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Law: OSCOLA

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Aston University Law School uses The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) to facilitate accurate citation of authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. OSCOLA is widely used in law schools and by journal and book publishers in the UK and beyond. OSCOLA is edited by the Oxford Law Faculty, in consultation with the OSCOLA Editorial Advisory Board.

 

The Oxford Law Faculty provide the full published guide, quick reference material, video tutorials and FAQs.  
How to cite a case
The components of a typical case citation are the case name, the neutral citation and the law report . However, neutral citations are a relatively recent development (2001 onwards), so many case citations consist only of the case name and the law report .

A typical case citation including a neutral citation:

The name of the case in italics and the party names separated by a 'v'

Then the neutral citation, followed by the law report series

For example, the case citation in the footnotes below indicates that the case involving Corr and IBC Vehicles Ltd was the thirteenth judgment issued by the House of Lords in 2008, and that a report of the judgment can be found in volume one of the 2008 volume of the series of the Law Reports called the Appeal Cases, beginning at page 884.

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

 

Pinpointing a page

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884, 886.

Pinpointing a Judge

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884, [897] (Cousins QC).

 

A typical case citation without neutral citations:

The name of the case in italics and the party names separated by a 'v'

Then the citation for the law report series

For example

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562.

 

Pinpointing a page

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, 563.

Pinpointing a Judge

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, 578-599 (Lord Atkin).

 

Case Citation in the Bibliography:

The party names are not in italics and there is no full stop at the end of the case citation.  You should also exclude any pinpointing of a judge or specific page number.

 

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562

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

 

Things to note:

  1. There is no need to repeat the name of the case in your footnote if you have already mentioned it in the main body of your essay or dissertation.  Begin with the neutral citation or law report citation whichever is appropriate.  For example  [1932] AC 562 (HL).
  2. Abbreviations must not include full stops so WLR instead of W.L.R.
  3. If the case does not have a neutral citation put the abbreviated name of the court in brackets at the end

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL).

How to cite UK Legislation

Footnotes are not required when citing legislation if all the information is provided in the text.  For example;

"changes to the bail conditions imposed by the Criminal Justice Act 2005 caused much debate"

If the text does not include the name of the Act or a relevant section then your footnote must include the information.  For example;

 

Things to note

  1. If you do need to cite a piece of legislation, cite an Act by its short title.
  2. When you are citing a section of a statute, add a comma after the Act and then a space between the section abbreviation and the number like in the example above.
  3. When specifying a paragraph or subsection as part of a section for example; paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 15 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is

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

Book citations in a footnote follow this format:

15  Elizabeth Fisher, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Hart Publishing 2007).

24 Jill Poole, Textbook on Contract Law (11th edn, Oxford University Press 2012).

 

Book citations in a bibliography follow this format:

Fisher E, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Hart Publishing 2007)

Poole J, Textbook on Contract Law (11th edn, Oxford University Press 2012)

Citing a Journal Article in a footnote format

Corryn Walker, 'How to get students into the Library: revamping a university library's welcome campaign' (2017) 17 (4) LIM 239.

When you citing a journal article you may need further guidance - the main exceptions are listed below

  1. Generally, Aston Law School requires the abbreviation of the journal title.  If you are unsure what the abbreviation of the journal title should be please refer to the Cardiff Index to Legal Journals
  2. If there is more than three authors give the name of the first followed by 'and others'
  3. The year is in round brackets if the journal has separate volume numbers.  If there is no volume put the year in square brackets.   
  4. Only include an issue number if the page numbers start again for each issue within the volume.  
  5. If you wish to pinpoint you wil need to put a comma after the First Page of the Article so for example 

Corryn Walker, 'How to get students into the Library: revamping a university library's welcome campaign' (2017) 17 (4) LIM 239, 242.

Citing a Journal Article in a Bibliography

Walker C, 'How to get students into the Library: revamping a university library's welcome campaign' (2017) 17 (4) LIM 239

Check with your lecturer responsible for setting you assessment whether they want a

  • Reference List  (sources you have used for your assessment)
  • Bibliography (everything you have looked at even if you have not cited it).

The order of materials is generally a "Tables of Cases", "Legislation", other primary legal sources cited. If you are including a table, they should come after the Table of Abbreviations and be in order of cases, then legislation and then other materials.

Table of Cases

  • Do not italicise party names
  • Separate cases from different jurisdictions
  • Cases should be listed in alphabetical order of the first significant word

 

Table of Legislation

  • List every statute cited in the work
  • The entry for each statute should be sub-divided to show the which parts of the statute are cited where
  • Secondary legislation should follow primary legislation
  • The Table should be listed in alphabetical order of the first major work in the title.

 

Secondary Literature
Secondary sources are cited in alphabetical order by author surname.  Use the information cited in your footnote to create your Bibliography - just tweak it slightly!  The author surname comes first followed by the initial.  This helps to put the Bibliography in surname order.

Unattributed works should be presented by a double em-dash and this takes them to the top of your alphabetical list.

-- The Voice of Experience (GrosSett and Dunlap, 1993)

OSCOLA Tutorials

Cardiff tutorial on citing the law
The resource was devised by Cathie Jackson and Ian Bradley, Information Services staff at Cardiff University and was partly funded by the UK Centre for Legal Education. The 4th edition revisions have been added by Matthew Davies and Lynn Goodhew.

Law Port
Law PORT is a collection of free-to-use training resources from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Each module within Law PORT is designed to improve the legal research or referencing skills of law PhD and MPhil students in a key area. Self-paced and interactive, the resources can be accessed anywhere and at any time. Though created with postgraduate researchers in mind, other individuals engaged in legal research or with an interest in legal information literacy may also find Law PORT useful.