How to read a Singapore case citation
8 example judgments · 8 courts
A modern Singapore case is identified by its neutral citation, written as [year] COURT number — for example [2025] SGHC(A) 2. The first part, in square brackets, is the year the judgment was issued. The middle part is the court abbreviation (for instance SGCA for the Court of Appeal or SGHC for the General Division of the High Court). The final part is the sequential judgment number for that court in that year — so [2025] SGHC(A) 2 is the 2nd judgment issued by that court in 2025. The neutral citation is medium-neutral: it identifies the judgment itself rather than a page in a printed law report, which is why it is the form used to link cases across this site. Each court abbreviation is decoded on its own page (linked below). This is reference information about citation format, not legal advice.
Key questions about How to read a Singapore case citation
What do the parts of a citation like [2025] SGCA 9 mean?
The square-bracketed number is the year of the judgment, the letters are the court that decided it (here SGCA, the Court of Appeal), and the last number is that court's sequential judgment number for the year. So [2025] SGCA 9 is the 9th Court of Appeal judgment issued in 2025.
What is a “neutral citation”?
A neutral citation identifies a judgment independently of any printed law report — it is assigned by the courts and is medium-neutral (it points to the judgment, not a report volume and page). Singapore neutral citations take the form [year] COURT number.
What do the court abbreviations mean?
Each set of letters is a court: for example SGCA is the Court of Appeal, SGHC is the General Division of the High Court, SGHC(A) is the Appellate Division of the High Court, SGFC is the Family Court and SGDC is the District Court. Every abbreviation that appears in this corpus is decoded on its own reference page, linked below.
Example judgments
Reported Singapore judgments below illustrate this citation, ordered by how often they are cited within this corpus. Each links to the full judgment.
Compiled by the SG Case Law editorial team from primary sources — the judgments themselves and Singapore Statutes Online (sso.agc.gov.sg). · Updated 14 June 2026 · How we compile this