Kent Law School Skills Hub

Differentiating Cases
It’s crucially important to be able to distinguish between cases to ensure that you’re using the correct
one. As so many cases have similar names, you need to rely on their citations.

Similar name, different case

To demonstrate the importance of providing case citations, this guide considers some key Public Law
cases:

A v Secretary of State for the Home Dept 1 in the House of Lords, and
A v Secretary of State for the Home Dept (No 2) 2 in the House of Lords.

Are they the same? No.

The first is a case about the indefinite detention of foreign prisoners without trial. The second is a
case about the use of evidence obtained by torture.

Though the names are similar because they involve some of the same applicants, these different cases
deal with different issues. It is crucial that you distinguish cases from one another to ensure that
you’re discussing the correct one.

Same case, different stage

Many of the cases you read during your studies are appeal cases, for example:

R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2),3
R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2),4 and
R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2).5

The same? No.

But unlike before, these 3 judgments are different appeal stages of the same case. If you need to find,
read and/or discuss a particular case, you need to make sure you find the correct one.

Moral of the story: the name is not enough

These examples show the importance of case citations.

Take a look in the footnotes of this document. While the judgments above might share names, each
has a unique citation that allows us to determine exactly which case is being referred to.

Case citations allow us to distinguish between judgments that, at first glance, look the same, and
you’ll need to use complete, correct citations in your cases notes, essays and problem questions.

1
[2004] UKHL 56, [2005] 2 AC 68
2
[2005] UKHL 71, [2006] 2 AC 221
3
[2006] EWHC 1038 (Admin), [2006] AC 81
4
[2007] EWCA Civ 498, [2008] QB 365
5
[2008] UKHL 61, [2009] 1 AC 453

Kent Law School Skills Hub