OSCOLA

Referencing

[email protected] | [email protected] Ross Wilson

OSCOLA Referencing Assistant Librarian: Academic Support
The 3 elements of OSCOLA referencing

1 Tables
A list of the primary sources (cases, legislation, treaties
etc.) you have referred to in your work.

2 Footnotes
A citation that appears at the bottom of the page –
contains relevant bibliographic information.

3 Bibliography
A list of the secondary sources (books, journals, websites
etc.) you have referred to in your work.
OSCOLA Referencing
Primary and secondary sources

PRIMARY SECONDARY

Legal documents, such as cases and Commentary, analysis and

legislation. discussion of primary sources.

Listed alphabetically in tables at Examples include books, journal

the beginning of your essay. articles and websites.

Order of tables: cases, legislation, Listed alphabetically in a

then any others (treaties, Bibliography at the end of your
conventions etc.) essay.

OSCOLA Referencing
Referencing a case

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

Page v Smith AC 155 (HL)

OSCOLA Referencing
A shortcut: If mentioning case names in-text

If mentioning the name of the case in the sentence,

you do not need to repeat it in the citation e.g.

As demonstrated by the judgment in Corr v IBC

Vehicles…1

1[2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884.

OSCOLA Referencing
What is a neutral citation?

• Introduced into judgements for all divisions of the High Court in England and Wales (in 2001)
and Scotland (in 2005).

• Some other lower courts/tribunals have taken up neutral citations since.

• These citations are neutral because they are independent of any print series of law reports – it
is applied to the court’s judgement only.

• Abbreviation indicates the court in which the case was heard and includes a case number.

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

OSCOLA Referencing
Referencing legislation (UK)

short title | year

Shipping and Trading Interests (Protection) Act 1995

Shipping and Trading Interests (Protection) Act 1995 s

5(2)(a)

OSCOLA Referencing
Referencing legislation (Scotland)

short title | year | (asp number)

Crofting Reform etc Act 2007 (asp 7)

Crofting Reform etc Act 2007 (asp 7) pt 2(5)(1)

OSCOLA Referencing
ECJ and General Court cases

case number | case name | [year] | report

abbreviation | first page

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

ECR 531

Joined Cases C–430 and 431/93 Jereon van Schijndel v

Stichting Pensioenfonds voor Fysiotherapeuten [1995]
ECR I–4705

OSCOLA Referencing
Treaties and Protocols (EU)

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

Protocol to the Agreement on the Member States that

do not fully apply the Schengen acquis—Joint
Declarations [2007] OJ L129/35

Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union

[2008] OJ C115/13

OSCOLA Referencing
Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendations,
Opinions (EU)
legislation type | number | title | [year] | OJ L
issue/first page

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

OSCOLA Referencing
Books, journal articles, webpages

Hector MacQueen, Studying Scots Law (5th edn,

Bloomsbury 2016)

Christopher Hart, ‘Social Media Law: Significant

Developments’ (2017) 72 BusLaw 235

Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual friend fires employee’ (Naked Law,

1 May 2009)
<http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/virtual-friend-
fires-employee.html> accessed 23 August 2019

OSCOLA Referencing
Footnote vs Bibliography

General Rule: swap author forename and surname,

e.g.

1ChristopherHart, ‘Social Media Law: Significant

Developments’ (2017) 72 BusLaw 235.

Hart C, ‘Social Media Law: Significant Developments’

(2017) 72 BusLaw 235

OSCOLA Referencing
Subsequent citations: ibid

If repeating a footnote, use ibid instead, e.g.

1Christopher Hart, ‘Social Media Law: Significant

Developments’ (2017) 72 BusLaw 235.

2ibid 242.

OSCOLA Referencing
Subsequent citations: cross-references

If repeating a footnote citation in a later footnote, use

a cross-reference, e.g.

1ChristopherHart, ‘Social Media Law: Significant

Developments’ (2017) 72 BusLaw 235.

12Hart (n 1) 237.
13ibid 235-7

OSCOLA Referencing
Other useful resources: International Law

OSCOLA 2006: Citing International Law

Covers International treaties, cases, non-governmental

international bodies (e.g. UN)

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_200
6_citing_international_law.pdf

OSCOLA Referencing
Other useful resources: International Law

OSCOLA 2006: Citing International Law

Covers international treaties, cases, non-governmental

international bodies (e.g. UN)

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_200
6_citing_international_law.pdf

OSCOLA Referencing
Other useful resources: FAQs

OSCOLA FAQs

Addresses retained EU legislation in UK post-Brexit;

other secondary sources (Ebooks, radio, speeches,
podcasts and online videos, dictionaries).

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola-faqs

OSCOLA Referencing
Legal abbreviations

• You can abbreviate the names of most prominent courts/law

reports in your citations.

• Use the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations to search for an

abbreviation or report name.

• See also pp. 45-48 of the OSCOLA guide for other accepted
abbreviations (law reports, journals, legal historical works, books
of authority, case names, words and phrases in footnotes).

OSCOLA Referencing