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• A Quick Guide to OSCOLA Referencing | Rules & Examples

A Quick Guide to OSCOLA Referencing | Rules & Examples

Published on 28 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 5 May 2022.

The Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is a referencing style used by students and academics in law.

OSCOLA referencing places citations in footnotes, which are marked in the text with footnote numbers:

The judge referred to the precedent established by Caulfield v Baldwin . 1

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Table of contents

Citing sources with oscola footnotes, oscola referencing examples, oscola tables and bibliography.

A citation footnote appears whenever you quote from, paraphrase or otherwise refer to the content of a source in your text.

A footnote is marked in the text with a footnote number, which appears at the end of the relevant sentence or clause. The number is displayed in superscript (i.e. 1) and appears after any punctuation like a comma or full stop:

These footnotes contain full information on the source cited. The format in which you present this information varies according to the type of source; examples are presented in the following section. A footnote always ends with a full stop:

Standard abbreviations

To save space in OSCOLA citations, abbreviations are used for the names of various publications and legal bodies.

For example, ‘UKSC’ is the United Kingdom Supreme Court, and ‘Cr App R’ refers to the Criminal Appeal Reports.

A full, searchable index of these abbreviations can be found here .

Pinpointing

In OSCOLA referencing, referring to a specific page number within a source is called pinpointing. To pinpoint, simply include a page number at the end of your reference, in addition to any page numbers already included.

For example, in the following citation, the first number refers to the page on which the report begins , while the second number pinpoints the passage you’re referring to :

Where available, paragraph numbers should be used instead of page numbers. Only do this if paragraph numbers are explicitly used in the text. Paragraph numbers appear in square brackets and can be used for pinpointing in the same way as page numbers:

Note that if you’re pinpointing a judge’s comments within a case report, you include the name of the judge, and some special terms and abbreviations are used in the citation and in the text.

If the judge is a peer, refer to them as ‘Lord’, e.g. Lord Williams. If they are a Lord/Lady Justice, use ‘LJ’, e.g. Williams LJ. If neither of these is the case, use ‘J’ for judge, e.g. Williams J:

Cross-referencing repeated citations of the same source

OSCOLA uses a system of cross-referencing to save space when you repeatedly cite the same source. This means that for subsequent references of a source, you don’t have to repeat the full citation.

When you refer to the same source you have just referred to (i.e. when the previous footnote was also about that source), you can simply use ‘ibid’ (Latin for ‘in the same place’):

In this example, the second footnote also refers to Davis v Dignam, but to page 522 instead of page 519.

When the previous reference to the source was in an earlier footnote (i.e. when other citations appear in between), use the author’s last name or the title (shortened if it’s a longer title), followed by the number of the previous citation (in brackets and preceded by ‘n’), then the page number you’re pinpointing (if different than the first citation):

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OSCOLA provides formats for a variety of source types. The most common ones are covered below.

Case reports

When citing a case, you’ll usually begin with a neutral citation – a way of referring to the case that does not relate to a particular report – and then give the details of the report afterwards. If no neutral citation exists, as with cases before 2002, you can just begin with the report.

Additionally, note that the year (for the report) is displayed differently depending on whether it is essential to the citation. For reports where each year is also identified with a volume number, the year appears in normal brackets. For those where multiple volumes appear in one year, the year appears in square brackets.

• Case report with neutral citation
• Case report with no neutral citation

Acts of Parliament

Use a short version of the title if the full title is longer than three words. If necessary, refer to specific parts of an Act of Parliament using section, subsection and paragraph numbers.

Statutory instruments

Statutory instruments (SIs) are numbered consecutively throughout the year; it’s this number that appears at the end of the citation – the example below is the 149th SI of 2020.

House of Commons bills are cited slightly differently from House of Lords bills. You write ‘HC Bill’ or ‘HL Bill’ depending upon which house it is, and bill numbers for Commons bills appear in square brackets.

• House of Commons bill
• House of Lords bill

Hansard is the official transcript of parliamentary debates in the UK. As with bills, write ‘HC’ for the House of Commons and ‘HL’ for the House of Lords. ‘Deb’ is short for ‘debate’, ‘vol’ for volume, and ‘col’ for column.

Use the full name of the author(s) as written in the source. List the edition (abbreviated to ‘edn’) when it is stated on the title page. Note that OSCOLA recommends abbreviating ‘Oxford University Press’ to ‘OUP’; this is not the case with other publishers.

Certain older books are listed by OSCOLA as ‘works of authority’ and given special abbreviated citations. For example, the following is a citation of volume 3, page 75 of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England :

OSCOLA provides a list of these abbreviations in their full guide , section 4.2.3.

Journal articles

As with case reports, square brackets are used for years in a journal citation if the year also identifies the volume; normal brackets are used when there are multiple volumes in a year.

Note that standard abbreviations are also used for journal names; here ‘MLR’ refers to Modern Law Review.

In a longer work, such as a thesis or dissertation , OSCOLA requires you to include tables listing any cases and legislation you cited, as well as a bibliography listing any secondary sources . For shorter essays, this is usually not necessary, but do check your institution’s guidelines.

The tables and bibliography appear at the end of your text. The table of cases comes first, followed by the table of legislation, and then the bibliography.

Sources are listed in alphabetical order within each table and in the bibliography.

Table of cases

Cases are written in a similar format here and in the main text; the only difference is the names of the parties involved are not italicised in the table of cases:

Table of legislation

The table of legislation includes all legal sources used other than cases – for example, bills, Acts of Parliament and SIs. Items in the table of legislation are listed in identical form to how they are cited in the text.

Bibliography

A bibliography lists all your secondary sources – that is, everything other than cases and legislation. For example, here you would list Hansard , any books and journal articles cited, and other sources such as blogs, social media and newspapers.

Bibliography entries differ from citations in terms of their presentation of the author’s name. Author names in the bibliography are inverted, and initials are used in place of the first name:

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Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). A Quick Guide to OSCOLA Referencing | Rules & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 15 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/oscola/

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• OSCOLA Referencing – A complete guide

You’ve done it. You’ve extracted the key research, peppered your content with incisive observations, and you’ve just typed the last words of your Law essay conclusion.

And then… it happens. You remember that in all those pages of research, you forgot to reference the sources you used. If only you’d done it in the first place!

Knowing how to cite sources for assignments is a hugely important skill. Even if you’re still at school, learning how to reference now means you won’t get caught out at university.

If you study Law at university, you’ll use the OSCOLA referencing system. This is the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. We’ve created a comprehensive guide on exactly what OSCLA is, and how to use it.

What is OSCOLA referencing?

OSCOLA is a footnote referencing style. That means that you add small, superscript numbers (for example, 1,2,3 ) to the sources in your text, which connect to footnotes at the bottom of your page.

You may also have to include a list of tables of cases, legislation and other primary sources at the start of your essay, and a bibliography of second sources at the end. See page 10-11 of the 4th edition of OCSCOLA.

Let’s look at the OSCOLA system in detail, and how you can cite a wide range of legal sources. Our comprehensive guide refers to the 4th edition of OSCOLA produced by the University of Oxford.

Primary Sources

Case citations with neutral citations.

An example of a typical case citation with a neutral citation is:

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884

The example above shows that this is a case involving Corr and IBC Vehicles Ltd. It was the thirteenth judgement issued by the House of Lords (UKHL) in 2008. It also indicates that a report of the judgement can be found in volume 1 of the series of the Law Reports called the Appeal Cases , beginning at page 884.

Case citations without neutral citations

An example of a typical case citation without a neutral citation is:

Page vs Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL).

When the year is used to identify the law report volume, you should always put it in square brackets. If the relevant law report series was also issued in more than one volume in that particular year, give it a volume number.

When you don’t need to use the year to identify the law report volume, give the year of judgement (not publication) in round brackets.

Where there are multiple parties in cases, you should name only the first claimant and the first defendant. Where cases concern only individuals, leave out forenames and initials. You should abbreviate common words and phrases, for example:

• BC for Borough Council
• Co for Company
• DPP for Director of Public Prosecutions.

When you want to refer to something, use Re instead of, for example, In re or in the matter of. You should use Re the Domestic Abuse Act 2017 rather than In the matter of the Domestic Abuse act 2017.

(See our ‘abbreviations’ section below for further guidance).

Short forms of case names

You should give the name of the case in full when you first mention it in the text or footnotes. After that, you can shorten it.

For example, ‘in Glebe Motors plc v Dixon-Greene’ can be shortened to ‘in the Glebe Motors case’ or ‘in Glebe Motors’. If you do shorten names this way, you should always choose the name which comes first in the full name of the case – in this case Glebe Motors, rather than Dixon-Greene.

Law Reports

A law report is a published report on a judgement. A law report includes features such as a headnote summarising the facts of a case and judgement, and lists of cases considered.

In England and Wales, there are no official law reports of any kind, but the Law Report series by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting are considered the most authoritative.

If a case is reported in the Law Reports you should cite it in preference to any other report. If you can’t find a judgement in the Law Reports , you should cite the Weekly Law Reports or the All England Law Reports.

If you can’t find a judgement in one of these general series you should refer to a specialist series of law reports such as the Family Law Reports.

When citing courts, indicate the court in brackets after the first page of the report, and before the pinpoint if there is one. A pinpoint is a reference to a particular paragraph of a judgement or page of a report.

Use HL for the House of Lords, CA for the Court of Appeal, QB, CH and F for the division of the High Court, and Com Ct for the Commercial Court within the Queen’s Bench Division.

If you’re citing a case before 1865, it doesn’t require the court. Neither do citations of cases with a neutral citation.

Judges’ names

When you make a reference to a judge in a case, use the judge’s surname followed by the conventional abbreviation identifying their judicial office. You do not need to use ‘the Honourable’.

A High Court judge should be called, for example, ‘Mr Justice Brown’, or, if a woman (and regardless of whether she is married) ‘Mrs Justice Smith). You should abbreviate both as ‘Smith J’.

A House of Lords judge (or ‘Law Lord’) is called ‘Lord Brown’ or ‘Lady Brown’, depending on gender.

The President of the Supreme Court should be abbreviated as, for example, ‘Lord Brown P’; the Deputy President as ‘Lord Brown DP’.

The Lord Chancellor (now no longer a judge) should be abbreviated as ‘Lord Brown LC’, the Lord Chief Justice as ‘Lord Brown CJ’, and the Master of the Rolls as 20 ‘Lord Brown MR’.

The Chancellor of the High Court should be abbreviated as ‘Sir John Brown C’, and Presidents of the Queen’s Bench Division and Family Division as ‘Sir Brown P’.

UK primary legislation

Names of Statutes

You should cite an Act by its short title and year in roman, using capitals for the major words. Don’t put a comma before the year. For example:

Act of Supremacy 1558

Shipping and Trading Interests (Protection) Act 1995.

Don’t use popular titles of Acts, for example, ‘Lord Campbell’s Act’. If you are referring to a particular Act a number of times in the same place, you can provide an abbreviated form of the title in the footnotes, as long as you let your reader know in advance. So, the Children Act 1989 becomes CA 1989 (not just CA).

Parts of statues

Statues are divided into parts, sections, subsections, paragraphs and subparagraphs. The relevant abbrevations are:

part / parts to pt/ pts

section / sections to s / ss

subsection / subsections to sub-s/ sub-ss

paragraph/paragraphs to para/paras

subparagraph / subparagraphs to subpara/subparas

schedule / schedules to sch/schs

Older Statutes

For older statutes, you can give the regnal year and chapter number. For example:

Crown Debts Act 1801 (41 Geo 3 c 90)

You can see from this example that the information in brackets shows that this Act was given royal assent in the forty-first year of the reign of George III.

Explanatory notes to statutes

When citing explanatory notes to statutes, precede the name of the statue with ‘Explanatory notes to the…’. For example,

Explanatory Notes to the Charities Act 2006, para 15.

An example of how to cite a Bill is:

Consolidated Fund HC Bill (2008-09).

You can see that the Bill is cited by its title, the House in which it originated (here, House of Commons), and with the parliamentary session in brackets (here, 2008-09).

UK Secondary Legislation

Statutory Instruments

Statutory instruments (orders, regulations or rules) are numbered consecutively throughout the year. The year combines with the serial number to make an SI number that follows the abbreviations ‘SI’, which we use to identify the legislation.

When you cite a statutory instrument, give the name, year and (after a comma) the SI number. For example:

Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, SI 2004/3166

Parts of statutory instruments

The rules for referring to parts of statutory instruments are the same as those referring to parts of statues. Use the following abbreviations:

• regulation / regulations to reg/regs
• rule/rules to r/rr
• article/articles to art/arts

European Union legal sources

Official notices of the EU are in the Official Journal of the European Communities ( which is abbreviated to OJ). The OJ citation should be: year, OJ series, number / page. The letter ‘L’ refers to the legislation series.

EU legislation

When you cite EU treaties and protocols, give the title of the legislation, followed by the year of publication, the OK series and the issue and page numbers. For example:

Protocol to the Agreement on the Member States that do not fully apply to the Schengen acquis – Join Declarations [2007] OJ Li129/35.

You should cite Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendations and Opinions by giving the legislation type, number and title, followed by publication details in the OJ. For example:

Council Directive 2002/60/EC of 27 June 2002 laying down specific provisions for the control of African swine fever and amending Directive 92/119/EEC as regards Teschen disease and African swine fever [2002] OJ L192/27

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

For judgements of the European Court of Human Rights, you should cite either the offical reports, the Reports of Judgements and Decisions (ECHR) or the European Human Rights Reports (EHRR). Be aware of the difference before and after 1996. Before 1996, the offocial reports were known and Series A and numbered consecutively. From 2001, case numbers were used instead of page numbers. For example,

Johnston v Ireland (1986) Series A no 122

Osman v UK ECHR 1998 – VIII 3124

Balogh v Hungary App no 47940/99 (ECtHR, 20 July 2004).

Omojudi v UK (2009) EHRR 10

Secondary Sources

You should cite all publications with an ISBN as if they were books, whether you read them online or in hard copy. Older books do not have ISBNs, but you should cite them as books even if you read them online.

Authored Books

You should cite the author’s name first, followed by a comma, and then the title of the book in italics. You should then follow the title with publication information in brackets. You don’t need to give the place of publication. For example:

Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law (Alan Lane 2010).

If the book has more than one volume, you should follow the volume number with the publication details. For example:

Christian von Bar, The Common European Law of Torts, vol 2 (CH Beck 2000), para 76.

Edited and Translated Books

If there is no author, cite the editor or translator as an author, adding in brackets after their name. For example ‘(ed)’ or ‘(tr)’. If there is more than one editor or translator, put ‘(eds)’ or (trs)

Hard copy journals

When you cite hard copy journal articles, give the author’s name first, followed by a comma. Then give the title of the article within single quotation marks, and the publication information as follows:

year of publication (in square brackets if it identifies the volume, in round brackets if there is a separate volume number).

• the volume number if there is one
• the name of the journal, in full or abbreviated form, with no full stops
• the first page of the article.

For example:

Paul Craig, “Theory, “Pure Theory” and Values in Public Law” [2005] PL 440.

Refence case notes with titles as if they were journal articles.

If there is no title, use the name of the case in italics instead, and put ‘note’ at the end of the citation.

Online journals

With online journals that have been published electronically, give publication details the same way you would for hard copy journal articles.

If online journals lack some of the publication elements for OSCOLA, follow the citation advice of the online journal. Remove full stops to comply with OSCOLA.

Working papers

You should cite working papers the same way as electronic journal articles. Seeing as the content of working papers are subject to change, make sure you put the date of access. For example:

Graham Greenleaf, ‘The Global Development of Free Access to Legal Information’ (2010) 1(1) EJLT accessed 27 July 2010

Other Secondary Sources

Please see the 4th edition of OSCOLA for comprehensive details on how to cite other secondary sources such as:

• Parliamentary reports
• Command papers
• Law commission reports and documents
• Conference papers
• Websites and blogs
• Newspaper articles

We hope you’ve found our complete guide to OSCOLA referencing useful. You can also use the OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide for ease when referencing.

• Subject Guides

Referencing styles - a Practical Guide

Oscola referencing style.

Used by: the York Law School

Introduction to OSCOLA referencing style

The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) was developed at Oxford University, and is widely used by law schools and publishers to acknowledge source information.

In-text citations & footnotes

OSCOLA uses a footnote citation system.

In the text, a number in superscript 1  is added at the end of a sentence and after the punctuation. 

The reference is then given in the footnote at the bottom of the page.

Where you cite an author of a secondary source their name should appear as it does on the publication with first name/ initials before surname.

For more detailed information, see OSCOLA 1.1 and 1.2

Bibliography

The bibliography at the end of the document includes the full details of each source so the reader can find them themselves. The list is organised by type of source, and then alphabetically. See below for more details on organising the bibliography.

The information to include depends on the types of source - see the examples.

Useful resources

• OSCOLA Referencing style A downloadable version of this OSCOLA style guide, with some extra details
• OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide A handy 1 page summary of OSCOLA style
• OSCOLA 4th Edition The full OSCOLA Standard
• OSCOLA for international law Details for citing international law sources

Guidance for all source types

Citing a source multiple times in the same document.

For a case, cite in full the first time. For further references to the case, use a short form of the case name and a cross-citation in brackets to the original footnote. If the case name is included in the text, omit it in the footnote.

If the subsequent citation is directly after the full citation, simply use the term ‘ibid’. If pinpointing specific paragraphs, place these in square brackets.

When referring to a previous citation a number of footnotes back, use the short version of the case and add n as an abbreviation signposting the number of the footnote

For subsequent citation of legislation, abbreviations are acceptable. For subsequent citation of secondary sources, you only need the author’s surname.

For more detailed information see OSCOLA 1.2

Citing multiple sources in the same footnote

For  multiple references  within one footnote use semi-colons to distinguish between them and put them in chronological order with the oldest first. For example, this footnote refers to two cases:

If one or more references are more relevant than the others put these first and then ‘see also’. For example:

Also, order the sources with legislation before cases, and primary sources before secondary.

Using pinpoints and page numbers

A pinpoint is a precise reference to the part of a judgment or report through numbered paragraphs or page numbers. There are a number of ways you can pinpoint specific details within publications, depending on what the publication is. When citing more than one paragraph, place the numbers in square brackets. In this first example the pinpoints are at the end to paragraphs 42 and 45 of the case:

In this example for a secondary source the page number 131 is given at the end:

 For more detailed information, see OSCOLA 2.1.6 and OSCOLA 4.2.5

Cross-citation

Cross citation is when you are referring to discussion in another part of your writing, for example on an earlier page or in a previous chapter. It is good practice to use cross citation as little as possible.

Try to be specific and use a specific footnote number (For example  See n 52  for the footnote. OR:  See text to n 22 .)

For more detailed information see OSCOLA 1.2.2 

Direct quotes

You need to be very precise when using quotations.

Short quotations (less than three lines)

Use  single quotation marks  and include within the text. For example:

Longer quotations (longer than three lines)

Use an indented paragraph, no quotation marks and a line space above and below.

For more detailed information, see OSCOLA 1.5

Citing a source you've read about in a different source (secondary referencing)

This means referring to a source you have not read that you have found within another source that you are using.  Try to avoid secondary referencing as it is always preferable to use the original source and you should always try to locate this.

If you find you have to use secondary referencing, in the footnote cite the source you have read, followed by ‘citing’… For example:

In the bibliography insert only the source you have read. There is no specific guidance on this within OSCOLA. 

Naming judges

When referring to a judge within a case, use the judge’s surname followed by the correct abbreviation.  (Mr or Mrs Justice Smith should be called Smith J in your text).

The exception to this rule is when the judge holds a title. A Court of Appeal Judge who is Lord or Lady Smith should be referred to as  Smith LJ .

• A House of Lords judge should be referred to as  Lord or Lady Smith  and should not be abbreviated.
• A Supreme Court judge should be referred to as  Lord Smith SCJ.
• The Lord Chief Justice can be abbreviated to  Lord Woolf CJ.

For more detailed information see OSCOLA 2.1.7

Using Westlaw or Lexis Library

You do not need to include any information about Westlaw or Lexis Library in your citations, as this is just the portal through which you accessed the report, legislation or article. Simply reference the relevant source as you would a paper copy. 

Using Latin terms within footnotes

The only Latin term that is acceptable to use within the OSCOLA style is ‘ibid’, for the instances when you are referring to the same source in consecutive footnotes. Do not use other terms such as supra, op cit, loc cit.

For more information see OSCOLA 1.2.3 u 

Using abbreviations

OSCOLA abbreviates a wide range of legal sources and institutions.

Do not use punctuation when using an abbreviation. Eg, the Director of Public Prosecutions should appear as DPP not D.P.P.

For a comprehensive list of legal abbreviations, use the Cardiff index . You can search by abbreviation to find the title, or by title to find the abbreviation.

For more detailed information, see OSCOLA Appendix 4.2 

Questions about referencing?

Contact your Faculty Librarians if you have any questions about referencing.

Commonly used sources

Examples of in-text citations and reference list entries for key source types.

Use these examples alongside the information given in the 'Guidance for all source types' box.

Act of Parliament

You should refer to the year the Act was passed rather than the year it came into force. 

Use the short title and refer to specific sections of the Act eg

 OR use s for Section in the middle of a sentence. For example:

Footnote: 

You do not need to footnote an Act if you make it identifiable in the text. 

Bibliography:   List Legislation and Cases separately in alphabetical order in the bibliography. 

See the  OSCOLA guides  and our Referencing with Confidence OSCOLA Guide for more details. 

Case citations including neutral citations: List cases in the bibliography in alphabetic order of case names. Use the following format to cite cases.

Case name in italics [year] court number, [year] OR (year) volume report abbreviation first page

If you have included the case name in the text, you do not have to include the case names in the footnote: In text:  refer to the text giving case names in italics eg: In  Phipps v Boardman 31  …..

Bibliography:

For most sources in OSCOLA, the bibliographic format is the same as the footnote. List legislation, cases and secondary sources in separate sections of your bibliography in alphabetical order. 

Treat case notes with titles as if they are journal articles. Where there is no title, use the name of the case in italics instead, and add (note) at the end of the citation:

See 3.3.2 OSCOLA 4th ed. for more details. 

Book 1 author

Capitalise the first letter of each major word of the title. Page numbers stand-alone without p or pp. use the following format for the footnote:

Information to include: Author,  Title in Italics  (edition, publisher date) page.

Book 2 or 3 authors

If the book has up to three authors, include ‘and’ in between each author. Use Initials or forename unpunctuated and with no spaces followed by surname. 

Information to include: Author, Title in Italics Capitalising Major Words  (Edition, Publisher Year) page. 

Bibliography: 

See 3.2 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details. 

Book (4 or more authors)

If a book has  more than three authors,  include ‘ and others’  after the name of the first author.

Edited book (& chapters)

Chapter in an edited book.

Information to include: author, ‘Title of chapter' in editor (ed), title in italics  (additional information, publisher year)

See 3.2.3 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details. 

Edited book

See 3.2.2 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details. 

Journal article / paper

Journal article / paper (print copy).

Footnotes: author, | ‘title’ | [year] | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article / paper,| specific page referred to

author, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article / paper

Put a comma after the first page of the article / paper if you want to refer to a particular page or set of pages:

If the year serves as the volume identifier, put the year in square brackets [ ]. If there is a separate volume number, put the year in round brackets  ().

In the Young example, 72 is the volume number. Bibliography:

Omit reference to specific page numbers (other than the first page of the article / paper) in your bibliographic entry.

Journal article / paper (electronic copy)

If you source a publication online which is also available in hard copy, cite the hard copy version. There is no need to cite an electronic source for such a publication.

author, | ‘title’ | [year] OR (year) | volume/issue | journal name or abbreviation | <web address> | date accessed

If the information is only available online, give the URL before the accessed date information.

See 3.3.4 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details. 

Further sources

Examples of in-text citations and reference list entries for other source types.

Cite a Bill by its title, the House in which it originated, the Parliamentary session in brackets, and the running number assigned to it. Running numbers for House of Commons Bills are put in square brackets; those for House of Lords Bills are not. When a Bill is reprinted at any stage it is given a new running number.

Title | HC Bill | (session) | [number] OR title | HL Bill | (session) | number

Footnote and bibliography: 

In the bibliography, list bills in alphabetical order under the heading Secondary Sources.

Copied from 2.4.5 OSCOLA 4th edn. 

Where there is no relevant advice elsewhere in OSCOLA, follow the general principles for secondary sources when citing websites and blogs. If there is no author identified, and it is appropriate to cite an anonymous source, begin the citation with the title in the usual way. If there is no date of publication on the website, give only the date of access.

Author, 'Web page title' ( Website in Italics , Full Date) <URL> accessed Date

See OSCOLA 4th edn 3.4.8 for more details. 

Book (translated to English)

If you read a book that was translated from another language (eg, you read an English translation of a book orginally written in German), cite the translation:

If there is an author and translator, reference as follows:

See 3.2.2  OSCOLA 4th ed. for more details. 

Book (read in another language)

If you read a book in a language other than English (eg, you read a book written in German), cite the primary source in the original language:

Footnote:  

Bibliography:  

See 1.4 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details. 

Book review

Cite a book review in the same way as a journal article, but without the quote marks. For example,

Copied from  OSCOLA FAQs

Command paper

The abbreviation preceding a command paper number depends on the year of publication:

1833–69 (C (1stseries)) 1870–99 (C (2nd series)) 1900–18 (Cd) 1919–56 (Cmd) 1957–86 (Cmnd) 1986– (Cm)

Footnotes and bibliography:

In the bibliography, list Command Papers alphabetically by author in Secondary Sources. 

For more details see 3.4.3 OSCOLA 4th ed. 

Conference papers

See 3.4.6 OSCOLA 4th ed. for more details. 

Dictionary (hard copy)

Dictionary (online).

Also consider elements of the style advice for websites and blogs (section 3.4.8).

For the OED online, open the full entry for the word, and click on the Cite button (top right above the definition). Follow that example, tidying it up to make it consistent with OSCOLA styles (eg, change double quotes to single and full stops to commas, removing those that are unnecessary; change OED Online to italics; change Oxford University Press to OUP and put it before the date; and remove http:// from the web address and delete any text after the Entry number, then put angle brackets around the url):

For other online dictionaries, follow the general advice above. You need a date of publication or at least a date of access (ie when you looked at it), as they are generally updated regularly.

Copied from  OSCOLA FAQs. 

When citing personal communications, such as emails and letters, give the author and recipient of the communication, and the date. If you are yourself the author or recipient of the communication, say ‘from author’ or ‘to author’ as appropriate.

See 3.4.11 OSCOLA 4th edn for more details

Encyclopedia

Cite as a book but exclude author or editor and publisher. Include the edition and year. Pinpoints such as volumes and page numbers come after the publication information.

If citing an online encyclopedia, give the URL and date of access:

See OSCOLA 4th edn 3.2.6 for more details. 

Entry in a reference book

List in the bibliography in alphabetical order under Secondary Sources. 

European Court of Justice case

European union regulation, hansard & parliamentary reports.

There are three series of Hansard, one reporting debates on the floor of the House of Commons, one debates in the House of Lords, and one debates in the Public Bill committees of the House of Commons, which replaced standing committees in 2007. When referring to the first two series, cite the House abbreviation (HL or HC), followed by ‘Deb’, then the full date, the volume and the column. Use ‘col’ or ‘cols’ for column(s). In the House of Commons, written answers are indicated by the suffix ‘W’ after the column number; in the House of Lords, they are indicated by the prefix ‘WA’ before the column number.

HL Deb OR HC Deb | date, | volume, | column

See 3.4.2 OSCOLA 4th ed. for more details. 

When citing an interview you conducted yourself, give the name, position and institution (as relevant) of the interviewee, and the location and full date of the interview. If the interview was conducted by someone else, the interviewer’s name should appear at the beginning of the citation.

See 3.4.10 OSCOLA 4th ed. for more details. 

Footnote and bibliography:

Newspaper article

When citing newspaper articles, give the author, the title, the name of the newspaper in italics and then in brackets the city of publication and the date. Some newspapers have ‘The’ in the title and some do not. If known, give the number of the page on which the article was published, after the brackets. If the newspaper is divided into sections, and the page numbering begins afresh in each section, put the section name in roman before the page number, with a space but no comma between the two. If the reference is to an editorial, cite the author as ‘Editorial’. If the article is sourced from the web and there is no page number available, provide the web address and date of access.

List under Secondary Sources

Copied from OSCOLA 4th edn 3.4.9 

The general principles for ‘other secondary sources’ (OSCOLA 4th ed. 3.4.1) suggest the following form for citing podcasts, YouTube videos and similar sources:

Author, ‘Title’ (publication date) <url> accessed xx month 2014

If there is no clear author, give the organisation providing the source as the author. The examples below include a suggestion for citing the comments of a particular person.

If referring to comments by someone in particular, add that information as you would a pinpoint, before the url. Include the person's position if relevant. For example:

Another alternative, particularly if the podcast is quite long, would be to provide the minutes and seconds of the excerpt:

Copied from  OSCOLA FAQs 

Public communication

Author, 'Title' (additional information, publisher year)

Examples taken from  OSCOLA FAQs

List by author in Secondary Sources 

Radio programme

Footnote: Speaker (if a direct quote)/Presenter, 'Title of the programme' (Radio station, date of the programme)

Enter in alphabetical order in the Secondary Sources. If there is a direct quote/speaker, reverse the author's name as usual.

Use this format:

Author, 'Title' (Additonal information, edition if later than first, Publisher day Month year if available) page number if required.

Footnotes: 

Bibliography : 

List alphabetically in author order in secondary sources, giving the authors surname first.

Republished source

Author,  Title of book  (First published publication year, Edition if late than first, publisher, publication year) page if required.

Television programme

Footnote:  Use the following format: Main contributor [Role of main contributor],'Title of programme' [Television series episode] in Title of series (Additional information if required, Publisher, Year )

If you wish to refer to someone speaking during the programme, follow this format: Cite the name of the speaker (if a direct quote), the title of the programme, the radio station and the date of the programme. If there is no obvious author/speaker, begin the citation with the title of the programme. If available online, include the URL and date of access. For example:

List under Secondary Sources in alphabetical order

When citing an unpublished thesis, give the author, the title and then in brackets the type of thesis, university and year of completion.

Copied from 3.4.7 OSCOLA 4th edn.

United Nations Court of Human Rights

If the information is available in print, reference the print version. If only available on the web, reference as follows: 

Footnote and Bibliography:

In the bibliography, list in Secondary Sources.

YouTube video

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Referencing guide at the University of Manchester: OSCOLA

• Harvard Manchester Updated
• American Psychological Association APA
• Modern Humanities Research Association MHRA
• Referencing Software
• EndNote online

The information contained within these pages is intended as a general referencing guideline.

Please check with your supervisor to ensure that you are following the specific guidelines required by your school.

What is OSCOLA?

The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is designed to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. It is widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers in the UK and beyond.

Nota bene: This is a footnote style of referencing.

OSCOLA is edited by the Oxford Law Faculty, in consultation with the OSCOLA Editorial Advisory Board.

The information detailed within this webpage is based on the Book:

When referencing at Manchester

Whenever you paraphrase or quote a source or use the ideas of another person, you need to cite the source of the material.

• Insert a footnote marker after the full stop at the end of the sentence or after the word or phrase to which it relates to.
• At the bottom of the page, note the footnote number and give the full citation.
• End the footnote with a full stop.

Number your footnotes continuously through your document, starting at 1.

It is vital to acknowledge your sources, both to improve the quality of your essay and to avoid plagiarism (discussed in more detail in the essay writing guide).

Bibliography

At the end of your essay there should be a bibliography listing the materials that you have used. Different types of source (books, articles, cases, etc) should be in separate sections.

Books and articles should be listed in alphabetical order according to the surname of the author; cases should be given alphabetically according to the name of the first named party; other materials should be presented alphabetically by title. In addition to the bibliography, you should refer to your sources in your essay itself.

Different disciplines have different traditions as to how sources are referenced, both in your bibliography and in your essay. Below are suggestions for law subjects.

For law subjects a suitable referencing system is the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). Produced by the Faculty of Law in Oxford, this is used in many law schools in the United Kingdom and by some law publishers

In your essay

Use footnotes to give details of your sources and not at the end of your work.

You should use the format that you would use in your bibliography; it is unnecessary to put “See” before the citation. However, you will need to add “pinpoints” to indicate the relevant page(s) or paragraph(s) of the book, article, case, etc. that contains the relevant discussion. In OSCOLA specific pages are referred to by giving the page number (without any “page”or “p” before it), while paragraphs are denoted by using square brackets (without any“ para”).

OSCOLA Primary sources

Do not use full stops in abbreviations. Separate citations with a semi-colon.

The following provide examples of how you reference primary sources.

Give the party names, followed by the neutral citation, followed by the Law Reports citation (eg AC, Ch, QB). If there is no neutral citation, give the Law Reports citation followed by the court in brackets. If the  case  is  not  reported  in  the  Law  Reports,  cite  the  All ER or the WLR, or failing that a specialist report.

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884

R (Roberts) v Parole Board [2004] EWCA Civ 1031, [2005] QB 410

Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL)

When   pinpointing,   give   paragraph   numbers   in square brackets at the end of the citation.  If the judgment has no paragraph numbers, provide the page number pinpoint after the court.

Callery v Gray [2001] EWCA Civ 1117, [2001] 1 WLR 2112 [42], [45]

Bunt v Tilley [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), [2006] 3 All ER 336 [1]–[37]

R v Leeds County Court , ex p Morris [1990] QB 523 (QB) 530–31

If citing a particular judge:

Arscott v The Coal Authority [2004] EWCA Civ 892, [2005] Env LR 6 [27] (Laws LJ)

Statutes and statutory instruments

Act of Supremacy 1558

Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b)

Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, SI 2004/3166

EU legislation and cases

Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ C115/13

Council Regulation (EC) 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (EC Merger Regulation) [2004] OJ L24/1, art 5

Case C–176/03 Commission v Council [2005] ECR I–7879, paras 47–48

European Court of Human Rights

Omojudi v UK (2009) 51 EHRR 10

Osman v UK ECHR 1998–VIII 3124

Balogh v Hungary App no 47940/99 (ECHR, 20 July 2004)

Simpson v UK (1989) 64 DR 188

OSCOLA Secondary sources

This guide provides you with examples of how to cite references correctly in the text of your assignments.

OSCOLA does not purport to be comprehensive, but gives rules and examples for the main UK legal primary sources, and for many types of secondary sources. As far as possible, the guidelines in OSCOLA are based on common practice in UK legal citation, but with a minimum of punctuation. When citing materials not mentioned in OSCOLA, use the general principles in OSCOLA as a guide, and try to maintain consistency.

The following provide examples of how you reference secondary sources.

Give  the  author’s  name  in  the  same  form  as  in  the  publication,   except   in   bibliographies,   where   you   should   give   only   the   surname   followed   by   the   initial(s).  Give  relevant  information  about  editions,  translators  and  so  forth  before  the  publisher,  and  give  page  numbers  at  the  end  of  the  citation,  after  the brackets.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (first published 1651, Penguin 1985) 268

Gareth Jones, Goff and Jones: The Law of Restitution (1st supp, 7th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2009)

K Zweigert and H Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law (Tony Weir tr, 3rd edn, OUP 1998)

Chapter of edited book

Francis Rose, ‘The Evolution of the Species’ in Andrew Burrows and Alan Rodger (eds), Mapping the Law: Essays in Memory of Peter Birks (OUP 2006

Encyclopaedias

Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010) vol 57, para 53

Journal articles

Paul Craig, ‘Theory, “Pure Theory” and Values in Public Law’ [2005] PL 440

When pinpointing, put a comma between the first page of the article and the page pinpoint.

JAG Griffith, ‘The Common Law and the Political

Constitution’ (2001) 117 LQR 42, 64

Online journal

Graham Greenleaf, ‘The Global Development of Free Access to Legal Information’ (2010) 1(1) EJLT < https://ejlt.org//article/view/17 > accessed 27 July 2010

Command papers and Law Commission report

Department for International Development, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future (White Paper, Cm 7656, 2009) ch 5 Law Commission, Reforming Bribery (Law Com No 313, 2008) paras .12–3.17

Websites and blogs

Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ ( Naked Law , 1 May 2009) www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html  accessed 19 November 2009

Newspaper articles

Jane Croft, ‘Supreme Court Warns on Quality’ Financial Times (London, 1 July 2010) 3

Reference management software & OSCOLA

• EndNote Online
• Microsoft Word

The OSCOLA style is not available in the EndNote software, But can be downloaded from this page (below).

• OSCOLA 4th Edition EndNote output styles are provided solely for use by licensed owners of EndNote and with the EndNote product.

EndNote Online is free  web-based implementation of EndNote. OSCOLA is one of the styles available when using EndNote Online.

Mendeley is a free reference manager and an academic social network . Manage your research, showcase your work, connect and collaborate with others.

OSCOLA is available as a style to download and add.

To quickly insert a footnote in word use Ctrl-Alt-F then insert your reference.

Further information

University of Oxford provide a faq section on their website supporting OSCOLA enquiries: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola-faqs

Cardiff University provide a thorough tutorial for Citing the law , which will show you how to:

• Cite cases and legislation, i.e. the ‘primary’ sources of law, in the accepted way
• Refer to ‘secondary’ sources such as books, journals and government reports in your work
• Cite using OSCOLA, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, fourth edition

Cardiff also provide the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations : This database allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications, from the British Isles, the Commonwealth and the United States, including those covering international and comparative law.

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Law: Referencing Using OSCOLA

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• Referencing Using OSCOLA

OSCOLA Referencing

Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities is the accepted method for the referencing of legal materials, such as law cases, statutes and parliamentary papers, for example.  In-text citations appear as footnotes and there is a formal set of abbreviations for key sources, such as AC for Appeal Cases.

If you are studying Law at UWS you will be given guidance on the way in which you are required to use OSCOLA and you must adhere to this.

The following web site from the Faculty of Law at University of Oxford contains very useful information:

• OSCOLA 4th ed

What is referencing and why do I have to do it?

Referencing is the method we use to acknowledge the work of other authors.

It serves three principal aims:

• To support your arguments with evidence. Referencing demonstrates that your own arguments are grounded in a body of existing research and have been developed through an examination of the relevant literature.
• Referencing is an important means by which we credit other authors for any ideas, arguments, quotations, and other forms of intellectual property which are not your own. Not providing an acknowledgement for the work of others is considered plagiarism (note that plagiarism can be both intentional and unintentional). You must always provide a citation when you use another author's intellectual ideas, whether you are paraphrasing (putting it into your own words), summarising, or directly quoting from the source.
• Referencing shows the reader where they can access the original sources you have used (the evidence) to verify or fact check. It also helps the reader to carry out additional research of their own.

Please note!

Referencing is an essential, integral and accepted part of academic study and practice and must be used in the vast majority of academic assignments within all subject areas and at all levels of study.

Everyone, from Level 7 students to published academic researchers, will be required to reference throughout their academic career.

Referencing Using OSCOLA - Cite Them Right Online

The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is a widely recognised and widely used citation style specifically designed for legal research and writing in the United Kingdom. Here are some reasons why OSCOLA is preferred over other referencing styles in the context of legal writing:

Specialisation for Legal Sources: OSCOLA is tailored for the unique requirements of legal research, making it highly suitable for law students, legal professionals, and legal academics. It provides detailed rules for citing legal authorities, such as cases, legislation, and secondary sources, ensuring accuracy and consistency in legal writing.

UK Legal System: OSCOLA is designed to align with the legal system of the United Kingdom, including its court hierarchy, case law reporting, and parliamentary practices. This makes it the ideal choice for legal documents related to UK law.

Academic Acceptance: OSCOLA is widely accepted by UK law schools and academic institutions, and it is often the required citation style for legal research papers, theses, and dissertations. Using OSCOLA can help students meet academic standards and expectations.

Clarity and Precision: OSCOLA's clear and specific rules for citing legal sources reduce the likelihood of errors and ambiguities in legal writing. This precision is crucial in legal documents where accuracy and clarity are paramount.

Comprehensive Guidelines: OSCOLA provides comprehensive guidelines for citing a wide range of legal materials, including cases, statutes, statutory instruments, law reports, and legal journals. It also covers secondary sources, treaties, and international materials.

Regular Updates: OSCOLA is periodically updated to reflect changes in legal citation practices and technology. This ensures that it remains current and relevant to the evolving legal landscape.

Respected Standard: In the field of law, adherence to a recognised and respected citation standard like OSCOLA helps establish the credibility and professionalism of legal documents.

While OSCOLA is the preferred style for legal writing in the UK, the choice of a citation style may also depend on institutional requirements and individual preferences. However, for those working within the UK legal system, OSCOLA offers a comprehensive and specialised framework for accurate and consistent legal citations.

In Cite Them Right Online, click on Choose Your Referencing Style- and then select OSCOLA. Here you will find example of how to reference items using the Oxford University standard for the citation of legal authorities (OSCOLA) style. 

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Citing and referencing for Law

• OSCOLA Tutorial

Citing and Referencing using OSCOLA

Interactive oscola tutorial.

• OSCOLA Handbook
• General guidance
• Citing examples
• Further help

Your Subject Librarian

[email protected]

Based at: Law Library

After you have taken the tutorial, the Subject Librarian can help you if you need further guidance, including:

• An overview of how to use OSCOLA
• Examples of how to cite particular sources
• Checking examples of how you have cited particular sources in your essay or dissertation
• How to cite sources that aren't referred to in the OSCOLA guide or where you're not sure how to cite them.
• OSCOLA and what it is
• The importance of citing and referencing
• How to avoid plagiarism
• How to reference specific sources

Tip for screen reader users. You may wish to adjust the verbosity settings in your screenreader to read all punctuation and text attributes when you reach the examples.

Welcome to this tutorial.

In Part 1 you will learn…

Why you should cite and reference

What is plagiarism and how to avoid it

How to use OSCOLA to cite and reference

Character 1:    Let’s begin!

1. Why you should cite and reference

Character 1:    Let’s first define what a citation is:

A citation tells the reader where to find a specific source that you mention in your writing.

Now let’s look at why you should cite and reference.

Reason 1: Academic convention (get marks!)

Reason 2: Consistent and persuasive argument

Example of citing and referencing:

“Legal writing is more persuasive when the author refers to legal materials in a clear, consistent and familiar way. When it is easy to identify and to find the author’s sources, it becomes easier for the reader to follow the argument.” ¹

• Faculty of Law, University of Oxford ‘OSCOLA: Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities’ (4th edn, Hart 2012)

Character 1:    This is an example of OSCOLA, but more on that later!

Reason 3: Avoid Plagiarism

Chapter 1 of a Legal Book: Interesting text that will support my point, don’t just copy me!

Why should we cite and reference?

Correct answers include:

To avoid plagiarism .

To conform to academic convention .

To make a consistent and persuasive argument

2. What constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it

Plagiarism is…

Copying and pasting (e.g. from a book)

Concealing sources (deliberately not referencing others work)

Collusion, e.g. innocently using work generated from a discussion

Misinterpreting common knowledge i.e. bending the facts to suit your argument

Self plagiarism - using a large proportion of work that you have previously submitted as an assignment

Character 2:    How can you avoid plagiarism?

Example: The chief justice explained that this power ‘is not limited to defence against aggression from a foreign nation.’

2: Paraphrasing

Original- Her life spanned years of incredible change for women.

Paraphrase- Mary lived through an era of liberating reform for women.

3: Summarising

Putting the main points of a body of work into your own words

4: Plus, Correct citing and referencing!

3. How to use OSCOLA to cite and reference

Character 1:    As we mentioned earlier a citation tells the reader where to find a specific source that you mention in your writing

At City Law School we use OSCOLA

OSCOLA is a way of citing and referencing legal materials in legal writing

OSCOLA stands for the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities

Character 1:    OSCOLA uses a footnote style, all citations are in footnotes

There are no ‘in text’ citations

OSCOLA is only used for citations, it is not a writing guide

Let’s look at an example of OSCOLA referencing

Example: Choo and Nash state that this new piece of legislation ‘led to the creation by the courts of a prima facie rule of exclusion of evidence obtained in breach of the Act’.¹ A recent case in the Supreme Court relates to this point of law.² It has been noted that after the new act came into force, the courts adopted a prima facie rule that evidence obtained in breach of the legislation was to be excluded, except in certain restricted circumstances.³ Hart asserts this is a significant change. 4

How do these numbers correspond to the footnotes?

¹ Andrew L-T Choo and Susan Nash, ‘Improperly Obtained Evidence in the Commonwealth: Lessons for England and Wales?’ (2007) 11 E&P 75.

² Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208.

³ Choo and Nash (n 1) 100.

4 Chris Hart, Doing a Literature Review (Sage 1998).

You will also need a bibliography at the end of the assignment which we will look at later

Character 2:    So you only add numbers in the body of the assignment?

Character 1:    That’s right! All the information about the source goes in the footnote and the bibliography

Character 2:    How do I add footnotes in Word?

Character 1:    Let’s take a look…

Text:    Click on the References tab

Click Insert Footnote

Footnotes will be added at the end of the document

Character 1:    The number of footnotes can vary wildly, it all depends on what you are doing and how your argument goes

Character 2:    So there’s no correct number of footnotes?

Character 1:    That’s right!

Now let’s talk about the OSCOLA handbook

There are three main sections of the handbook

Section 1 General Principles: gives you an overview of OSCOLA

Section 2 Primary Sources: tells you how to cite cases and legislation

Section 3 Secondary Sources: tells you how to cite everything else, journals, websites etc…

If you can’t find the rule you need in sections 2 or 3, then use the general principles in section 1

Two golden rules when using OSCOLA:

Be consistent - if you can’t find the rule you need then use the general principles and use similar citations throughout

Consider your reader - can they follow your argument and find your sources easily?

If the source exists in print, cite as print

If the source has an ISBN, cite as a book

In the footnote the whole name is displayed followed by a comma, e.g. John Smith,

In the bibliography only surname followed by initials and a comma are used, e.g. Smith J,

You have completed part 1.

Part 2 Primary Sources

In Part 2, you will learn…

How to cite case law

How to cite statutes, i.e. acts

How to cite international and foreign legal materials

Character 1: Let’s go!

1. How to cite case law

Character 1: When citing cases, you must use the law report citation as well as the  neutral citation:

Law report: Gill v Woodall [2011] 3 W.L.R. 85

Neutral citation: Gill v Woodall [2010] EWCA Civ 1430

Character 1: The law report citation identifies what you have read, whereas the neutral citation is the same regardless of source. To correctly cite cases using OSCOLA you need both the law report and the neutral citation.

This is the format you should use, in this order: Party names (in italics), Neutral citation (followed by a comma), the name of the Law Report

Character 1: Notice the italics and comma

For example: Gill v Woodall [2010] EWCA Civ 1430, 3 WLR 85

Character 1: This is Rule 2.1 in the OSCOLA Handbook. Use this in both the footnote and bibliography. Notice that the full stops have been removed from ‘WLR’ for the law report citation.

Top tip: Prior to 2001, cases don’t have neutral citations so use the law report series.

Pinpoints: A pinpoint is where you need to refer to a particular page, paragraph or section of a source. They go in your footnotes.

In case law they look like this

For a page: Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208, 210.

For a paragraph: Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208, [9].

If the basic citation ends with a number you need a comma BEFORE the pinpoint as below

Top tip: If you give the full party names in the text, you don’t need to repeat the party names in the footnote. This will save on your word count

Character 2: What about EU case law?

Character 1: You can refer to sections 2.6 and 2.7 of the OSCOLA handbook. Ideally you should use the European Case Law Identifier (ECIL) which is newer than the current edition of OSCOLA. It’s good practice!

Character 2: Can you give me an example?

Character 1: Sure! The citation functions like a neutral citation. The case number, followed by the case name, followed by the ECLI, and finally the citation of the official source.

For example: Case C-176/03 Commission v Council EU:C:2005:542, [2005] ECR I-7879

Character 1:  Let’s take a closer look at the ECLI! ‘EU’ indicates that it is a decision delivered by one of the courts of the EU. ‘C’ indicates that the decision was delivered by the Court of Justice. ‘2005’ is the year the decision as made. ‘542’ indicates that it is the 542 nd ECLI assigned in respect of the year in question.

2.  How to cite statutes

Character 2: So how do statutes work?

Character 1: They’re pretty simple!

Character 2: Phew!

Character 1: Cite the short act title like this in both the footnote and bibliography. For example, Bacon Industry Act 1938. Pinpoint the section by adding the section after a comma, and ending with a full stop. For example, Bacon Industry Act 1938, s53.

Character 2: That IS pretty simple!

Character 1: Let’s move on then!

3.  How to cite international and foreign legal materials

Character 2: Hmm…what’s the difference between international and foreign?

Character 1: ‘International’ means between nations, ‘foreign’ means belonging to one nation

Character 2: Right…I think I understand

Character 1: Well let’s see shall we, see if you can answer this question

Top tip: to cite international legal materials, refer to the 2006 edition of the OSCOLA handbook. These are not covered in the 2012 edition!

Foreign Legal Materials: When citing foreign materials, cite primary sources as in their home jurisdiction.

Top tip: Drop the full stops in any abbreviations when citing foreign materials. See the section 4.3 appendix of the OSCOLA Handbook for guides on other jurisdictions.

You have completed part 2!

Part 3 Secondary Sources

Character 1: We’ve looked at avoiding plagiarism, the general principles of OSCOLA and how to cite primary sources and legislation.

Now let’s look at secondary sources.

Character 2: So that’s books, journal articles, websites etc?

Character 1: Yes!

Specifically, we will learn...

• How to cite books, book chapters and e-books
• How to cite journal articles
• How to cite websites and blogs
• How to cite a source as cited in a secondary source

Character 1: Let’s begin

1. How to cite books, book chapters and e-books

Character 1: To correctly cite books remember these three things...

• Cite the author’s name exactly as it appears in the text
• Italicise the title of the book
• Abbreviate ‘edition’ to ‘edn’

Character 1: Let’s look at some examples...

In a footnote

Timothy Endicott, Administrative Law (3 rd edn, OUP 2015).      

Footnote with a page number (pinpoint)

Timothy Endicott, Administrative Law (3 rd edn, OUP 2015) 317.

In a bibliography

Endicott T, Administrative Law (3 rd edn, OUP 2015)

Character 1: All of the book titles are italicised; ‘edition’ is abbreviated to ‘edn’. The author’s name is at it appears in the text, however... remember that the author’s surname goes first in the bibliography followed by any initials.

Character 2: Please help me, how do I cite a chapter if it’s been written by a different author to the book?

Character 1: Don’t worry, it’s not difficult. Let’s take a look.

Example: John Cartwright, ‘The Fiction of the “Reasonable Man”’ in AG Castermans and others (eds), Ex Libris Hans Nieuwenhuis (Kluwer 2009).

Character 1: This is the format you should use in the footnote. The author of the chapter and the chapter name followed by the author(s) of the book and the book name, and then the publisher and year of publication.

For the bibliography, remember the rule – surname followed by initial.

Cartwright J, ‘The Fiction of the “Reasonable Man”’ in AG Castermans and others (eds), Ex Libris Hans Nieuwenhuis (Kluwer 2009).

Which of these is the correct citation for pinpointing page 99 of Michael J. Allen’s Criminal Law book?

Michael J. Allen, Criminal Law (14 th edn, OUP 2017) 99

Michael J. Allen, Criminal Law (14 th edn, OUP 2017) page 99

Michael J. Allen, Criminal Law (14 th edn, OUP 2017) 99.

The correct answer is Michael J. Allen,  Criminal Law  (14 th  edn, OUP 2017) 99.

Character 1: I hope you’re happier now.

Character 2: Yes. Thanks!

Character 2: Although I will mostly be reading e-books. How do I cite these?

Character 1: If the pagination is the same as the print edition, then it’s simple, cite it as a print book!

If the e-book has no page numbers, follow the normal book (or edited book) citation form, including the e-book type/edition before the publisher.

For ‘pinpoints’ where there are no page numbers, provide chapter / section number / section name and subsection or paragraph number if provided.

Top tip: The OSCOLA rules for e-books are 3.1.4 and 3.2.

2. How to cite journal articles

Character 1: Let’s look at how to cite journal articles.

To cute a journal article, the rules around the author’s name are the same, put the journal title in single quotation marks and remember to abbreviate the journal publication title.

Official abbreviation for journals and law reports can be found using the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations: legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk

Remember OSCOLA removes any full stops and punctuation.

Journal name – Entertainment Law Review

Official abbreviation – Ent. L.R.

For OSCOLA this becomes Ent LR

Let’s look at some journal article citations:

In footnote

Luxmi Rajanayagam, ‘Ukulele Bands Battle over IP Rights’ (2015) 26 Ent LR 299.

In footnote with pinpoint

Luxmi Rajanayagam, ‘Ukulele Bands Battle over IP Rights’ (2015) 26 Ent LR 299, 300.

In bibliography

Rajanayagam L, ‘Ukulele Bands Battle over IP Rights’ (2015) 26 Ent LR 299

Choose the correct statements and bibliographic citation from the following options.:

Option 1) OSCOLA journal citations use the author’s full name in a footnote.

Option 2) OSCOLA journal citations use the author’s initials in a footnote.

Option 1 is correct.

Option 3) In OSCOLA citations, a journal article is surrounded by single quotation marks.

Option 4) In OSCOLA citations, a journal article is surrounded by double quotation marks.

Option 3 is correct.

Option 5) Official abbreviations for journals can be found in the Oxford Index to Legal Abbreviations.

Option 6) Official abbreviations for journals can be found in the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.

Option 6 is correct

Option 7) Rajanayagam L, ‘Ukulele Bands Battle over IP Rights’ (2015) 26 Ent. L.R. 299.

Option 8) Rajanayagam L, ‘Ukulele Bands Battle over IP Rights’ (2015) 26 Ent LR 299

Option 8 is correct (it has removed the punctuation from the abbreviation, and ends in a full stop.)

3. How to cite websites and blogs

Character 1: Let’s look at how to cite websites and blogs.

Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) < www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html >  accessed 19 November 2009.

Cole S, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) < www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html >  accessed 19 November 2009

Character 1: Don’t forget to include the date accessed. Websites and blogs can be updated and changed at any time, so the date you read it is really important.

The OSCOLA rule for websites and blogs is 3.4.8.

You don’t need to include http:// or https:// when citing websites and blogs.

4. How to cite a source as cited in a secondary source

Character 2: One last thing! What if I want to cite something that I’ve only read in someone else’s book?

Character 1: If you haven’t read the original, this would be called a Secondary reference, here’s how to do it...

WL Clay, The Prison Chaplain: A Memoir of the Reverend John Clay (London 1861) 554 (as cited in M Wiener, Reconstructing the Criminal Culture, Law and Policy in England 1830-1914 (CUP 1990) 79).  

Character 2: Hmm... so the full citation for the original book is provided in brackets, prefixed with ‘as cited in’.

Character 1: That’s right. Note the page number of both the secondary and the original source are included.

Character 1: Details of how to cite secondary references can be found on the FAQ page of the OSCOLA website.

Congratulations you have completed Part 3 and this tutorial! The end.

• Next: OSCOLA Handbook >>
• Last Updated: Mar 14, 2024 3:31 PM
• URL: https://libguides.city.ac.uk/citingandreferencinglaw

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Oscola format and citation guide, bob cardens.

• February 27, 2024
• How to Guides

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is a comprehensive resource designed to assist you in correctly citing and referencing your academic papers using the OSCOLA style. Whether you are a student, researcher, or legal professional, understanding and adhering to proper citation and referencing practices is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and ensuring that credit is appropriately attributed to the original sources.

This guide covers the general principles of OSCOLA formatting , including the correct citation of cases, statutes, statutory instruments, EU legislation, European Court of Human Rights judgments, and secondary sources such as books, journal articles, and websites. By following the guidelines outlined in this guide, you can confidently cite your sources and create a well-structured paper that meets the requirements of the OSCOLA style.

Using the correct citation and referencing style not only showcases your attention to detail and commitment to academic excellence but also helps readers locate and verify the sources you have used in your research, promoting transparency and trustworthiness in scholarly communication.

Referencing your sources accurately is a crucial aspect of academic writing , and the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is here to make it easier for you. By employing the principles and guidelines provided in this guide, you can ensure that your citations are consistent, properly formatted, and in alignment with the OSCOLA style.

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What You'll Learn

OSCOLA Title Page

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides comprehensive guidelines for creating a title page that adheres to the OSCOLA style. A correctly formatted title page is crucial for presenting academic work in the legal field. It conveys essential information about the document and ensures proper identification and attribution.

When creating an OSCOLA title page , it is important to include the following information:

• Title of the work: Begin the title page with a clear and concise title that accurately reflects the content of the document.
• Author’s name: Include the full name of the author(s) of the document.
• Date of publication: Provide the date of publication or the date the document was last updated.
• Institutional affiliation: If applicable, include the name of the institution or organization with which the author is affiliated.

Proper formatting is also essential for an OSCOLA title page . Ensure that the title is centered, and use a slightly larger font size to make it stand out. The author’s name should be positioned below the title, and other relevant information, such as the date of publication and institutional affiliation, should be placed at the bottom of the page. The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides specific instructions for the placement and formatting of each element on the title page.

Creating a well-designed and properly formatted title page in accordance with OSCOLA guidelines enhances the professionalism and credibility of your academic work. It sets the foundation for your document and ensures that readers can accurately identify and reference your work.

Headings and Subheadings in OSCOLA

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides clear guidelines for effective use of headings and subheadings in OSCOLA -formatted documents. These formatting elements play a crucial role in organizing and presenting information in a structured manner.

When using headings and subheadings in an OSCOLA-formatted document, it is important to follow the provided guidelines for consistency and clarity. Here are some key points to consider:

• Use of Levels: OSCOLA allows for up to three levels of headings – main headings (level 1), subheadings (level 2), and sub-subheadings (level 3). These levels help create a hierarchical structure that enhances readability and comprehension.
• Capitalization: Headings and subheadings in OSCOLA should be capitalized using sentence case. This means that the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized, while all other words should be in lowercase, unless there are specific rules applicable to a particular title or abbreviation.
• Punctuation: OSCOLA recommends using minimal punctuation in headings and subheadings. Avoid using full stops, commas, or other punctuation marks at the end of headings or subheadings, unless required by the specific title or abbreviation.
• Numbering: OSCOLA does not generally require the use of numbering for headings and subheadings, as the hierarchical levels already provide sufficient clarity in the document’s structure. However, numbering may be used in exceptional cases, such as when referencing specific sections within a document.

Incorporating headings and subheadings in an OSCOLA-formatted document helps readers navigate through the content, understand the organization of ideas, and locate specific information easily. Additionally, it enhances the document’s visual appeal and overall readability.

“Well-structured headings and subheadings not only improve the overall readability of an OSCOLA-formatted document but also help readers quickly grasp the main points and navigate through the content effectively.”

For a better understanding of how headings and subheadings are utilized in OSCOLA formatting, refer to the following example:

By using headings and subheadings effectively, writers can enhance the overall organization and readability of their OSCOLA-formatted documents, enabling readers to navigate and understand the content in a logical and structured manner. Remember to consult the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide for specific guidelines and regulations when incorporating headings and subheadings in your legal writing.

OSCOLA Works Cited List

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides clear instructions for creating a comprehensive Works Cited list in OSCOLA style. This list includes all the sources that have been cited throughout the document, ensuring accurate attribution and easy access to the referenced materials. The Works Cited list encompasses various types of sources, ranging from cases and statutes to secondary sources and online resources.

To compile an effective Works Cited list in OSCOLA style, writers must adhere to specific formatting rules. These rules ensure consistency and facilitate the identification and retrieval of sources.

Here are some key guidelines for formatting the Works Cited list in OSCOLA:

• Start the Works Cited list on a new page, following the main body of the document.
• Alphabetize the list by the author’s surname or the title of the work.
• Apply italics for book and article titles, and use double quotation marks for shorter works such as journal articles or essays.
• Provide complete bibliographic information for each source, including the author’s name, title, publication date, and relevant page numbers.
• Include pinpoint references for cases and other legal materials to direct readers to specific sections or paragraphs.

By following these formatting guidelines, writers can create a clear and organized Works Cited list in OSCOLA style that meets the requirements of academic integrity and scholarly citation.

By adhering to these guidelines, writers can create a Works Cited list that showcases their meticulous research and accurately credits the sources they have utilized.

Works Cited in OSCOLA

In OSCOLA style, it is essential to properly cite works within the body of the text to give credit to the original sources of information or ideas. The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides guidelines for creating accurate and reliable citations using footnotes or in-text citations.

When citing works in OSCOLA, it is important to follow the specified format for different types of sources such as cases, statutes, secondary sources, and online resources. By adhering to the prescribed style, you can ensure consistency and avoid any confusion regarding the sources referenced in your writing.

The OSCOLA guide also includes instructions on the use of abbreviations, pinpoint references, and cross-references. These elements contribute to enhancing the clarity and precision of your citations. Additionally, the guide provides advice on when and how to incorporate Latin “gadgets” into your citations to further refine and elevate your writing.

“Accurate and meticulous citation of works is a fundamental aspect of academic writing. The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide offers comprehensive guidelines to help writers uphold academic integrity and ensure their research is properly attributed.”

When citing works in OSCOLA, it is crucial to accurately format and present the bibliographic information. Following the guidelines provided in the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide will help you create a Works Cited list that is clear, concise, and consistent.

By referencing works accurately and consistently using the OSCOLA style, you can demonstrate your commitment to scholarly integrity and contribute to the overall credibility and reliability of your research.

OSCOLA Format for Specific Sources

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides specific guidelines for citing different types of sources commonly used in legal writing. It offers instructions on how to cite books, articles from journals and online databases, websites, dissertations/theses, lectures, and government documents in OSCOLA format. The guide includes examples and explanations for each type of source to assist writers in properly formatting their citations.

When citing books in OSCOLA format, the guide advises including the author’s name, title of the book (in italics), edition (if applicable), page numbers, and publication details.

Example: Sylvester et al, Law of Property (10th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2022) 345-346

For articles from journals and online databases, the guide suggests including the author’s name, title of the article (in single quotation marks), volume and issue number (if applicable), page numbers, and the name of the journal or database.

Example: Mary Jones, ‘Environmental Law and Policy’ (2022) 35(2) Georgetown Law Journal 123

When citing websites, the guide recommends including the author’s name (if available), title of the webpage (in single quotation marks), any organization or website name, the URL, and the date of access.

Example: Legal Aid Society of New York, ‘Know Your Rights: Tenant’s Rights in New York’ https://www.legalaidnyc.org/ (accessed 1 July 2022)

For dissertations/theses, the guide suggests including the author’s name, title of the dissertation/thesis (in single quotation marks), degree and university, and the year of submission.

Example: John Smith, ‘The Impact of Intellectual Property Laws on Innovation’ (PhD thesis, University of Cambridge 2021)

When citing lectures, the guide advises including the lecturer’s name, title of the lecture (in single quotation marks), the institution or conference where the lecture was delivered, and the date of the lecture.

Example: Professor Emily Brown, ‘Introduction to Constitutional Law’ (lecture delivered at Yale Law School, 15 November 2021)

For government documents, the guide suggests including the country or jurisdiction, the title of the document (in italics or single quotation marks), any relevant department or agency, the command paper number (if applicable), and the year of publication.

Example: United States Constitution

By following the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide’s guidelines for specific sources, writers can ensure accurate and consistent citations in their legal writings. These guidelines facilitate the proper attribution of sources and contribute to the overall quality and integrity of academic and professional legal work.

OSCOLA In-Text Citations

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides clear guidelines for in-text citations in OSCOLA style. In-text citations are used to attribute information or ideas that are not common knowledge or original contributions. They play a crucial role in academic writing to acknowledge the sources referenced and maintain intellectual integrity.

In OSCOLA style, there are two main methods for in-text citations: footnotes and in-text referencing. Footnotes are widely used in legal writing and are indicated with superscript numbers that correspond to the full citation in the footnote section of the document. In-text referencing, on the other hand, involves providing brief references within the body of the text.

Short form citations are commonly used in OSCOLA for subsequent references to the same source. Instead of repeating the full citation, a short form citation refers back to the original source, usually with the author’s last name and a pinpoint reference indicating the specific page or paragraph.

It is important to ensure clarity in in-text citations, especially when citing multiple sources in a single footnote or in-text reference. Clear and concise citations help readers understand the flow of ideas and the sources from which they are derived.

Here’s an example of an in-text citation using OSCOLA style:

“According to Smith, the principle of legality is an important concept in English law.” 1

And the corresponding footnote citation:

1 Smith, John. The Principle of Legality in English Law. Oxford University Press, 2019, p. 45.

By following the OSCOLA guidelines for in-text citations, writers can effectively support their arguments, provide evidence for their claims, and give credit to the original authors and researchers.

To learn more visit Referencing styles-a Practical Guide

References:

• Smith, John. The Principle of Legality in English Law. Oxford University Press, 2019.

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, and legal professionals who seek accuracy and precision in citing and referencing sources for their academic or professional work. With its comprehensive guidelines, this guide ensures consistency, adherence to academic standards, and the upholding of academic integrity.

By following the OSCOLA style, writers can effectively communicate their research findings and arguments in a clear and organized manner. The guide’s emphasis on proper formatting and citing of various legal sources, such as cases, statutes, secondary sources, and online resources, helps writers demonstrate their commitment to accuracy and credibility.

Mastering the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is essential for achieving excellence in legal writing and scholarly pursuits. It equips writers with the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the intricacies of legal citations, ensuring that their work is both well-researched and properly attributed. By adhering to the OSCOLA style, writers can confidently present their work in a manner that is consistent with established legal conventions and expectations.

Whether you are a student, researcher, or legal professional, the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is your go-to resource for accurate and effective citation and referencing. By utilizing this guide, you can enhance the quality and credibility of your academic or professional work while honing your skills in legal writing and research.

What is the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide?

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is a comprehensive resource for academic writing, citing, and referencing in the legal field. It provides guidelines for proper formatting and citation of primary and secondary sources in legal writing using the OSCOLA style.

Why is correct citing and referencing important in OSCOLA?

Correct citing and referencing is important in OSCOLA to uphold academic integrity and ensure accurate attribution of sources. It allows readers to easily locate and verify the sources used in the writing, and it demonstrates the writer’s commitment to scholarly standards.

What are the general principles of OSCOLA formatting?

The general principles of OSCOLA formatting include rules for citing cases, statutes, statutory instruments, EU legislation, European Court of Human Rights judgments, and secondary sources such as books, journal articles, and websites. It covers guidelines for formatting titles, headings, and subheadings, as well as in-text citations.

How should a title page be formatted in OSCOLA?

A title page in OSCOLA should include the title of the work, the author’s name, the date of publication, and any relevant institutional affiliation. Specific instructions for formatting the title page, such as the placement of the title and the author’s name, can be found in the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide.

What are the guidelines for using headings and subheadings in OSCOLA?

The OSCOLA guide provides guidelines for formatting and structuring headings and subheadings, including the use of different levels of headings to create a hierarchy of information. It also offers advice on capitalization, punctuation, and numbering of headings and subheadings for clarity and consistency.

How can I create a Works Cited list in OSCOLA?

To create a Works Cited list in OSCOLA, you need to compile a list of all the sources cited in your document, including cases, statutes, secondary sources, and online resources. The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide provides specific formatting rules for each type of source, such as italicizing book titles and providing complete bibliographic information.

How do I cite works within the body of the text in OSCOLA?

The OSCOLA guide explains the use of footnotes or in-text citations to indicate the source of information or ideas. It specifies the format for citing cases, statutes, secondary sources, and online resources, including the use of abbreviations, pinpoint references, and cross-references. Latin ‘gadgets’ can also be used in citations for clarity and precision.

How should I cite specific types of sources in OSCOLA?

The OSCOLA guide provides specific guidelines for citing different types of sources commonly used in legal writing, such as books, articles from journals and online databases, websites, dissertations/theses, lectures, and government documents. It includes examples and explanations for each type of source to assist with proper formatting.

Why is mastering the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide important?

Mastering the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide is crucial for achieving excellence in legal writing and scholarly pursuits. By following the OSCOLA style, writers can demonstrate their commitment to academic integrity and effectively communicate their research and arguments in a clear and organized manner.

Where can I find the OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide?

The OSCOLA Format and Citation Guide can be found online or in legal research libraries. It is a valuable resource for students, researchers, and legal professionals who need to accurately cite and reference sources in their academic or professional work.

Source Links

• https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/referencing-style-guides/oscola
• https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012quickreferenceguide.pdf
• https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012.pdf

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OSCOLA referencing

• Introduction to referencing
• Printing USW OSCOLA Guide and Full OSCOLA guide
• OSCOLA referencing - the basics

Including sources in your work

Direct quotations, what is secondary referencing.

• UK case law
• UK legislation
• European case law
• EU Legislation
• Official publications
• Books and eBooks
• Journals and newspapers
• Websites and Blogs
• Other jurisdictions
• International
• Tables of Cases and Legislation and Bibliography
• Common mistakes
• Example assignment

There are several ways of including sources in your work . You can summarise , paraphrase or directly quote the information. Whichever you use, you let your reader know by setting out the referencing details in a subtly different way as below.

• Summarising is briefly stating in your own words the main points of a longer text, often to give an overview of a topic. At the end of your sentence put a footnote marker and include details of the original source in the footnotes and in your Tables or Bibliography
• Paraphrasing is re-writing the statements of others in your own words often to clarify a point, rather than quoting their words exactly. At the end of your sentence put a footnote marker an  include details of the original source in the footnotes and in your Tables or Bibliography.
• Direct quotation is copying a short or long section of text, word for word, directly from a source into your work
• Direct quotes (Short)
• Direct quotes (Long)

Incorporate quotations of up to three lines into the text, within single quotation marks. Quotations within short quotations take double quotation marks:

Present quotations longer than three lines in an indented paragraph. Leave a line space either side of the indented paragraph. You do not need to use quotation marks.

 A secondary reference is when you read a text in which the author refers to the work of another and you wish to refer to that work in your assignment. This practice is  discouraged  as you should always attempt to find the original source which you can analyse and evaluate on its own terms.  If it is not possible to find the original source, reference the source that you have not personally read first by adding a "Quoted in" at the beginning; then in brackets put ‘as cited in’ and cite the secondary source that you have read including the page number.

• << Previous: OSCOLA referencing - the basics
• Next: UK case law >>
• Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 1:59 PM
• URL: https://libguides.southwales.ac.uk/OSCOLA

Referencing and citations - OSCOLA: Cross referencing

• Legislation
• Other sources
• Cross referencing
• Referencing software
• Help and support

Cross-referencing Contents

In a nutshell.

You will only have to give the full/long citation of a source once in your work.

Providing you have given all the details in a footnote the first time you reference, you can, in subsequent footnotes, briefly refer to the source, and then provide a cross-citation in brackets to the footnote in which the full citation can be found.

If the subsequent citation is in the footnote immediately following the full citation, you can generally use ‘ibid’ instead.

Aside from 'ibid', avoid the use of ‘Latin gadgets’ such as supra , infra , ante, id, op cit , loc cit, and contra , which are not widely understood.

Avoid sending the reader off to another part of the text when a short point could as easily be restated. Never make a cross-reference that will be difficult for the reader to find, such as ‘See above’.

Cross-referencing the immediately preceding footnote

Regardless of material type, if a footnote refers to the same source as the IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING footnote, you can indicate this with 'ibid', including a new pinpoint if necessary. You can continue doing this for several footnotes as long as the source doesn't change, eg

22 Robert Stevens, Torts and Rights (OUP 2007).

23 ibid 217-78.

24 ibid 290.

Cross-referencing a case

Give the full citation as per advice for cases the first time you reference it. If you mention the full name of the case in the body of your work you do not need to repeat it in the footnote. If the next citation is to the same case, simply put 'ibid' with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, use the short name of the case (usually the first party, or the respondent in criminal cases, or the ship name in some maritime cases) then give the cross reference to the original footnote, eg

1 Austin v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2009] UKHL5, [2009] AC 564.

7 Austin (n 1).

Cross-referencing legislation

Give the full citation as per advice for legislation the first time you reference it, and indicate the 'short form' in brackets at the end - eg FSMA, e-commerce directive. The title and short form do not need to be repeated if specified in the body of your essay. If the next citation is to the same piece of legislation, simply put 'ibid' with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, you can now just use the short form of the legislation without cross referencing, eg

32 Council Directive (EC) 93/104 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time [1993] OJ L307/18 (Working Time Directive).

40 Working Time Directive, art 2.

Cross-referencing secondary sources

Give the full citation the first time you reference it. If the next citation is to the same source, simply put ibid, with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, put the author's surname followed by a cross reference to the original footnote, eg

1 Robert Stevens, Torts and Rights (OUP 2007).

26 Stevens (n 1) 110.

27 ibid 271–78.

• << Previous: Other sources
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• Last Updated: Feb 7, 2024 11:13 AM
• URL: https://libguides.ials.sas.ac.uk/referencing

Legal Research and Writing: OSCOLA

• Other Legal Citation Styles
• Research Guides
• Dissertations Databases
• Academic Honesty
• Libraries' Support
• Set-up Alerts

The Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA), created by the Oxford University, is a footnote referencing style mainly used to cite British legal information and publications. This style is often used to cite references when studying law in HKU. 

This page includes some general principles and examples of citing commonly used legal materials with OSCOLA. For full details, visit OSCOLA Style Manual on the left. 

More Details on OSCOLA

Visit OSCOLA official website to understand more about this citation style and its details:

• Quick Reference Guide
• Complete Guide 
• OSCOLA FAQs  

Using OSCOLA in EndNote  

• Cite with EndNote

EndNote, a reference manager, helps you to generate references automatically in your selected citation style. The reference manager supports the Cite While You Write feature that works with Microsoft Word, enabling you to cite references while writing your paper at the same time. Visit the HKU Libraries' LibGuide on EndNote to get more how to tips of using it!  

OSCOLA is not a default output style when installing EndNote to your computer. You may click on Help at the top bar menu and select EndNote Output Styles .

You will be directed to the official EndNote Output Styles webpage , where you can search for OSCOLA and have it downloaded to your EndNote software. Check out the Cite with EndNote   tab under How to cite in OSCOLA style? on the right for more details.

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Some Basic Understandings of OSCOLA

• General Principles
• Additional Information

(A) Footnote

OSCOLA is a footnote referencing style, in which all citations are presented at the bottom of the paper. In-text citation is not applicable when using this style.

Full stop will be used in the footnote for closing of a citation. If more than one citation is listed in the same footnote, you may use semicolon (;) in between the citations for separation. When citing a specific chapter or paragraph, indicate the number at the end of citation.

(B) Use of Abbreviations

When addressing the courts, law reports and journal titles within the citations, abbreviations will be used. For instances, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal – HKCFA; England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) – EWCA Civ; Weekly Law Reports – WLR; Butterworths Company Law Cases – BCLC…etc.

To look for abbreviated titles, you may make use of the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations , which is available online and convenient to use. Also, the Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations ( R K112 R15 ) available from the Law Library’s Reference Collection (2/F) is also an alternative tool.

(C) Bibliographies

Bibliography generally refer to listing of secondary sources, which will be displayed at the end of the paper (i.e. after the main texts and appendices). Please be reminded that author’s surname will be stated before his or her initial, and only initials will be used but not forenames.

Other than bibliography of secondary sources, table of cases and table of legislation would be presented individually. You may take references from other university libraries on Bibliographies, Table of Cases and Table of Legislations:

• LibGuide on OSCOLA - Bibliography ( Swansea University) 
• OSCOLA - Bibliography (University of the West of England)

Not only can EndNote help to generate references, bibliography will also be produced automatically  at the end of paper with the Cite While You Write feature. Visit H KU Libraries' LibGuide on EndNote for more details!

*For full details, please refer to OSCOLA Style Manual listed on the left.

(A) Pinpointing

When referring to specific parts, chapters, paragraphs and pages, pinpoints are to be added at the end of the citation at the footnote. You may use ‘pt’ for part, ‘ch’ for chapter, ‘para’ for paragraph. Full stop is not applicable. When addressing the pages, simply indicate the page number in roman, in which ‘p’ or ‘pp’ is not required.

(B) Punctuations

Full stop are generally not to be included in OSCOLA, except the closing of each citation in the footnote. Commas will be inserted to separate information, like authors and titles, to avoid confusion. En dash will be used to indicate ranges, such as range of numbers.

Using square brackets for indication of year reflect that the year is used to search for the publications (e.g. law reports and journal articles), while round brackets are applied when the year is not regarded as the sole source for looking for that material, in which volume number shall be stated and taken into consideration for searching of the item.  

(C) Subsequent citations

When a subsequent, or repeated, citation is used, cite only author’s surname with a cross-citation (indicated as (n n )) to the footnote. Pinpoint would follow the cross-citation.

If a citation is repeated immediately in the next footnote, you may use ‘ibid’ (meaning “in the same place” in Latin) to present. Pinpoint the corresponding section to be mentioned after ‘ibid’

How to cite in OSCOLA style?

• Statutory Instruments
• Book Chapters
• Journal Articles
• Loose-leaf Publications
• Encyclopaedia
• Electronic Materials

In general, citations of cases can generally divide into three main types as listed follows:

Cases with neutral citations

Case name | [year] | court | number| , | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page

• Fearn v Tate Gallery Board of Trustees [2020] EWCA Civ 104, [2020] 2 WLR 1081, [2020] Ch 621
• China Trends Holdings Ltd v Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd [2021] HKCA 980, [2021] 3 HKLRD 554
• Peconic Industrial Development Ltd v Lau Kwok Fai & Others (2009) 12 HKCFAR 139

Cases without neutral citations

Case name | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page | (court)

• A.G. Securities v Vaughan [1990] 1 AC 417 (HL)
• In Re Allied Group Limited and Others [1994] 1 HKLR 299 (HC)

Unreported Cases

Citation for unreported cases are similar to presentation above. In general, provide the neutral citation if it is available. If not, you may give the court in abbreviated form with the date of judgment in brackets after the name of case. The term “unreported” is not require to be specified.

• Stubbs v Sayer (CA, 8 November 1990)
• A Solicitor v The Law Society of Hong Kong (CA, 12 June 1996)

If pinpointing a particular section of the case, provide the paragraph number in square brackets if there is any, or give the page number at the end of the citation.

• Competition Commission v Quantr Ltd and Another [2020] HKCT 10 [5], [10]-[12]
• Mills v Silver [1991] CH 271 (CA) 276-79

Cite the Act using its short title and year in roman, in which comma is not needed before the year.

• Example: Digital Economy Act 2017

When pinpointing a particular section, add the information after the year with a comma to separate. Use ‘s’ to indicate section.

• Example: Civil Liability Act 2018, s 6(2)(c)

Statutory instruments (e.g. orders, regulations or rules) are numbered throughout the year. Citation is followed by the name of instrument and year in roman, with the instrument number after a comma.

• Example: United Nations Sanctions (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Regulation 2019 (Amendment) Regulation 2021, L.N. 2021/229

Citing an authored b ook, you may follow the following format:

Author , | title | (additional information, | edition, | publisher | year)

• Johannes Chan and C L Lim, Law of the Hong Kong Constitution (3rd edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2021)
• Peter Watts and F M B Reynolds, Bowstead & Reynolds on Agency (1st supp, 12 th edn, Thomson Reuters 2016)

*Additional information should be of clarifying purpose, e.g. supplement 1 to the main volume or descriptive information about the publication.

If the book is an edited or translated book, other than follow the above format as citing an authored book, please indicate the editor(s) as ‘(ed)’ or ‘(eds)’, or translator(s) as ‘(tr)’ or ‘(trs)’.

• Example : Zhou Lin (ed), China Court Cases on Intellectual Property Rights (Kluwer Law International 2011)

If there are more than three authors , mention the first author and state all other authors using ‘and others’. If there are more than one volume , state the volume number after the publication title. Pinpoint paragraph or page if necessary.

• Example : John Choong and others, Hong Kong Civil Procedure 2020 , vol 2 (2020 edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2019)

If pinpointing a particular paragraph, chapter or page, include the corresponding indication and number.

• Swati Jhaveri, Michael Ramsden and Anne Scully-Hill, Hong Kong Administrative Law (LexisNexis 2010) 199-222
• W S Clarke, Hong Kong Civil Court Practice (desk edn, LexisNexis 2014) para 15.13.3-15.13.5

When referring to a specific chapter in a book, you may indicate either by adding the chapter after the book citation, or use the following format:

Author , | ‘title’ | in editor (ed/ eds), | book title | (additional information, | publisher | year)

• Example : Antonio Da Roza, 'Jurisdiction and Procedure' in Simon N.M. Young and Yashi Ghai (eds), Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China's Hong Kong (CUP 2014)

The citation format of articles are similar to that of citing cases.

Author , | ‘title’ | [year] | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article

Author , | ‘title’ | ( year ) | volume | journal name or abbreviation | first page of article

• Example: AHY Chen, 'The Hong Kong Basic Law and the Limits of Democratication Under "One Country Two Systems"' (2017) 50 The International Lawyer 69

Pinpointing a particular page of the journal article works similarly as pinpointing a case but with a comma to separate the information.

• Example: P G Turner and Lusina Ho, ‘Misapplication of Company Assets: a Moving Target’ [2020] LMCLQ 354, 357

Simply stating the title in italics would be good enough for loose-leaf publications. Although publications details are generally not required to be pinpointed, you may provide the volume number (if appropriate), pinpoint the concerned paragraphs, and include the release number and/or date of issue in brackets.

• Example : Hong Kong Conveyancing: Law and Practice , vol 1, ch II, para 151-200 (issue 95)

For citing encyclopaedia like Halsbury’s of Law, state title in italics and include the edition and year of issue/ reissue, with volume number and paragraphs used. The name of author/ editor is not required.

• Example : Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong (2nd edn, 2021) vol 5, para 42

If the encyclopaedia acknowledged an author for a section, similar to citing a book chapter, state both author and the section title at the beginning of citation. Followed by title of book in italics and publication information. If the source is in electronic format, please be reminded to provide the web link in angled brackets and date of access.

• Example : Lana Ofak, ‘Administrative Disputes in Civil Law Jurisdiction’, Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (OSO edn, OUP 2017) <https://oxcon-ouplaw-com.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/view/10.1093/law-mpeccol/law-mpeccol-e194?rskey=jD9NMY&result=2&prd=MPECCOL#> accessed 17 December 2021

Citations of electronic materials basically follow that of print version. If publication is also available in hard copies, citing of the hard copy is preferred. If publication is available in electronic version only, indicate the web address in angled brackets (< >), followed by the most recent access date. ‘http://’ should be included only if the web address does not begin with ‘www’. If it does begin with ‘www’, ‘http://’ is not needed to include.

• Journal Articles : JM Huels, ‘Independent General Administrative Norms in Documents of the Roman Curia’ (2016) 76 The Jurist 85 <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/638749> accessed 18 December 2021
• Newspapers : Zoe Low, ‘Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog makes first arrest under new anti-doxxing law’ South China Morning Post (Hong Kong, 13 December 2021) < https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3159555/hong-kongs-privacy-watchdog-makes-first-arrest-under> accessed 3 January 2022
• Websites : Andy Yee, ‘The Coming Battle Over Bitcoin Governance’ ( Oxford Business Law Blog , 21 December 2021) < www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2021/12/coming-battle-over-bitcoin-governance> accessed 3 January 2022

You may go through the above video regarding these contents:

• 02:29 – learn how to install citation styles that are not available in EndNote prescribed setting, with the example of OSCOLA.
• 04:11 – learn how to cite with EndNote by applying the Cite While You Write feature.

*Add-on: Changing EndNote Pre-Formatted Settings of Citation Style

There might be times when the pre-formatted settings in EndNote are differ from the standard requirements of a citation style. Still, you may revise the pre-formatted settings to have EndNote generate the correct display of citation in your paper, without doing it manually. Below is an example of altering the display of Author Name:

1. At the top-bar menu, select Output Styles under Tools > Open Style Manager > Edit OSCOLA . A dialog box will then show up with all formats pre-set for the citation style.

2. To edit the display of author names, say in the bibliographical list, you may select Author Name under Bibliography. The default format is Last Name and followed by the First Name (i.e. Smith Jane). If you would like to alter to the required format (i.e. First Name and followed by Last Name), simply click on the expand button on the right and select the required display option (i.e. Jane Smith).

3. After your amendment, remember to click Save to secure the changes.

• << Previous: Legal Citation Styles
• Next: Other Legal Citation Styles >>
• Last Updated: Jan 9, 2024 3:16 PM
• URL: https://libguides.lib.hku.hk/c.php?g=950441

Q. How do I reference a House of Commons Briefing paper (OSCOLA)?

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Answered By: Claire Mazer Last Updated: 16 Oct, 2023     Views: 6711

See the example used here:  Shale gas and fracking (parliament.uk)

Use the pattern described at OSCOLA s.3.4 Other Secondary Sources: author, | ‘title’ | (additional information, | publisher | year) also adding: <URL link> accessed date month year.

The author and title are immediately clear from the document. In the centre of the citation you have (additional information, | publisher | year) so use the following information: (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020). The link to the paper should be non-live, i.e. just text as follows in this example: < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  >. The date of access is when you accessed the briefing paper, and uses a specific date format, for example: 16 October 2023. Avoid using th after 16 (as in 16 th  ). The month should be provided in full (October), not Oct or 16/10/23. The year should also be provided in full (2023).

Footnote:  Sara Priestley, 'Shale gas and fracking'  (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020)  < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  > accessed  16 October 2023.

Remember in your bibliography Sara Priestley’s (the author) name will appear as Priestley S, … rest of citation…

Bibliography:  Priestley S,  'Shale gas and fracking'  (Briefing Paper No CBP 6073, House of Commons Library 31 March 2020)  < https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06073/SN06073.pdf  > accessed  16 October 2023.

For further help, please contact Claire Mazer (Law librarian) [email protected] or the Academic Services team [email protected]

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Related Topics

• Referencing and Citing

OSCOLA referencing guide

• Elements of OSCOLA referencing
• General principles
• Order of author’s name
• Source abbreviations
• Page numbers and other pinpoints
• Secondary references
• Footnotes referencing style

Bibliography

• Encyclopaedias

Government publications

• Conference papers (published)
• Journal articles
• Newspaper articles
• UK Statutes (Acts)
• European cases
• European legislation
• Repeating citations – short forms and ibid
• Need help with referencing?

Government publications fall into different categories including Command Papers, Law Commission Reports and Hansard. These sources should be included in your footnotes and your structured bibliography.

Command papers

In terms of the author, this could be a government department or role.

Author,  Title  (Command Paper number, year) pinpoints as required

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, The Rough Sleeping Strategy (Cm 9685, 2018) ch 4.

Be careful to note the abbreviation for a Command Paper as shown on its title page. There have been six series of Command Papers and each series has its own unique abbreviation.

This is the same as the footnote but without the full stop at the end.

Law Commission reports

Law Commission,  Report Title   (Law Commission report number, year) paragraph number.

Law Commission,  Simplification of the Immigration Rules   (Law Com No 242, 2019) para 6.1.

Hansard and Parliamentary papers

Hansard references need to indicate if the entry is House of Commons (HC) or House of Lords (HL).  This is followed by 'Deb' for debate, the date, volume, and common number.

If you are referring to a written answer in the House of Commons put a 'W' after the column number. if you are referring to a written answer in the House of Lords put 'WA' before the column number.

Format: 

HC OR HL Deb Date, Vol, Col.

HC Deb 16 June 2020, vol 677, col 705W.

HL Deb 20 March 2018, vol 790, col WA234.

The above format applies to both online and printed versions.

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• Last Updated: Mar 5, 2024 1:30 PM
• URL: https://libguides.northampton.ac.uk/oscolaguide

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Reference List: Textual Sources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Basic Format for Books

Edited book, no author, edited book with an author or authors, a translation.

Note : When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Plato (385-378/1989)

Edition Other Than the First

Article or chapter in an edited book.

Note : When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references, except for newspapers. List any edition number in the same set of parentheses as the page numbers, separated by a comma: (2nd ed., pp. 66-72).

Multivolume Work

Articles in periodicals.

APA style dictates that authors are named with their last name followed by their initials; publication year goes between parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized. If a DOI has been assigned to the article that you are using, you should include this after the page numbers for the article. If no DOI has been assigned and you are accessing the periodical online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical.

Article in Print Journal

Note: APA 7 advises writers to include a DOI (if available), even when using the print source. The example above assumes no DOI is available.

Article in Electronic Journal

Note :  This content also appears on Reference List: Online Media .

As noted above, when citing an article in an electronic journal, include a DOI if one is associated with the article.

DOIs may not always be available. In these cases, use a URL. Many academic journals provide stable URLs that function similarly to DOIs. These are preferable to ordinary URLs copied and pasted from the browser's address bar.

Article in a Magazine

Article in a newspaper.

OSCOLA referencing guide (Online): Official reports

• Paraphrasing
• Repeating Citations
• Secondary Referencing
• Bibliography
• Referencing Tools
• Two or Three Authors
• Four plus Authors
• Chapter in an Edited Book
• Editor or Translator
• Author & Editor or Translator
• Encyclopaedias
• Books of Authority
• Cases with Neutral Citation
• Cases without neutral citation
• Unreported Cases
• Cases before 1865
• Judges' Names
• Scot, NI & International
• Parts of Statutes
• Statutory Instruments
• Journal Articles
• Forthcoming Articles
• Working Papers
• Newspaper Articles
• Hansard & Select Committee reports
• Command Papers
• Law Commission Reports

Official reports

• Official Publications
• Legislation
• ECJ & GC cases
• Decisions of the European Commission
• European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) cases
• Websites & Blogs
• Personal Communications
• Press Release
• Podcasts & Youtube videos
• Insight & LPC

Official Reports are usually published by a government department or an organisation, although sometimes an individual author is named.  If the publication has an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) cite it like a book. The ISBN can usually be found on the title page.

Author,  Title  (edition, Publisher | year) page number.

Example of a report with an ISBN:

Department of Health, Our Healthier Nation: A Contract for Health Cm 3852 (The Stationery Office 1998).

If there is no ISBN, cite it using the format below:

Author, │’title’ │(additional information, │publisher│ year)

Example of a report without an ISBN:

Sundeep Aulakh and others, 'Mapping Advantages and Disadvantages: Diversity in the Legal Profession in England and Wales' (SRA 2017).

University of Oxford, 'Report of Commission of Inquiry'  (OUP 1966) vol 1, ch 3

In a footnote, the authors' first name goes first (as in the example above) followed by the last name, and there is a full stop at the end of the footnote. There may also be a pinpoint.

In a bibliography the authors' last name goes first followed by the initials. There is no full stop at the end and no pinpointing.

To cite an official report which is only available online use the following format:

Author, │’title’ │(Month Year) │<URL> │date last assessed

The UK Insolvency Service, ‘Implementation of UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in Great Britain: Summary of Responses and Government Reply' (March 2006). <www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionandlegalisation/con_doc_register/registerindex.htm >accessed 17 Feb 2012.

There is no difference between the footnote reference and the bibliography except that the footnote has a full stop at the end of the citation.

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