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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):

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

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:

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2022, May 05). A Quick Guide to OSCOLA Referencing | Rules & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 6 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/oscola/

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OSCOLA Referencing: Websites and Blogs

• England and Wales
• Northern Ireland
• UK Statutes
• Primary Legislation: Wales
• Primary Legislation: Scotland
• Primary Legislation: Northern Ireland
• UK Statutory Instruments
• Secondary Legislation: Wales
• Secondary Legislation: Scotland
• Secondary Legislation: Northern Ireland
• EU Legislation
• Judgments of the European Court of Justice and General Court
• European Commission Decisions
• European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) Judgments
• Decisions and Reports of the European Commission on Human Rights
• European Commission Documents (proposals, action plans etc.)
• Cases from other jurisdictions
• Legislation from other jurisdictions
• Books (Authored)
• Books (Edited or Translated)
• Chapters/Essays in edited Books
• Other Books
• Journal Articles
• Command Papers
• Law Commission Reports
• Conference Papers

Websites and Blogs

• Newspaper Articles
• Personal Communications
• Generative AI
• Citing Primary Sources
• Citing Secondary Sources
• Subsequent Citations

OSCOLA Referencing

The following are examples of how to reference websites and blogs.

Template (Footnote):

author, | ‘title’ | ( website or blog name , | publication date) | <URL> | access date.

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

• << Previous: Theses
• Next: Newspaper Articles >>
• Last Updated: Jan 19, 2024 10:04 AM
• URL: https://library.rgu.ac.uk/oscola

Referencing and citations - OSCOLA: Websites

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

Websites Contents

In a nutshell.

Try and follow the general principles for citing secondary sources ie

      · Give the author’s name exactly as it appears in the publication.

      ·  If no individual author is identified, but an organisation or institution claims editorial responsibility for the work, then cite it as the author.

      ·  If appropriate to cite an anonymous source (eg blog) start citation with the title.

      ·  All titles should be within single quotation marks and in roman. Capitalize the first letter in all major words in a title.

If information is missing (eg date of publication), construct a logical citation, following OSCOLA guidelines, with such information as is available.

The most important features of a citation to a website are the web address in <angled brackets> and the date on which you accessed it. These should come at the end of the citation. If you need to pinpoint within the website, the pinpoint should come before the URL.

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

Important points to note

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.

You are responsible for the quality and accuracy of your sources. Try to authenticate the validity, accuracy and currency of any websites you wish to cite.

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

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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.

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?

Author, ‘Title of Webpage’ ( Title of Website , Publication Date) <URL> Accessed Date.

Josh Richman, ‘Paralegal Work: A Guide for Future Solicitors’ ( LawCareers.Net, 21 April 2020) <https://www.lawcareers.net/Explore/Features/21042020-Paralegal-work-a-guide-for-future-solicitors> accessed 23 June 2020.

Richman J, ‘Paralegal Work: A Guide for Future Solicitors’ ( LawCareers.Net, 21 April 2020) <https://www.lawcareers.net/Explore/Features/21042020-Paralegal-work-a-guide-for-future-solicitors> accessed 23 June 2020

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

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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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Referencing Styles: OSCOLA

OSCOLA stands for the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. It is the Law referencing system created by Oxford University. If you are a post-graduate law student, you are required to use this referencing system. In this system, citations are put in footnotes at the bottom of the page.

To create a footnote in Microsoft Word, click your mouse on the place you want it to refer to. Click on ‘References’ at the top and then on ‘Insert Footnote’. A number will appear in the text, and also at the bottom of the page, where you write your citation. This means that your readers can easily look down at the footnote to see the details of the source you are referring to.

In this guide, each type of source has an outline of the elements of the citation. Each of the elements is separated by a vertical line ‘|’. Pay attention to

• whether words are in italics ( like this )
• whether brackets are round like this ( ), square like this [ ] or angled like this < >
• where there is punctuation, such as commas (,)

You can generate OSCOLA citations using RefWorks . To do this, log into RefWorks , then find the item(s) in Summon and click the 'Save this item' icon next to the search result. This will save the item(s) in your RefWorks folder. In RefWorks, select the item(s) and click 'Create Bibliography'. You can then select 'OSCOLA 4th edition' as the reference style and it will generate the citation.

In HeinOnline , there is a Cite button to the left of an article's text which gives you the OSCOLA citation. You can find OSCOLA reference generators online, but none of them are perfect, so please check what they give you.

If you cannot find what you need, read the latest edition of OSCOLA or email the Online Library at [email protected]

For International Law, see the OSCOLA guide to citing international law

General principles

UK primary legislation (Acts and Bills)

Uk secondary legislation (statutory instruments).

EU legal sources

                Judgments of the ECJ and GC

                Decisions of the European Commission

                Judgments of the ECHR

International Law

Cases from other jurisdictions, legislation from other jurisdictions, encyclopedias, online articles, websites and blogs, newspaper articles.

Personal communications (letters and emails)

General Principles

• Quotations that are three lines or shorter should be incorporated in the text. Use 'single quotation marks', but if you need to sumbit your work to Turnitin, use "double quotation marks".
• Quotations longer than three lines should be an indented paragraph. Do not include quotation marks.
• Put the footnote marker at the end of a sentence, unless for the sake of clarity it is necessary to put it directly after the word or phrase to which it relates
• The superscript number should be after the full stop or comma, if relevant
• Where more than one citation is given in a single footnote reference, separate them with semi-colons

Authors' names

• Give the author’s name exactly as it appears in the publication, but omit postnominals such as QC
• If there are more than three authors, give the name of the first author followed by ‘and others’
• If no individual author is identified, but an organisation or institution claims editorial responsibility for the work, then cite it as the author
• If no person, organisation or institution claims responsibility for the work, begin the citation with the title
• In footnotes, the author’s first name or initial(s) precede their surname
• In bibliographies, the surname comes first, then the initial(s), followed by a comma
• Italicise titles of books and similar publications, including all publications with ISBNs
• All other titles should be within single quotation marks and not in italics
• Capitalize the first letter in all major words in a title
• Minor words, such as ‘for’, ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘the’, do not take a capital unless they begin the title or subtitle
• Pinpoints to parts, chapters, pages and paragraphs come at the end of the citation
• For cases, pinpoint paragraphs using square brackets, e.g. [23]. If pinpointing to more than one paragraph, separate the paragraph numbers in square brackets with a comma, e.g. [42], [45]. If citing spans of paragraphs, insert a dash between the first and last paragraph being cited, e.g. [1]-[37].
• For everything other than cases, use ‘pt’ for part, ‘ch’ for chapter, and ‘para’ for paragraph
• Page numbers stand alone, without ‘p’ or ‘pp’
• If citing a chapter or part and page number, insert a comma before the page number
• Where possible, give a specific range of pages but if you must refer to an initial page and several unspecified following pages, give the initial page number followed immediately by ‘ff ’ (eg ‘167ff ’)

Electronic sources (this does not apply to cases and legislation)

• 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
• Citations of publications that are available only electronically should end with the web address (or ‘url’) in angled brackets (< >), followed by the date of most recent access, expressed in the form ‘accessed 1 January 2010’
• Include ‘http://’ only if the web address does not begin with ‘www’
• When a full date is required, the format should be ‘1 January 2016’
• There is no need for ‘st’ or ‘th’ after the day
• If something spans more than one year in the same century, the format is ‘1972-84’

Subsequent citations

• If a citation is the same as the one immediately before it, you can put 'ibid' (followed by any differing pinpoints) in the footnote
• If the citation is the same as another, you can use a shortened form, followed by a reference to the footnote and any differing pinpoints, e.g. Stevens (n 1) 110.

Case citations including neutral citations

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

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

Case citations without neutral citations

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

Barrett v Enfield LBC [2001] 2 AC 550 (HL)

• If only one volume was issued during that particular year, do not give a number
• Use square brackets for the year a volume was issued
• Use round brackets for the year a judgment was issued
• If you included the case name in the text, you do not need to include the case name in the footnote
• Where there are multiple parties, name only the first claimant and first defendant. Where the parties are individuals, omit forenames and initials.

What are neutral citations?

Many courts now issue judgments with a neutral citation which identify the judgment independently of any law report. Neutral citations give the year of judgment, the court and the judgment number. The court is not included in brackets at the end of a neutral citation because the neutral citation itself identifies the court.

Where a judgment with a neutral citation has not been reported, give only the neutral citation.

Re Guardian News and Media Ltd [2010] UKSC 1

Where such a judgment has been reported, give the neutral citation followed by a citation of the most authoritative report, separated by a comma.

Cite an Act by its short title and year, using capitals at the beginning of major words, and without a comma before the year. Do not use popular titles of Acts, such as ‘Lord Campbell’s Act’

Shipping and Trading Interests (Protection) Act 1995

If several jurisdictions are discussed in a work, it may be necessary to add the

jurisdiction of the legislation in brackets at the end of the citation

Water Resources Act 1991 (UK)

Statutes are divided into parts, sections, subsections, paragraphs and subparagraphs. The relevant abbreviations are:

section/sections

subsection/subsections

sub-s/sub-ss

paragraph/paragraphs

subparagraph/subparagraphs

subpara/subparas

schedule/schedules

Clause/clauses

Consumer Protection Act 1987, s 2

If specifying a paragraph or subsection as part of a section, use only the abbreviation

for the section. For example, paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 15 of the

Human Rights Act 1998 is expressed as follows:

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

title | HC Bill | (session) | [number]

title | HL Bill | (session) | number

Consolidated Fund HC Bill (2008–09) [5]

Academies HL Bill (2010-11) 1, cl 8(2)

Statutory instruments (orders, regulations or rules) are numbered consecutively throughout the year. The year combines with the serial number to provide an SI number that follows the abbreviation ‘SI’ and which is used to identify the legislation. When citing a statutory instrument, give the name, year and (after a comma) the SI number:

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

Statutory instruments used to be called statutory rules and orders, and these are cited by their title and SR & O number.

The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and their predecessors, the Rules of the Supreme Court (RSC) and the County Court Rules (CCR), may be cited without reference to their SI number or year. Cite all other court rules in full as statutory instruments.

RSC Ord 24, r 14A

CPR Practice Directions (PD) are referred to simply by number, according to the part or rule they supplement.

Parts of statutory instruments

regulation/regulations

r/rr (not necessary for CPR)

article/articles

European Union legal sources

Official notices of the EU are carried in the Official Journal of the European

Communities (abbreviated to OJ). The letter ‘L’ denotes the legislation series, the ‘C’ series contains EU information and notices, and the ‘S’ series invitations to tender.

Legislation

legislation title | [year] | OJ series | issue/first page

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

Regulations and Directives

legislation type | number | title | [year] | OJ L issue/first page

Council Regulation (EC) 1984/2003 of 8 April 2003 introducing a system

for the statistical monitoring of trade in bluefin tuna, swordfish and big

eye tuna within the Community [2003] OJ L295/1

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]

Note that the year precedes the running number in citations to Directives, but follows it in citations to Regulations.

Judgments of the European Court of Justice and General Court

• EU cases registered at the European Court of Justice are given the prefix ‘C-‘
• EU cases registered at the General Court (known as the Court of First Instance until 2009) are given the prefix ‘T-‘
• Judgments from the Civil Service Tribunal (established in 2005) are given the prefix ‘F-‘
• For an unreported case, cite the relevant notice in the OJ. If the case is not yet reported in the OJ, then cite the case number and case name, followed by the court and date of judgment in brackets.
• When citing an opinion of an Advocate General, add the words ‘Opinion of AG [name]’

case number | case name | [year] | report abbreviation | first page

Case 240/83 Procureur de la République v ADBHU [1985] ECR 531

Case T–277/08 Bayer Healthcare v OHMI—Uriach Aquilea OTC (CFI, 11 November 2009)

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

Case C–411/05 Palacios de la Villa v Cortefiel Servicios SA [2007] ECR I–8531, Opinion of AG Mazák, paras 79–100

Decisions of the European Commission

case name | (case number) | Commission Decision number | [year] | OJ L issue/first page

Alcatel/Telettra (Case IV/M.042) Commission Decision 91/251/EEC [1991] OJ L122/48

Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

Cite either the official reports, the Reports of Judgments and Decisions (cited as ECHR) or the European Human Rights Reports (EHRR), but be consistent in your practice. Before 1996, the official reports were known as Series A. References to unreported judgments should give the application number, and then the court and the date of the judgment in brackets.

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) 51 EHRR 10

For International Law, see the OSCOLA guide to citing international law .

Cite cases from other jurisdictions as they are cited in their own jurisdiction, but with minimal punctuation. If the name of the law report series cited does not itself indicate the court, and the identity of the court is not obvious from the context, you should also give this in either full or short form in brackets at the end of the citation.

Henningsen v Bloomfield Motors Inc 161 A 2d 69 (NJ 1960)

Roe v Wade 410 US 113, 163–64 (1973)

Waltons Stores (Interstate) Ltd v Maher(1988) 164 CLR 387

BGH NJW 1992, 1659

Cass civ (1) 21 January 2003, D 2003, 693

CA Colmar 25 January 1963, Gaz Pal 1963.I.277

Cite legislation from other jurisdictions as it is cited in its own jurisdiction, but without any full stops in abbreviations. Give the jurisdiction if necessary.

Accident Compensation Act 1972 (NZ)

1976 Standard Terms Act ( Gesetz über Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen ) (FRG)

loi n° 75-1349 du 31 décembre 1975 relative à l’emploi de la langue française

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

Timothy Endicott, Administrative Law (OUP 2009)

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

If there is more than one author insert an 'and' before the last author's name. The edition should be included where the book is in its second edition or beyond. If citing information from a specific page, add the page number directly after the reference. Example:

Gary Slapper and David Kelly,  The English Legal System  (Routledge 2016) 17

If a book consists of more than one volume, the volume number follows the publication details:

Andrew Burrows, Remedies for Torts and Breach of Contract (3rd edn, OUP 2004) 317

If the publication details of the volumes vary, the volume number precedes them, and is separated from the title by a comma:

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

Editors and translators

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

If the work has an author, but an editor or translator is also acknowledged on the front cover, cite the author in the usual way and attribute the editor or translator at the beginning of the publication information, within the brackets:

HLA Hart, Punishment and Responsibility: Essays in the Philosophy of Law (John Gardner ed, 2nd edn, OUP 2008)

Contributions to edited books

author, | ‘title’ | in editor (ed), | book title | (additional information,| publisher | year)

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

Cite an encyclopedia much as you would a book, but excluding the author or editor

and publisher and including the edition and year of issue or reissue. If citing an online encyclopedia, give the web address and date of access.

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

Leslie Green, ‘Legal Positivism’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall edn, 2009) <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2009/entries/legal-positivism> accessed 20 November 2009

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

If only one volume was published that year, use square brackets:

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

Put a comma after the first page of the article if there is a pinpoint (the specific page you are referencing).

JAG Griffith, ‘The Common Law and the Political Constitution’ (2001) 117 LQR 42, 64

When citing journal articles which have been published only electronically, give publication details as for articles in hard copy journals.

• Note that online journals may lack some of the publication elements (for example, many do not include page numbers).
• If citation advice is provided by the online journal, follow it, removing full stops as necessary to comply with OSCOLA.
• Follow the citation with the web address (in angled brackets) and the date you most recently accessed the article.

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

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

Treat case notes with titles as if they were 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.

Andrew Ashworth, ‘ R (Singh) v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police ’ [2006] Crim LR 441 (note)

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

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.

HC Deb 3 February 1977, vol 389, cols 973–76

HL Deb 21 July 2005, vol 673, col WA261

Command papers

Command papers include White and Green Papers, relevant treaties, government responses to select committee reports, and reports of committees of inquiry. When citing a command paper, begin the citation with the name of the department or other body that produced the paper, and then give the title of the paper in italics, followed by the command paper number and the year in brackets.

Home Office, Report of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (Cmd 8932, 1953) para 53

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

1833–69 (C (1st series))

1870–99 (C (2nd series))

1900–18 (Cd)

1919–56 (Cmd)

1957–86 (Cmnd)

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

• 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, | ‘title’ | name of the newspaper | (city of publication, | date) | page if known

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

Ian Loader, ‘The Great Victim of this Get Tough Hyperactivity is Labour’ The Guardian (London, 19 June 2008) <www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/19/justice.ukcrime> accessed 19 November 2009

interviewer(s) if not yourself, | Interview with name, position, institution of interviewee | (location, date of interview)

Interview with Irene Kull, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Law, Tartu University (Tartu, Estonia, 4 August 2003)

Timothy Endicott and John Gardner, Interview with Tony Honoré, Emeritus Regius Professor of Civil Law, University of Oxford (Oxford, 17 July 2007)

If the reference is to an editorial, cite the author as ‘Editorial’.

If you conducted an interview for the purposes of your dissertation, you do not need to cite it in your dissertation. If the transcripts of your interviews are in your appendix, you can refer to your appendix in brackets or a footnote, e.g.:

According to interviewee X (Appendix 1), the …

Or, you could cite it as a personal communication in a footnote.

Personal communications

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.

Letter from Gordon Brown to Lady Ashton (20 November 2009)

Email from Amazon.co.uk to author (16 December 2008)

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Library Guide for Law

Referencing - oscola.

OSCOLA Ireland  is the most commonly used system for the citation of legal authorities in Irish Higher Education.

OSCOLA provides a uniform way to reference all types of primary and secondary materials which you will need to cite in your written work. All quotations, direct and indirect references, and cited examples need to be clearly marked up in footnotes on each page (OSCOLA does not use endnotes or in-text citations).

OSCOLA links

► OSCOLA Ireland style guide (full-text version of 2nd ed)

► OSCOLA quick reference guide   (this one-page guide has examples of citing cases, legislation, books, articles and websites)

► Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations   (this database allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal publications)

This short video introduces you to citing and referencing in OSCOLA style

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Citing Primary Sources in OSCOLA Referencing

3-minute read

• 17th August 2019

Most countries have their own legal processes, so it makes sense that they have their own legal citation systems as well. In the UK, the most common form of legal referencing is OSCOLA (or the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities ). And in this post, we look at how to cite primary sources with OSCOLA. First, though, what exactly is a primary source?

Primary and Secondary Sources

OSCOLA classes sources as either “primary” or “secondary.” Primary sources are legal sources, such as cases and legislative documents. Secondary sources cover everything else, including books, journal articles, and websites.

In either case, you will use superscript numbers (e.g., 1 , 2 , 3 ) to indicate a citation, with details of the source given in a footnote. But the information you give here will depend on the source in question. For primary sources, this usually means either a case report or a legislative act.

Citing Case Reports in OSCOLA

When citing a UK case with a neutral citation , you will need to provide the following information in the accompanying footnote:

Case Name | [Year] | Court | Number,| [Year] | Volume | Report Abbreviation | First Page

However, you only need to include the case name in the footnote if it is not used in the text. And as shown, the neutral citation should be separated from the law report citation by a comma.

Cases from before 2001 will not have a neutral citation, so footnotes for older cases should only include the following details:

Case Name | [Year] | Volume | Report Abbreviation | First Page | (Court)

Examples of the above would thus appear as follows in footnote citations:

Neutral Citation: PI vs Walls [2008] UKHL 15, [2008] 4 AC 1284

No Neutral Citation: GM vs Nissan [1983] 1 AC 154 (UKHL)

Citing Legislation in OSCOLA

Other than cases, the main primary sources in OSCOLA referencing are legislative acts and statutory instruments. When citing a UK legislative act, all you need is the short title and year. For instance:

Act of Supremacy 1558

To reference a particular section, meanwhile, simply add it after the year:

Human Rights Act 1998 s 7

The “s” before the “7” above is short for “section.” However, the correct abbreviation here may depend on what you’re citing:

You may also need to cite a statutory instrument at some point. To do this, the footnote should include the title, year and the SI number (after a comma). So, for instance, we could cite a statutory instrument as follows:

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The Deregulation Act 2015 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2015, SI 2015 2074 (C. 130)

Cases and Legislation in an OSCOLA Bibliography

As well as footnote citations, you will need to list all primary sources in a bibliography at the end of your document. For primary sources, the general rules in an OSCOLA bibliography are:

• Provide full information for each source.
• Divide primary sources into a Table of Cases and a Table of Legislation (you may also want to separate acts of legislation from legislative instruments).
• Sort cases/acts into separate sections by jurisdiction (unless you have not cited many sources, in which case they can be combined).
• List sources within their categories alphabetically by case name/title.
• List secondary sources separately under the heading “Bibliography.”

This will make it easy for readers to find the various primary sources you have used in your work. And if you’d like someone to double check your referencing when you’ve finished writing, we’re always happy to help.

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If you're trying to determine what source to choose or what you should cite, read on for FAQs and helpful answers.

I'm citing a book, article, video, photo, etc., that I found online. Does that mean it's a "website"?

If you can classify your source as something other than a website/web page, choose that as your source. Be as specific as possible. Most times, the source citation form will give you the option to cite the source as something found online (see tabs at the top of the citation form).

• E-book -- choose "Book"
• Online newspaper article -- choose "Newspaper"
• Digital photo -- choose "Photo"

What's the difference between an "Online database" and a "Journal"?

In research, a journal is a scholarly or academic periodical featuring articles written by experts. These articles are reviewed by fellow experts (peer-reviewed) before being published.

An online database is an electronic collection of information. They are searchable and most databases found at your library provide credible, published content. Depending on the database, it might also let you access information in various formats (e.g., journals, videos, books, newspapers, etc.).

This means an online database could have several journals.

• Journals -- Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), PLOS One, New Scientist, Ecology Letters
• Online databases --- Academic One File, Britannica Academic, EBSCOHost, Facts on File

I'm still not sure what source I have. What should I do?

Scroll through our long list of source options and make your best educated guess. If you're still unsure, choose "Miscellaneous."

If there is no author, can I still cite a source?

Yes! It's always better to cite a source, even if you're unsure of all the source details. Also, not everything has an indicated author so it's ok to leave an author out in those cases. When this happens, most citation styles will list the source by its title instead of the author's last name.

I only need to cite one source, right?

A well-balanced paper usually cites several sources; often in different formats (e.g., books, journals, interviews, etc.). There isn't an exact number of sources that is ideal, but try to have more than a couple sources listed.

Also, you should cite everything you've consulted or mentioned in your paper. It's the ethical thing to do.

If I have a full citation at the end of my paper, do I really need to make in-text citations (e.g., parenthetical citations, footnotes, etc.)?

Yes, absolutely! Showing where you got certain ideas or points in your paper will help support any arguments you make. Including in-text citations is also ethical — give credit where it is due.

I heard that "common knowledge" does NOT need to be cited. What is it?

Common knowledge is general information that you can assume a normal individual would know without needing to consult a source. Yes, you do not necessarily need to cite common knowledge. However, if you are unsure if you should cite a fact or source, err on the side of caution and cite it.

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OSCOLA referencing guide (Online): Journal Articles

• Paraphrasing
• Repeating Citations
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• Referencing Tools
• Two or Three Authors
• Four plus Authors
• Chapter in an Edited Book
• Editor or Translator
• Author & Editor or Translator
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• Unreported Cases
• Cases before 1865
• Judges' Names
• Scot, NI & International
• Parts of Statutes
• Statutory Instruments
• Journal Articles
• Forthcoming Articles
• Working Papers
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Journals articles

• Print articles
• Online articles

To cite a print journal use the following format :

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

                                                                     [OR]

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

Use [ ]  if the date of publication is needed to find the article eg. there is no volume number.

Use ( ) if the date of publication is NOT needed to find the article eg. there is a volume number.

The bibliography is the same format as the footnote except that  the author is now listed surname first  followed by their initials, page numbers are not included and there is no full stop at the end of the reference. 

Examples of citations in a footnote:

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

Alison L Young, 'In Defense of Due Deference' (2009) 72 MLR 554.

Example of citations in a bibliography :

Craig P,   'Theory, "Pure Theory" and Values in Public Law'  [2005] PL 440

Young AL,   'In Defense of Due Deference' (2009) 72 MLR 554

Pinpointing in a journal article

When pinpointing (referring to a specific page in an article) put the first page of the article followed by a comma, a space and the page of the pinpoint.

JAG Griffith, 'The Common Law and the Political Constitution' (2001) 117 LQR 42, 64.

Pinpointing is not used in the bibliography.

• If an article/pdf/ebook is available anywhere in print format, you should cite it as you would a printed piece of work (even if you have read it online).
• However if the article is only available online, use the same format as for print journals but at the end of the citation add the web address within < > marks and the date you most recently accessed the article.
• In general only include the web address when the document is only available online, when the web address ia especially helpful for finding the document and when the web address is static (eg. not a result of a search in a database).

An example of a footnote for an online article:

James Gobert, 'The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007: Thirteen Years in the Making but was it Worth the Wait?' (2008) 71 MRL 413 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25151209> accessed 15 Jan 2014.

The bibliography is the same format as the footnote except that the author's last name comes first, only the author's initial(s) are used and there is no full stop at the end of the citation.

An example of the bibliography for an online article:

Gobert  J, 'The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007: Thirteen Years in the Making but was it Worth the Wait?' (2008) 71 MRL 413 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/25151209> accessed 15 Jan 2014

Square brackets or round brackets

Square brackets [ ] are used when the year is crucial to identify the relevant volume of the journal (e.g. when there is no volume number).

Round brackets ( ) are used when the year is not necessary to identify the relevant volume of the journal (e.g. if there is a volume number in addition to the year). 

In most cases journal titles have both a volume number and a year so round brackets will normally be used.

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Consider your source's credibility. ask these questions:, contributor/author.

• Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?
• Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?
• Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?
• Book: What have reviews said about it?
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• Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?
• Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?
• Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?
• Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?
• Are there ads?
• When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?
• Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?
• Does the source even have a date?
• Was it reproduced? If so, from where?
• If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?

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