law reports

Law reports publish judgments with headnotes so that they can be cited as precedent. In India the main series are the Supreme Court Reports (SCR, the official report), Supreme Court Cases (SCC), the All India Reporter (AIR), the Criminal Law Journal (CriLJ) and the Indian Law Reports (ILR) published for each High Court, such as ILR (Karnataka). A citation gives the year, volume, report abbreviation and page, for example (1973) 4 SCC 225 or AIR 1973 SC 1461.

Since 2023 the Supreme Court also issues a neutral citation for each judgment in the form 2023 INSC 783, which identifies the judgment independently of any publisher. Exam answers should cite the case name correctly and one reliable citation.

Example

Kesavananda Bharati is reported in the law reports at (1973) 4 SCC 225.

In Indian law

• Indian Law Reports Act, 1875

See also

citation · precedent · stare decisis · ratio decidendi

Read more in the study notes

• Offences against the State (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Articles 15 and 16: protective discrimination and social justice (Constitutional Law I)
• Forest conservation: the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and the judicial approach (Environmental Law)
• Copyright and Related Rights: An Overview (IPR II)
• Requirements of protection: originality, fixation and the idea-expression divide (Law of Copyrights)
• Protection of databases in the digital world: USA, European Union and India (Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology)