Pinpoint References
Pointing at the page or paragraph you actually relied on, and why New Zealand never shortens a range.
A pinpoint is the part of the citation that says where in the source your point comes from. Give one whenever you are relying on something specific, which is almost always.
The word is “at”
New Zealand introduces a pinpoint with the word “at” (r 3.2.8(b)). A bare comma before the number is an Australian habit and is wrong here.
Paragraph numbers keep their square brackets. Page numbers do not.
Ranges are written out in full
This is the difference that catches Australian-trained readers most often. New Zealand never shortens a span of numbers (r 1.2.3(a)).
Both ends of a paragraph range keep their brackets.
Use an en dash, not a hyphen. Pincite converts one to the other for you.
Legislation pinpoints have one level, not five
Section numbering runs continuously through an Act, so a section number identifies the provision on its own. r 4.1.1(d) therefore does not indicate parts or chapters at all.
The only nesting is a schedule and then the provision inside it, with no comma between them.
Naming a judge
Where the passage you are relying on is one judge’s, name them after the pinpoint in round brackets.
Judicial titles are abbreviated: J for a Judge, CJ for the Chief Justice, P for the President. Some titles are written in full before the name instead of after it (r 3.2.9).
Numbers that only look like ranges
A comma inside a number is a thousands separator, not a list. “71,716” is one page, not two.
Practitioner texts, looseleafs and encyclopaedias number their paragraphs by chapter, so “[3-85]” means chapter 3, paragraph 85. It is not a range either. Reproduce the publisher’s own scheme exactly as it appears.
Last reviewed 6 August 2026