AGLC4 Rule 2.1.3: The Commonwealth and the States and Territories

Name the Commonwealth of Australia simply as Commonwealth, and a State or Territory by its plain name alone. Omit any leading The and any descriptive prefix such as State of.

AGLC4 page 41

Formatting

  • The government party is italic as part of the case name.
  • The Commonwealth is written as the single word Commonwealth, capitalised, with no The and no of Australia.
  • A State or Territory is written as its name only, with no State of or similar words in front.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 41
  1. 9
    JT International SA v Commonwealth (2012) 250 CLR 1. [Not: … The Commonwealth of Australia …]
  2. 10
    Unions NSW v New South Wales (2013) 252 CLR 530. [Not: State of New South Wales …]

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 41
  • [Not: … The Commonwealth of Australia …]
    the full formal name with The is used instead of Commonwealth
  • [Not: State of New South Wales …]
    the State of prefix is included

Check your footnotes against these rules

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Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.