elsewhere, use number in full, eg, vehicle number XXX, invoice number XXXXX, receipt number XXXXXXX ). For addresses, change No 11 Kent Street to 11 Kent Street ) Words and Phrases That Should Not be Abbreviated Do not abbreviate the following words and phrases. Appendix (part of legislation) District Judge exception (part of legislation) Registrar State Counsel Principal Senior State Counsel Date and Time Dates Dates should appear in the day-month-year format, with the month spelt in full and the year in a four-digit format (thus: 24 September 1999 ), with a non-breaking space between the day and month. If days of the week are referred to, they should be spelt out in full. Do not use the abbreviations Sun, Mon, Tue and so on. If the day of the week is incorporated into a date, it should be set out just before the date, with a comma after the day (eg, Thursday, 26 September 2002 ) Time Times of day should be represented using the 12-hour and not the 24-hour clock. Time indications from after midnight to before noon should have the letters am after them, while those from after noon to before midnight should have the letters pm after them. By definition 12.00am denotes midnight and 12.00pm denotes noon, but there is sufficient confusion over these uses to make it advisable to use midnight and noon where clarity is required. A full stop should separate the hours from minutes, and there should not be any space between the minutes and am or pm. Do not use any full stops in the abbreviations am and pm, eg, 10.00am, 3.15pm. A period of time should be indicated as follows: from 11.00am to 1.00pm, between 7.00pm and 9.00pm.

12 SLR Style Guide Numbers Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers Both cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc) and ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc) from one through ten should be spelt in full. Numbers from 11 should be indicated in Arabic numerals. However, where a sentence commences with a number, it should be spelt in full, eg, Twenty-seven grams of raw heroin were found in the bag. Nevertheless, where the phrase is something like 9ft by 12ft (that involves multiple measurements, for example), use the numeral+abbreviation (ie, do not change to nine feet by 12ft ). Do not use superscript type when setting out ordinal numbers, eg, 1st, not 1 st Numbers With Four or More Digits Numbers greater than 999, which have four or more digits, should be divided into groups of three digits with commas (, ) beginning from the rightmost digit before any decimal point, eg, 1,004.35, 209,877, 1,098,999. Expressions of a million or a billion may be abbreviated to m and bn respectively when they are used in the context of measurement or currency, eg, 11m tonnes of grain, $100m, US$1.75bn. In other contexts, the words million and billion should be spelt in full, eg, Singapore has a population of about four million people, there is a theoretical probability of one in a billion for an accidental fingerprint match Fractions Fractions should be indicated using the proper symbols, eg, ½, ¾, etc. Non-standard fractions should be highlighted for Ed Ops to deal with Singapore Land Authority Lot Numbers Singapore Land Authority lot superscript numbers (found on the SLA website) must be romanised with a hyphen, eg, Lot should be expressed as Lot Punctuation The Comma The comma (, ) is never preceded by a space and always followed by a space. There are four uses of the comma, which may be called the listing comma, the joining comma, the gapping comma and the bracketing commas. These are set out in the succeeding paragraphs.

13 Part 1: General Rules The Listing Comma The listing comma is used to separate the items in a list. It is unnecessary to put a listing comma after the second-last item before the word and or or, unless doing so would make the meaning of the sentence clearer The Joining Comma The joining comma is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence, and it must be followed by a suitable connecting word such as and, or, but, yet or while. However, do not use a joining comma before connecting words like however, therefore, hence, consequently, nevertheless and thus in such cases, a semicolon is appropriate (see paragraph ) The Gapping Comma A gapping comma is used to show that one or more words have been left out when the missing words would simply repeat the words already used earlier in the same sentence. Gapping commas may not be necessary if a sentence is clear without them Bracketing Commas Bracketing commas are the most frequently used type of comma, and also cause the most problems. The general rule is that a pair of bracketing commas is used to mark off a weak interruption of the sentence one that does not disturb the flow of the sentence. To check if bracketing commas have been correctly used, remove the weak interruption from the sentence. The result should still be a complete sentence that makes good sense, eg, These findings cast doubt upon his evidence, He looked around and slipped the cufflinks into his jacket pocket. Bracketing commas should not be used with clauses that are required to identify what is being talked about, rather than merely adding additional information. A weak interruption may occur at the beginning or end of a sentence. In such cases, the first or last comma in a pair of bracketing commas should be omitted, since commas are never written at the beginnings or ends of sentences.

14 SLR Style Guide Bracketing commas are to be used with the following abbreviations/terms:, eg,, ie,, viz,, etc, [except, of course, if this is the end of the sentence, in which case it should be, etc. ], inter alia, The Colon The colon ( : ) is used to indicate that what follows it is an explanation or elaboration of what precedes it. A colon is never preceded by a space, always followed by a space, and should not have a hyphen or dash after it ( : is an incorrect usage). If the material introduced by a colon is a formal statement or quotation, or consists of more than one sentence, it should begin with a capital letter; otherwise, it may begin with a lowercase letter. A colon may also be used after a word, phrase or sentence in the middle of a text which introduces a list or series. A colon may be used to introduce a quotation. Alternatively, either use a comma or do not use any punctuation mark The Semicolon The semicolon ( ; ) is used to join two complete sentences into a single written sentence when all of the following conditions are met: (a) the two sentences are felt to be too closely related to be separated by a full stop; (b) there is no connecting word that would require a comma, such as and or but; and (c) the special conditions requiring a colon are absent (see paragraph ). However, certain connecting words do require a preceding semicolon. The most important ones are however, therefore, hence, thus, consequently, nevertheless and meanwhile. Preferably, these words should be used to begin a separate sentence. Where a sentence contains numerous commas, for clarity semicolons may be used in place of some of the commas to mark important breaks in the sentence The Apostrophe As a general rule, use the possessive ending s after singular words, including words or names that end in s. Note, however, two exceptions: (a) a plural noun which already ends in s takes only a following apostrophe, ie, s ; and (b) a name ending in s takes only an

15 Part 1: General Rules 15 apostrophe and not s if the possessive form is not pronounced with an extra s. Do not use an apostrophe in setting out plural forms of decades, eg, This research was carried out in the 1970s, not This research was carried out in the 1970 s The Hyphen The hyphen ( - ) is used in writing compound words which, without it, would be ambiguous, hard to read or overly long. There are some cases where hyphens should normally be used. These are set out in paragraphs and In other cases, much variation exists even among dictionaries as to which words should and should not be hyphenated. Generally, the following rules are a useful guide: (a) above all, strive for clarity; (b) do not use a hyphen unless it is necessary; and (c) where possible, follow established usage (for instance, consult the Oxford English Dictionary). Some commonlyencountered compound words are set out in paragraphs and The Hyphen: Compound Modifiers The hyphen must be used in compound modifiers, that is, words or phrases that modify or identify the meaning of other words (eg, winding-up petition, day-to-day affairs ) The Hyphen: Compound Words with Prefixes The hyphen should be used in a compound word with a prefix such as anti, counter, non, re, pre or post if the word would otherwise be difficult to read. If in doubt, consult the Oxford English Dictionary. A hyphen must be used with a prefix in the following situations: If the word to which the prefix is added begins with a capital letter or numeral, eg, non-ec countries, pre-1500 statutes. If the prefix is added to a compound word that contains spaces. In that case, the spaces must be replaced with hyphens to prevent the compound word from becoming unreadable, eg, pre-20th-century legal principles, our post-cold-war world. Alternatively, it may be better to rephrase the sentence to avoid the use of hyphenated compound words.

16 SLR Style Guide The Hyphen: Compound Words That Should be Hyphenated See Appendix 1A for a list of compound words that should be hyphenated in Singapore Academy of Law publications The Hyphen: Compound Words That Should Not be Hyphenated See Appendix 1A for a list of compound words that should NOT be hyphenated in Singapore Academy of Law publications The Hyphen: Capitalisation of Hyphenated Words If it is necessary to capitalise a hyphenated compound word with a prefix, the part of the word after the hyphen should not be capitalised, eg, Re-amended Defence, not Re-Amended Defence. In other cases, all important elements of the compound word should be capitalised, eg, Left-of-Centre Party, South-East Asia The Dash The dash ( ) has two major uses, which are set out in paragraphs and In Singapore Academy of Law publications, a dash should be typed using an en-dash. A lesser-used variety of the dash, the em-dash, is discussed in paragraph The Dash: Indicating a Strong Interruption A pair of dashes separates a strong interruption from the rest of a sentence. A strong interruption is one which violently disrupts the flow of the sentence. A space should be typed before and after each dash. No more than one pair of dashes should appear in a sentence: if it is necessary to set off two separate interruptions, parentheses should be used for one of the interruptions ( paragraph ). However, such usage should generally be avoided. As with bracketing commas ( paragraph ), the first or second dash in the pair may be omitted if the strong interruption occurs at the beginning or end of the sentence respectively. Dashes should not be overused, as this may give a piece of writing a breathless and disjointed appearance The Dash: Indicating a Range of Numbers, etc A dash may also be used to indicate a range of numbers such as amounts and dates in the form between X and Y or from X to Y. No spaces should be typed between the dash and the words or numbers with which it appears. As the dash replaces

17 Part 1: General Rules 17 the words between and and from to, do not write between X Y or from X Y. If it is desired to use the words between and from, the range should be written in full ( between X and Y ) and the dash should not be used The Dash: The Em-Dash The em-dash ( ), which is longer than the en-dash, is used in the Singapore Law Reports to separate catchword statements and in quotations of pieces of legislation to separate section numbers from subsection numbers or to introduce a list of subsections. The em-dash is also used to indicate missing letters in a word. No spaces should be typed between the dash and the existing parts of the word. Type swear words using em-dashes unless necessary in judgments where the exact words used were in issue or important Parentheses and Brackets Parentheses: Indicating Interruptions The major use of parentheses, also called round brackets ( ( ) ), is to set off strong or weak interruptions, like bracketing commas ( paragraph ) or dashes ( paragraph ). As a rule, though, parentheses are preferred when the interruption is an aside from the writer to the reader in other cases, either bracketing commas or dashes should be used. Unlike bracketing commas or dashes, both parentheses must always be used, even if the interruption occurs at the beginning or end of a sentence. Parentheses may be used in combination with bracketing commas or dashes where two sets of interruptions need to be set off ( paragraph ). However, such usage should generally be avoided as it may be difficult to read. Parentheses may be used to set off an entire sentence or series of sentences if they constitute an appropriate interruption. In such cases, the sentences are capitalised and punctuated in the usual manner. Parentheses are also used to set off interruptions which merely provide additional information or a brief explanation of an unfamiliar term.

18 SLR Style Guide Commas, semicolons, colons and dashes should not be typed before an opening parenthesis. All punctuation that follows an interruption in parentheses should be typed after the closing parenthesis, except where an entire sentence or series of sentences is placed in parenthesis. For the use of parentheses in citations, see paragraph Brackets The main use of brackets ( [ ] ), also known as square brackets, is to enclose interpolations, corrections, explanations, translations or editorial comments within quotations ( paragraph ). For the use of brackets in citations, see paragraph Italics Italics should be used for the following purposes: (a) To emphasise words and phrases, eg, The defendant s fingerprints were found inside the suitcase containing the drugs. Do not use boldface type or underlining for this purpose. For rules on emphasising text in quotations, see paragraph (b) To cite the names of cases, eg, Ong Ah Chuan v PP, Brown v Board of Education. References to Anton Piller orders and Mareva injunctions should not be italicised; italicise Anton Piller and Mareva only when referring to the actual cases, eg, in the Anton Piller case, the court decided that. (c) To cite the titles of books, journals, newspapers, television programmes, films, musical compositions, etc, eg, Cross and Tapper on Evidence, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, The Straits Times. However, it is customary for the names of holy books to be set out in roman type, eg, the Bible, the Koran. (d) To cite the names of ships. Do not italicise the definite article The unless it forms part of a ship s name, eg, The Ivanovo collided into El Neputuno. Do not use the abbreviation mv (for motor vessel) unless it forms part of the ship s name, in which case it should be italicised, eg, the mv Dong Hing.

19 Part 1: General Rules 19 (e) To cite foreign words and phrases that have not been assimilated into the English language: see paragraph Where indicating the possessive form of an italicised word or phrase using an apostrophe followed by the letter s ( s ), the s should not be italicised, eg, applying Ong Ah Chuan s case, the RSS Morning Star s bow was damaged. Where a passage of text is already italicised and the passage contains a word or phrase that would normally require italics, that word or phrase should be set out in ordinary roman type, eg, The famous case of Brown v Board of Education was a landmark in American legal history. Avoid doing this if the words are to appear in second- or third-level headings (see paragraph 1 2.1) Capital Letters Capital or uppercase letters are strictly not a form of punctuation, but it is convenient to deal with them here. The following should be capitalised: (a) The first word of a sentence this rule applies even if the first word is not normally capitalised, eg, Worldofsport.com was registered by a cybersquatter. If this is not desired, rephrase the sentence so that the word that is not normally capitalised is not the first word. (b) The first word, and each significant word, of a title of a case, piece of legislation, treaty, book, journal, newspaper, television programme, film, musical composition, etc. Small words like and, in, of, the and with need not be capitalised unless it is the first word, eg, Rylands v Fletcher, Sale of Goods Act (names of statutes and subsidiary legislation are not italicised), Singapore Civil Practice, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, The Straits Times, Twelve Angry Men. (c) The first word of a direct quotation repeating someone else s exact words, if the quotation is a complete sentence, eg, Thomas Edison famously observed, Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.. No capital letter is used if the quotation is not a complete sentence, eg, The Minister described the latest unemployment figures as disappointing. (d) The name of a day, month, holiday or historical period, eg, Tuesday, November, New Year s Eve, the Japanese Occupation. (e) The name of a language, nationality, ethnic group, a word expressing a connection with a place, or a religion, eg, Tamil, Australian, Cantonese, British and American government officials, Islam.

20 SLR Style Guide (f) Proper names, that is, names or titles that refer to an individual person, place, institution or event, eg, President S R Nathan, Sundaresh Menon CJ, Professor Robert Miller, Raffles Square, the Supreme Court, Singapore, the Internet, the World Wide Web, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (g) Manufacturer s brand names and products (if they have not become generic labels for classes of objects), and trade marks, eg, Microsoft Windows XP, Sony Discman, Coca-Cola. When a hyphenated compound word requires capitalisation, the portion of the word after the hyphen should also be capitalised Capital Letters: Words and Phrases That Should be Capitalised For Singapore Academy of Law publications, the following words and phrases should be capitalised: All courts, including Disciplinary Committee and Inquiry Committee, eg, Inquiry Committee of the Law Society, or Inquiry Committee of the Public Service Commission. But use lower case if it s a passing/one-off reference to a non-specific inquiry/disciplinary committee, eg the question arose as to whether an inquiry(/a disciplinary) committee would have decided.... References to the parties in a criminal proceeding, namely, Public Prosecutor, the Prosecution and the Defence, eg, the Defence contended that. References to the State when referring to a country considered as an organised political community. Do not capitalise when using state as an adjective or verb, eg, state immunity. the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislature (when referring to the various branches in the separation of powers) the Registrar (of the Supreme Court) (do not capitalise if the word registrar is used to refer to an assistant registrar, a deputy registrar, etc) Registrar, when used as a party, even where it refers to a Registrar that is not the Registrar of the Supreme Court. So Registrar of the Land Titles Registry and the Registrar accordingly. Government, when it is a reference to the government as a party, ie, the Singapore Government contended that... and the position of the South African Government was..., but government official, government department, etc. References to names (of publications or entitites) should be in capitals, eg, the Government Gazette was

21 Part 1: General Rules 21 printed by the Singapore Government Printers. the Bar, the Bench President (of the Syariah Court) Member of Parliament National Service Capital Letters: Words and Phrases That Should Not be Capitalised For Singapore Academy of Law publications, the following words and phrases should not be capitalised: (a) Words or titles that do not refer to any specific person or thing, eg, The company hired a new managing director in September and Marion Wong was the managing director of the company, but Marion Wong, Managing Director of ABC Company. Also, while Public Prosecutor is always capitalised, Deputy Public Prosecutor is subject to this same rule, ie, Mr XX is a deputy public prosecutor but Mr XX, Deputy Public Prosecutor, contended that. (b) References to the parties to proceedings, eg, the second defendant, not the Second Defendant. However, when referring to the opposing sides in criminal proceedings, capitalise the Prosecution and the Defence (see paragraph ). (c) References to currencies, eg, Singapore dollar notes, five 20-sen coins, an account denominated in pound sterling. (d) All court documents, including specific documents eg, the second paragraph of the statement of claim, and also amendments to statements of claim ; In the defendant s affidavit of evidence-in-chief it was stated, and also The plaintiff filed a number of affidavits in the matter. (e) Where the word master (of a ship) is used in the judgment, it should be in lower case (ie, master not Master ), unless the judge has defined it using upper case the first time it appears. Also, the first time master appears, there should be words such as of the ship following it, so that the context is made clear. The same goes for captain (of a ship) Quotation Marks Apart from their use in quotations (see paragraph ), quotation marks should be used in the following situations:

22 SLR Style Guide (a) To cite English words or short phrases that are being talked about, eg, The phrase wrongful gain is defined in section 23 of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 1985 Rev Ed) as meaning gain by unlawful means of property to which the person gaining it is not legally entitled. (b) To cite the names of trade marks, eg, the plaintiff s trade mark Breez Other Punctuation Marks The Ampersand The ampersand ( & ) is an abbreviation for the word and. It should generally not be used except if it appears in the names of companies and firms or case names, eg, Allen & Gledhill, Ong & Co, Smith & Jones v Walker The Solidus The solidus ( / ), also known as the oblique, slant, slash or virgule, can be used to separate alternatives, eg, each visitor was required to produce his/her identity card. The solidus may also be used to represent a period of time, eg, the accounting records for financial year 1995/96 were missing. In Singapore Academy of Law publications, the use of an en-dash ( paragraph ) is preferred in such cases Foreign Words and Phrases Words and phrases in languages other than English should be italicised unless they have been assimilated into the English language, eg, caveat, per annum, nil, status quo, via, alias, in lieu, apropos (do NOT italicise apropos unless it appears exactly as in the French à propos (de) ). Accents and diacritics should not be omitted, eg, fiancée, raison d être, vis-àvis. In cases of doubt as to whether a foreign word or phrase has been absorbed into English or the accents and diacritics it bears, consult the Oxford English Dictionary. The specific foreign words and phrases in the table Foreign Words and Phrases in Appendix 1A should be italicised.

23 Part 1: General Rules Miscellaneous Rules of Expression Corporate and Unincorporated Entities When using terms like plaintiff, defendant, appellant and respondent in reference to corporate and unincorporated entities, including associations, bodies corporate, companies, partnerships, societies and statutory boards, use the singular forms of the terms. The plural forms plaintiffs, defendants, appellants and respondents should be used for multiple parties Multiple Parties The first to tenth parties in a matter should be referred to thus: the first plaintiff, the fourth third party. From the 11th party onwards, the ordinal number in the party s designation may be abbreviated, thus: the 12th accused person, the tenth to 20th defendants Names of Law Lords Where the name of a Lord of Appeal of the House of Lords bears a placename, the first occurrence of the judge s name should include the placename, eg, Lord Bingham of Cornhill, thereafter Lord Bingham Names of Ships The names of ships should be set out in italics. Do not italicise the definite article The unless it forms part of a ship s name, eg, The Ivanovo collided into El Neputuno. (See paragraph (d).) Names of Trade Marks The names of trade marks should be cited in quotation marks, eg, the plaintiff s trade mark Breez. (See paragraph (b).)

24 PART 2: CITATION RULES (Refer to Appendix 1B for Examples on Citation Rules) 2 1 CITATION OF CASES Citation of Reported Cases A reported case should generally be cited in the following format: Case name [year] or (year) volume number(issue number) law report first page number at [paragraph number] or page number [(court, jurisdiction)] For United States cases, use the following format: Case name volume number law report first page number at page number (court, year) Refer to the table in Appendix 2 for specific guidance on the citation style, years, and volume numbers of some common law reports Case Name For cases reported in the SLR and SLR(R), cite case names using the shortened forms that are usually set out in the running heads. The following abbreviations should be used: Word or Phrase Attorney-General Management Corporation Strata Title Plan Number Official Assignee Official Receiver Public Prosecutor Abbreviation AG MCST Plan No OA OR PP When citing a Singapore case which is the name of a ship or marine vessel, omit the quotation marks even though these appear in the report of the case, ie, The Tokai Maru and not The Tokai Maru. For cases reported in other law reports, cite case names in accordance with how they are set out at the first page of the report. Omit phrases in parentheses (eg, (a firm), (in liquidation) ), phrases that indicate the presence of additional parties or actions (eg, and another, and others,

25 Part 2: Citation Rules 25 and another appeal ), and additional information like formerly known as, or trading as. The word versus (Latin: against ) in a case name should be abbreviated to an italicised v. Do not type a full stop after the v. If a case is a consolidation of two or more actions, cite only the first listed, eg, Shelley v Kraemer, not Shelley v Kraemer, McGhee v Sipes. When the name of a case differs in its procedural history, indicate it as follows: Great W United Corp v Kidwell 577 F 2d 1256 (5th Cir, 1978), reversed on appeal sub nom Leroy v Great W United Corp 443 US 173 (1979) Year The year of the case should either be in parentheses ( ( ) ) or brackets ( [ ] ) or depending on the practice used by the law report. In general: Parentheses are used when the law reports series is published by volume number, in which case the year identifies when the case was decided. Brackets are used when the series of reports is organised by year of publication in such cases, the year is a component of the citation needed to locate the case. If a case is reported well after the year in which it was decided, the latter can be placed in parentheses before the case citation (eg, Thompson v Cremin (1941) [1956] 1 WLR 103 ). Some law reports (eg SLR, All ER, MLJ) use brackets but have a volume number as well. The volume number indicates which volume of a particular year s law reports should be consulted. As the year is required to find the case, it should be placed in brackets. Although cases reported in the Malayan Law Journal from 1932 to 1965 were formerly cited by a year in parentheses and a volume number, cite these using brackets only, thus: Re Ong Yew Teck [1960] MLJ 67, not Re Ong Yew Teck (1960) 26 MLJ 67. Refer to the table in Appendix 2 for guidance. For cases by the courts of Singapore, the United Kingdom and other countries, place the year of the case before the volume number, law report and first page number. For United States cases, follow the established convention of placing the year after these citation elements Volume Number Where a case is published in a particular issue of a volume and the page numbering restarts from one in each issue, indicate the issue number in

26 SLR Style Guide parentheses after the volume number with no space in between, eg, King v Walter [1992] 6(4) Est Gaz 245. If the whole volume is numbered continuously regardless of the number of issues, do not indicate the issue number. Refer to the table in Appendix 2 for guidance Law Report Where possible, cite a case using a jurisdiction s official, semi-official or preferred law report(s) (in that order of preference). The title of a law report should be abbreviated as indicated in the report or, if no indication is given, as it is commonly abbreviated. Dictionaries of legal abbreviations should be consulted. Refer to the table in Appendix 2 for guidance on the abbreviations of some common law reports. A list of abbreviations of law reports containing Singapore and Malaysian cases appears in Appendix 3. If a stipulated abbreviation is not well known, give the full name of the law reports in italics in brackets after the abbreviation, thus: David v Smith & Partners (2002) 24 PC [Professional Conveyancer] 196. If there is no stipulated abbreviation for an uncommon law report, set out the name of the report in full in italics. Where parallel citations are provided, they should be separated from each other by semicolons Pinpoint Citation As far as possible, pinpoint citations to paragraph numbers or pages within reported judgments and cases should be given to aid readers in locating references. Give citations to page numbers only if paragraph numbers are not indicated. Citation to a Paragraph the paragraph number should be in brackets, eg, [2001] 3 SLR 10 at [16]. Citation to a Page eg, (1908) 12 SSLR 120 at 122, [1985] 2 All ER 243 at 250. Separate consecutive paragraph or page references by an en-dash, stating all page numbers in full, eg, Separate non-consecutive numbers by commas. To indicate a general rather than a specific range of paragraphs or pages, place ff ( and following ) immediately after the paragraph or page number. Where a report is divided into columns, such as Lloyd s Law Reports or the Malayan Law Journal, the abbreviations LHC ( left-hand column ) and RHC ( right-hand column ) may be used to indicate which column

27 Part 2: Citation Rules 27 the cited text appears in, eg, [1993] 1 Lloyd s Rep 85 at 90 LHC, [1971] 2 MLJ 43 at 49 RHC Court and Jurisdiction Indicate the court and/or jurisdiction of a case only if it is not evident from the title of the law report, eg, if both a judgment at first instance and the judgment on appeal are cited and the judgments have the same name. If required, indicate the court and/or jurisdiction where the case was heard, using the abbreviations in the tables in Appendix 1B. For United States cases, apply the following rules: Federal Courts a citation to a decision of the Supreme Court does not require the name of the court. Courts of Appeals should be referred to by the numbered circuit (eg, 1st Cir, 2nd Cir ); Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia should be cited DC Cir and Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should be cited Fed Cit. For district court cases, give only an abbreviated name for the district. State Courts indicate the state and court of the decision, but do not name the court if it is the highest court in the state. Do not include the state if it is obvious from the law report Citation of Unreported Judgments and Cases Do not insert (unreported). Follow the rules below instead Cases with Neutral Citations Unreported cases to which neutral citations have been assigned should be cited as follows: Case name neutral citation at [paragraph number] or page number [(court, jurisdiction)] (unreported) Refer to Appendix 1B for the neutral citations used in Singapore Cases without Neutral Citations Unreported cases not assigned neutral citations should be cited as follows: Singapore cases: Case name suit or application indicator and number (where available) (date of judgment) [(court, jurisdiction)] at [paragraph number] or page number

28 SLR Style Guide Foreign cases: Case name (date of judgment, court) (jurisdiction) at [paragraph number] or page number Further examples of suit or application indicators and numbers, and the way they should be abbreviated for subsequent references are set out in the table in Appendix 1B Pinpoint Citation Pinpoint citations to paragraphs in unreported cases should be in the same format as for reported cases ( paragraph ) Citation of Cases Published in Electronic Form A citation to a case published in electronic form should only be given if the case has not been published in print version, or if the print version of the case cannot be conveniently accessed locally Cases from Electronic Databases Cases should be cited as indicated in paragraphs and , followed by the database identifier. Pinpoint citations should be to paragraphs of the case, if available. If not, give references to screen or page numbers stated in the database preceded by an asterisk: Case citation, database identifier at [[paragraph number] or *database screen or page number] Cases from the Internet Judgment should be exercised when citing Internet sources as they vary in their reliability and may be transient in nature. Cases should be cited as indicated in paragraph and (omitting the pinpoint citation) followed by the uniform resource locator (URL) of the webpage containing the case and the date when the webpage was accessed. The pinpoint citation should be given at the end: Case citation (without pinpoint citation) <uniform resource locator> (accessed date) at [paragraph number] or page number If the URL of a webpage is excessively long, set out the URL of a parent webpage or the home page.

29 Part 2: Citation Rules Citation of Digests of Cases An unreported judgment or case should not be cited solely by reference to a digest. However, a digest of a case may be added to a citation of an unreported case in the following format: Case citation, digested at volume number digest [(editionth Ed, year) or date,] [[paragraph number] or at page number] Subsequent References After the first reference, a case may be cited by a short title. If it is desired to refer to a case by one party, the non-government-related party s name should generally be used. Subsequent references to cases cited in earlier paragraphs should be set out in the following format: ([paragraph number] supra) at pinpoint.