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LAW UNITS - REFERENCING SOURCES

Students must reference using the OSCOLA method (as modified below).

OSCOLA citation system.

All sources should be footnoted in line with the following guidance.

PRIMARY LEGAL SOURCES

Cases

These should be fully referenced as below in footnotes but can be referred to just by name in the text.

Allen v Flood [1898] AC 1.

Torquay Hotel Co Ltd v Cousins [1969] 1 ALL ER 522.

Associated Newspaper Group v Wade [1979] ICR 664.

Middlebrook Mushrooms Ltd v TGWU [1993] IRLR 232.

R v Birmingham City Council ex parte Mohammed [1999] 1 WLR 33.

R v Venna [1976] QB 421.

Always put names in italics. If you are quoting from a judgment then put ‘at p…’ after the citation.

R v Venna [1976] QB 421 at p.424.

Note: If you cite the name of the case in the text of the work, you need only cite the law report citation in
the footnote. For example:

[1]
Although Allen v Flood suggests that this approach is wrong.

If you are quoting from a judgment which is organised by numbered paragraphs (e.g. judgments of the
European Court of Justice, or the neutral citation below) then you should refer to the relevant
paragraph number either as para …. or [number of paragraph]

Case C-208/90 Emmott v Minister for Social Welfare [1991] ECR I-4269 at para 27.

Smith v Jones [2001] EWCA Civ 10 at [25]

Official Internet Case Citation

Example – Smith v Jones [2001] EWCA Civ 10

Statutes

In the text write section 7(2)(a) or s. 7(2)(a) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. If you want to refer to
several sections at the same time then, for example, write ss. 6 & 7 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975

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Section 146 (or s. 146) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 as amended by
the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993

In footnotes the reference should be, for example, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, s.7(2), that is the section
should be put after the name of the Act.

Note: If you are beginning a sentence with reference to a section then you should use the form “Section 3
suggests….”.

Statutory Instruments

Write Regulation or reg. 6(1) of the Working Time Regulations. The official reference for these Regulations,
that is SI 1998 No. 1833, should be footnoted. Also if a statutory instrument is footnoted put the regulation
after the SI reference. For example, Working Time Regulations, SI 1998 No. 1833, reg. 6(1).

Official publications

Green Paper on Trade Unions and Their Members, Cmnd. 95, 1987

People, Jobs and Opportunities, Cmnd. 1810, 1992

EC & International Law

Article (or Art.) 9(1) European Convention on Human Rights 1950

Article (or Art.) 5(2) of the Equal Treatment Directive 1976. This should be footnoted as Council Directive
76/207/EC.

Rulings and decisions of cases heard by the European Court of Justice have their unique case numbers.
These should be footnoted as part of the full citation.

Example - Case C-415/93, Union Royale Belge v Bosman [1996] I CMLR 645

SECONDARY SOURCES

Should also be footnoted in the following manner:

Books

G Cole and R Postgate The Common People 1746-1946. (London: Methuen, 1949).

If you are citing page or pages in a book from where a quotation or idea has been obtained it should be in the
following form:

Lord Wedderburn Labour Law and Freedom. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1995) at p.27.

Lord Wedderburn Labour Law and Freedom. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1995) at pp.27-34.

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Chapters in books

S Simitis, ‘Juridification of Industrial Relations’ in G. Teubner (ed.), Juridification of Social Spheres (pp.
122-136) (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1987).

Journal articles should be referenced as follows.

K Ewing ‘The Right to Strike’ (1986) 15 Industrial Law Journal 143-165.

Please ensure you use the appropriate brackets () or [] is used for the relevant law journal series.

Citation of specific pages should follow the format for books above.

Government papers,

Official papers should be cited:

Law Commission of England and Wales Family Law: The Ground of Divorce (Law Com No192, 1990).

If the report uses paragraphs then if specific parts are quoted should be cited:

Law Commission of England and Wales Family Law: The Ground of Divorce (Law Com No192, 1990) para
7.41

Otherwise refer to page numbers is same manner as books (above)

Publications which are not part of an official series, should be referenced as.

D Wood and P Smith, Employer’ Labour Use Strategies. Department of Employment Research Paper 63
(London: HMSO, 1989).

Newspaper article

V Chaudhary, ‘Asians can play football too’, The Guardian, 17 August 1994.

Internet sources

If you have read something on the Internet or electronically but there is a hard copy source then the latter
should be used for referencing purposes. If the information is only available from the web then footnote the
full URL, author and date of access.

For further help the OSCOLA (Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities Guide) appears on the
L drive under CarneyD. You can also access the OSCOLA website from the LLB Course WebCT site.
Note if there are clashes between OSCOLA and the guide in guidance then you should follow this
guide!!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

OSCOLA

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Please note the differences between citation in the footnotes and citation in the bibliography. You
should compile your bibliography as you go along.

Books should be referenced in the bibliography as follows.

Cole, G. and Postgate, R. (1949). The Common People 1746-1946. London: Methuen.

Wedderburn, Lord. (1995). Labour Law and Freedom. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

Journal articles should be referenced as follows.

Ewing, K. (1986). The Right to Strike. Industrial Law Journal, 15(3), 143-165.

Chapters in edited books should be referenced as follows.

Simitis, S. (1987). ‘Juridification of Industrial Relations’ in G. Teubner (Ed.), Juridification of Social

Government papers, which are not part of an official series, should be referenced as.

Wood, D. and Smith, P. (1989). Employer’ Labour Use Strategies. Department of Employment Research
Paper 63 (London: HMSO).

If you are referencing newspaper articles then either footnote the name of the newspaper with the full date,
or, if the article has an author and title, then reference as author in brackets in the text and in the
bibliography as, for example:

Chaudhary, V. Asians can play football too. The Guardian, 17 August 1994.

If you have read something on the Internet or electronically but there is a hard copy source then the
latter should be used for referencing purposes. If the information is only available from the web then
footnote the full URL, author and date of access.

[1]
[1898] AC 1.

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