Medium neutral citation (MNC)
The medium neutral citation (MNC) is a number assigned to a judgment by the court or tribunal who heard the matter. It is called an MNC as it does not depend on publisher or medium, it is a unique court identifier for each judgment, each year.
In 1998 the MNC numbering system was started by the High Court of Australia and also adopted by the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Victorian Court of Appeal. You can expect to see MNC used by other Courts and Tribunals after 1998.
For example:
R v Rees [2002] VSC 37
Case name
|
Year
|
Medium Neutral Citation
|
Judgment number
|
R v Rees
|
2002
|
VSC
|
37
|
Prior to 1995, cases heard before the MNC system began may give the party name, judge and date of judgment.
For example:
DPP v Hunter (Supreme Court of Victoria, Appeal Division, Court of Criminal Appeal, Young CJ, Murphy and Brooking JJ, 25 May 1987)
Case name
|
Court
|
Judge(s)
|
Full Date
|
DPP v Hunter
|
Supreme Court of Victoria, Appeal Division, Court of Criminal Appeal
|
Young CJ, Murphy and Brooking JJ
|
25 May 1987
|
Note:
As the Victorian Court of Appeal was established in 1995, but the MNC citation began in 1998, there may be some inconsistencies in the way a judgment around that time is referred to.
Some online databases are allocating medium neutral citations retrospectively. These are not court issued MNC's, for further information see AGLC note about using these in court 2.3.1.