Deciphering Citations for the English Reports
Every so often someone comes to the library with what looks like a particularly odd citation for a case. Odd citations are often a tip-off that the case comes from the English Reports.
The English Reports, also known as the ERs, are a collection of judgments from a number of different English reporters. Because they have been republished, they have a minimum of two citations, e.g. Chudleigh’s Case can be cited both as Jenk. 276 (the original report) and 145 ER 199. The original judgements are known as “nominate reports” because their names generally come from the surname of the original reporter (e.g. Jenk for Jenkins). The abbreviations of the names are what results in the odd citations (e.g. Lush. Adm. is an abbreviation for Lushington’s Admiralty Reports).
The English Reports can be found on CommonLII, HeinOnline and Justis, in addition to other databases. JustCite has a helpful list of abbreviations for the various English Reports.
(If you enjoy catty commentary on law reports, I highly recommend the Wikipedia entry for Espinasse’s Reports.)
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