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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 14 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/oscola/

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OSCOLA Referencing: Theses

• 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 theses.

Template (Footnote):

Author name, | 'Thesis title' | (Award | thesis, | Awarding Institution | date).

Javan Herberg, ‘Injunctive Relief for Wrongful Termination of Employment’ (DPhil thesis, University of Oxford 1989).

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Cite a Thesis in OSCOLA

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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?
• What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?
• 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?
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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 and citations - OSCOLA: The Basics

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

Major points to note

• All OSCOLA citations to appear as footnotes on each page.
• No use of end notes or in-text citations.
• Footnote markers to appear at the end of the relevant sentence.
• Materials can be specified in tables of cases/statutes etc at the start of your work.
• Keep punctuation to a minimum, but close all footnotes with a full stop.
• Clarity and consistency to be the guiding rules.
• Search in the free online version for guidance if in doubt.
• IALS library card holders are welcome to make a reference appointment with a librarian to discuss their use of OSCOLA.

Bibliography

Items in bibliographies take the same form as all other citations in OSCOLA, with three exceptions: (1) the author’s surname should precede his or her initial(s), with no comma separating them, but a comma after the final initial; (2) only initials should be used, and not forenames; and (3) the titles of unattributed works should be preceded by a double em-dash. Works should be arranged in alphabetical order of author surname, with unattributed works being listed at the beginning of the bibliography in alphabetical order of first major word of the title.

A longer legal work, such as a book or a thesis, generally has a list of abbreviations and tables of all the cases, legislation and other primary legal sources cited in the work in the preliminary pages. The list of abbreviations should come before the tables, and the order of the tables should generally be: table of cases; table of legislation; other tables.

Lexis & Westlaw

You should never need to include Lexis or Westlaw in a citation. The cases, statutes and journal articles on these databases are treated as authentic versions, and should be cited exactly the same as the hard copy.

Similarly, 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.

Incorporate quotations of up to three lines into the text, within 'single' quotation marks. Punctuation follows the closing quotation mark, and the footnote marker comes last. NB - If you need to submit your work through Turnitin, use "double" quotation marks.

Longer quotations should be presented in an indented paragraph, with no further indentation of the first line. Leave a line space before and after the indented quotation, and do NOT use quotation marks.

Further detailed information about how to present quotations (including quotes in quotes, quotes which are fragments) can be found on page 8 of the OSCOLA guide.

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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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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

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?

OSCOLA referencing

The Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) has been created by Oxford University to facilitate the accurate citation of legal authorities and sources. It is widely used by Law Schools and legal researchers in the UK and is the style you will be expected to follow if you are studying for LLB or LLM at the University of Northampton*.

This guide provides a starting point for referencing using OSCOLA and should be sufficient for most purposes at the University of Northampton. However, it is not comprehensive so, when citing legal materials, you should also refer to the full OSCOLA guide when you need more detailed guidance.

*If you are a Joint Honours student you are not normally required to use OSCOLA but always check with your academic tutor if you are unsure.

• Next: Elements of OSCOLA referencing >>
• Last Updated: Mar 5, 2024 1:30 PM
• URL: https://libguides.northampton.ac.uk/oscolaguide

Citing Legal Information

• What is Citing and Referencing?
• Why Citing and Referencing?
• When You Need to Cite?
• How to Cite and Compile References?
• Citing Properly to Avoid Plagiarism
• Citing Hong Kong Law
• Citing PRC Law
• Guide for Other Jurisdictions
• Bibliographic Management Tools
• The Learning Lounge

Other Related Guides

Citing Sources of Information

Preventing Plagiarism

• What is OSCOLA?
• General Rules of OSCOLA
• Citing Primary Sources
• Citing Secondary Sources
• Other Guides to OSCOLA

OSCOLA is an acronym which stands for the O xford University S tandard for C i tation o f L egal A uthorities. It is a guide to legal citation developed by the Oxford Law Faculty and is an authoritative way to prepare legal citation in the UK academic world. The latest edition is available from https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola .  

It gives rules for

• the main UK legal primary sources,
• many types of secondary sources.

OSCOLA is footnote style , all citations appear in footnotes. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of a page. Close footnotes with a full stop. See the examples below. Endnotes or in-text citations are not used.

Incorporate quotations of up to three lines into the text, within single inverted commas. Present quotations longer than three lines in an indented paragraph. Do not use quotation marks. Refer to the examples below.

Subsequent citations

When a source is cited subsequently, briefly identify the source and provide a cross-citation in brackets to the footnote in which the full citation can be found. Observe these principles for subsequent citations. Details are available from the OSCOLA manual , p. 5-7.

Subsequent citation of cases: use a short form of the case name

Subsequent citation of legislation: may use abbreviations or other short forms

Example  

Subsequent citation of secondary sources: use only the author's or authors' surnames

Subsequent citation is in the footnote immediately following the full citation: use "ibid" 

List of abbreviations, t ables and bibliography

When writing a longer work, such as a book or a thesis, you need to compile a list of abbreviations and tables of all the cases, legislation and other primary sources cited in the work in the preliminary pages. The list of abbreviations should come before the tables, and the order of the tables should be: table of cases, table of legislation and other tables. A bibliography listing secondary sources should also be provided after the main body of text and any appendices. Please also note the followings.

List of abbreviations

Do not define abbreviations that are part of everyday legal usage.

Table of cases

• Case names are not italicized in a table of cases.
• Cases are listed in alphabetical order of the first significant word.
• Divide the table into separate sections for different jurisdictions.

Table of legislation

• Legislation should be in alphabetical order of the first significant word, not chronological order.
• If there is legislation from more than one jurisdiction, have separate list for each jurisdiction.

Bibliography

• For each entry on the list, the author's surname comes before his/her initials.
• Replace the given names with initials.
• Works should be arranged in alphabetical order of the author surname.

However, if you are writing a shorter work such as journal articles or essays, list of abbreviations, tables and bibliography are not required. Only footnotes are sufficient.

Citing cases

A typical UK case citation is as follows.

Neutral citations are relatively recent development. Many cases without neutral citations are typically cited as follows.

• Use italics for case names.
• Separate the names of the adverse parties with an unpunctuated italicized " v ".
• In a table of cases, case names are not italicized.
• If the name of the case is given in the text, it is not necessary to repeat it in the footnote.

Neutral citations

Neutral citations are available from these sources:

• Library subscribed databases
• ICLR Case Search
• Judgments 1996- (BAILII)
• Privy Council Judgments August 2009 -

Law report citations

• Cite a law report by its abbreviated title.
• Always include the starting page, regardless if you pinpoint any particular page.
• Since unreported judgment is generally available online much earlier than the law reports, so check all neutral citations you prepared to see if reported decision is published subsequently before submitting your work.

Citing statutes

Cite an act by its short title and year, without a comma before the year. Use capitals for the major words.

When referring to part of the statute in a footnote, use abbreviated form: s/ss, para/paras, pt/pts, sch/schs. If specifying a paragraph or subsection as part of section, use only the abbreviation for the section.

A citation in a footnote is not required when citing legislation if all the information the reader needs about the source is provided in the text. But when the text does not include the name of the act, this information should be provided in a footnote.  

Secondary sources refer to commentaries on law, such as books, journal articles, legal encyclopedias and so on. Please note the following general practices in citing secondary sources. Individual material types will be covered next.

• Give the name exactly as it appears in the publication, but omit post-nominal letters. Examples of post-nominal letters: JP, SC.
• In footnotes, the author’s first name or initials precede their surname.

• In bibliographies, the surname comes first, then the initials, followed by a comma. Only initials should be used but not forenames.

• If there are more than three authors, give the name of the first author followed by "and others".
• In situation where no person, organization claims responsibility, follow this practice. In the footnote, begin the citation with the title of the work. In the bibliography, such works should be preceded by a double em-dash. Entries in a bibliography should be arranged in alphabetical order of author surname, with unattributed works listed at the beginning. See the following examples.

• Title of works

Capitalize the first letter in all major words in the title.

Citing books

• A book citation should include these elements.

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

N.B. Additional information refers to any other types of details about the book, such as series, translator, etc.

• Authored books: use italics for the title, put publication information within parenthesis.
• Edited and translated books: apply the same rule, insert “(ed)” or “(tr)”. When there are two editors or translators, use “(eds)” or “(trs)”.

Citing articles

• A journal article citation should include these elements.

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

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

• The style for authors is the same as that for books.
• Put the article title within single inverted commas.
• Use full form or abbreviation for journal title.

Citing a chapter or essay in an edited book

• An essay or chapter in edited book should be cited with these elements.

author, |‘title of chapter' |in book editor (ed), |book title |(additional information, |publisher | year).

Citing other secondary sources

When citing other secondary materials, observe this general rule. If a source has an ISBN, cite it like a book. If the source does not have ISBN, cite it similarly, but put single quotation marks around the title.

Secondary sources with ISBN, cite this way: Author, | title | (additional information, | publisher | year).

Secondary sources without ISBN, cite this way: Author, | 'title' | (additional information, | publisher | year).

• Conference papers

author, | 'title of the paper' | (title of the conference, | location, | date).

author, | 'title' | (type of thesis, | institution | year).

• Website adn blogs

author, | 'title' | ( title of website, | date of publication) | <URL> | accessed date.

• Newspaper articles

author, | 'title' | newspaper title | (city of publication, | date) | starting page.

The guides below also provide useful hints and tips about OSCOLA.

• OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide   (Faculty of Law, University of Oxford)

There are examples for different types of sources.

• OSCOLA FAQS   (Faculty of Law, University of Oxford)

You can find there updates to OSCOLA and ways of citing sources that are not specifically referred to in the 4th edition.  

• Citing the Law: Referencing Using OSCOLA   (University Library Services, Cardiff University)

An online tutorial. Lots of activities to help you understand OSCOLA.

• Citing and Referencing for Law (Library, City University of London)

Online tutorial plus step by step guide.

You may also want to consult these library books.

• Donal Nolan, Sandra Meredith and University of Oxford Faculty of Law, OSCOLA : Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edn, Hart 2012).
• Richard Pears, Cite Them Right: the Essential Referencie Guide (Tenth revised and expanded edn, Palgrave 2016).
• << Previous: Citing Properly to Avoid Plagiarism
• Next: Citing Hong Kong Law >>
• Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 11:09 AM
• URL: https://libguides.library.cityu.edu.hk/oscola

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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.

Need help from us? Approach us via the following methods:

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.

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OSCOLA Referencing Style

If you have questions about reference formats, please contact us with your query using the  Query form  on the guide, or email  us at  [email protected] . You should also consult your lecturer and refer to your departmental handbook   OSCOLA Referencing Guide .

Author,  Title of book  (Edition, Publisher Year)

Conference Paper

Author, 'Title of paper' (Name of Conference, Location, Date)

Online Image

Author/Creator, 'Title of image' ( Name of website,  Date published) <URL> Access date

Film/Documentary

Director,  Title of film/documentary  (Location, Studio Year)

EU Legislation

Legislation Title [Year] OJ Issue/first page

Example:  Protocol to the Agreement on the Member States that do not fully apply the Schengen acquis—Joint Declarations [2007] OJ L129/35

Journal Article

Author, 'Title of article' (Year) Volume(Issue) Name of journal First page number of article

Example:  Edwin S. Mills, 'An aggregative model of resource allocation in a metropolitan area'. (1967) 57(2) American Economic Review 197

Thesis/Dissertation

Author, 'Title of thesis' (Thesis type, Name of institution Year)

Online Video

Author/Creator, 'Title of video' ( Name of Website,  Date published) <URL> Access date

Title of bill (and subtitle if applicable) House of origin (Year) Assigned number

Author, 'Title of article'  Name of Newspaper  (Location, Date)

Author/Creator, 'Title of page' ( Name of website , Publication day month year) <URL> Access date

Social Media Post

Author/Creator [@username if applicable], 'Title or first line of post' ( Name of platform,  Date published) <URL> Access date

Case name  [Year] Court Number, [Year] Volume Report abbreviation First page of report

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OSCOLA: a guide to referencing your sources for NLS students

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

OSCOLA Referencing Generator

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• Select style:
• Archive material
• Chapter of an edited book
• Conference proceedings
• Dictionary entry
• Dissertation
• DVD, video, or film
• E-book or PDF
• Edited book
• Encyclopedia article
• Government publication
• Music or recording
• Online image or video
• Presentation
• Press release
• Religious text

What is OSCOLA referencing?

OSCOLA is the abbreviated name for Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. It’s the style many students use for referencing authorities, legislation and other legal materials. It is widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers both in the UK and abroad.

The fourth edition of OSCOLA is available to purchase in book stores and online, with a downloadable reference guide available from the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law website.

How to OSCOLA reference

OSCOLA invites you to follow two “golden rules” when citing legal authorities. The first is consistency and the second is consideration for the reader. Legal writing is considered more persuasive when you refer to legal matters in a clear, consistent and familiar way. An integral part of this is having an easy way of identifying your sources.

OSCOLA does not use endnotes or in-text citations. Instead, all citations appear as footnotes. Longer works such as books and theses also include citations in tables of cases and legislation, as well as bibliographies.

Cite This For Me’s OSCOLA citation generator takes the hassle out of law referencing by providing you with the Oxford standard for the citation of legal authorities within seconds. Simply use the Cite This For Me mobile app or online tool and have the whole thing done for you quickly, accurately and consistently.

Popular OSCOLA style Citation Examples

How to cite a book in oscola style.

Use the following template to cite a book using the OSCOLA citation style.

Reference List

Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.

In-text citation

Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.

How to cite a Journal in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a journal using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite Film or Movie in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a film or movie using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an Online image or video in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an online image or video using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Website in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a website using the OSCOLA citation style.

Additional OSCOLA style Citation Examples

How to cite a blog in oscola style.

Use the following template to cite a blog using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Court case in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a court case using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Dictionary entry in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a dictionary entry using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an E-book or PDF in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an e-book or pdf using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an Edited book in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an edited book using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an Email in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an email using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an Encyclopedia article in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an encyclopedia article using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite an Interview in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite an interview using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Magazine in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a magazine using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Newspaper in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a newspaper using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Podcast in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a podcast using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a Song in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a song using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite The Bible in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite The Bible using the OSCOLA citation style.

How to cite a TV Show in OSCOLA style

Use the following template to cite a TV Show using the OSCOLA citation style.

Manage all your references in one place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser and scan books’ barcodes with a mobile app.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate reference management tool.

OSCOLA referencing guide (Online): Websites & Blogs

• 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

Blogs & Websites

To reference information from a blog, you should include the author's name, the entry title and then the blog name and publication date in brackets. You should end with the URL and accessed date.

Format:  Author, 'Entry Title' ( Blog Name,  publication date) <URL> accessed date.

Example:  R Moorhead, 'Solicitors First' ( Lawyer Watch,  25 March 2011) <http://lawyerwatch.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/solictiors-first/> accessed 13 April 2011.

If no author is named, use the name of the organisation producing the blog. If no person or organisation can be identified as being responsible for the blog, begin your footnote with the title of the blog. If there is no publication date you can omit it, but always give the access date.

There is no change in format between a footnote reference and a bibliography entry.

To reference information from a website, you should include the author's name, the webpage title and then the website name and publication date in brackets. You should end with the URL and accessed date.

If there is no date of publication on the website, give only the date of access

Format: Author, ' Webpage' ( Website,  publication date) <URL> accessed date.

Example in a footnote:  Simon Myerson, 'Applying Yourself to Pupillage' (L awCareers.net, 5 April 2011) <www.lawcareers.net/Information/Feature/Detail.aspx?r=1355> accessed 12 April 2011

Example in the bibliography: Myerson S, 'Applying Yourself to Pupillage' (L awCareers.net, 5 April 2011) <www.lawcareers.net/Information/Feature/Detail.aspx?r=1355> accessed 12 April 2011

If the author of a website is an organisation e.g. Solicitors Regulation Society, there is no difference between the footnote and the bibliography.

If there is no named author, use the name of the organisation responsible for the web page. If there is no name person or organisation, you can begin your reference with the title of the webpage.

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• Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 2:40 PM
• URL: https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/oscola