OSCOLA referencing guide

The Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is the accepted referencing
system for the academic stage of legal study at BPP University, and it is expected that LLB and GDL
students will use this system when completing assignments.

This guide sets out the basic principles of OSCOLA, as well as providing „quick reference‟ examples
for the citation of various types of primary and secondary legal resources. Information is taken from
the OSCOLA 4th ed. 2012 (published by Hart) and also the Quick Reference Guide, both of which are
available along with further information and examples at www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola.

Footnotes
OSCOLA is a footnote style: all citations appear in footnotes. OSCOLA does not use endnotes or in-
text citations, such as „(Brown, 2007)‟.

When citing any source, either directly (as a quotation) or indirectly (by referring to ideas in a
source), cite the reference in a footnote, in the style indicated in OSCOLA. Note, any words which
have been quoted directly, must appear in quotation marks.

Indicate footnotes with a superscript number which should appear after the relevant punctuation in
the text (if any). 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.

Citing cases
When citing a case, you must include the case name in the body of the text. This can be an
abbreviation of the case name. E.g. Pharmaceutical Society v Boots. If you use an abbreviation of
the case name in the body of the text, the full name of the case and its citation must be included in a
footnote. The citation in the footnote should then consist of: the full name of the case, the neutral
citation (if appropriate), date and/or volume, law report abbreviation and first page of the relevant law
report, and where necessary the court e.g. Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash
Chemists (Southern) Ltd [1953] 1 QB 401

If the full name of the case is given in the text, it is not necessary to repeat the name in the footnote.
You must, however, place the rest of the above mentioned information in the footnote. E.g.
It is well represented in the case law, perhaps most notably in the expression of the no-
conflict rule advocated by Lord Upjohn in Phipps v Boardman,31 and in the earlier Court of
Appeal decision in Boulting v Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied
Technicians.32 In Boulting [or „in the Boulting case‟], Upjohn LJ said that the rule „must be
applied realistically to a state of affairs which discloses a real conflict of duty and interest
and not to some theoretical or rhetorical conflict‟.33 In Phipps, Lord Upjohn developed his
view of the rule further by adding that there must be a „real sensible possibility of conflict‟.34
 The relevant footnotes would appear as follows:
31
[1967] 2 AC 46 (HL).
32
[1963] 2 QB 606 (CA).
33
Boulting (n 32) 638. OR 33 ibid 638.
34
Phipps (n 31) 124.

Where it says (n 31) or (n 32), this tells you in which footnote the case has previously been referred.
Alternatively, you can use the word „ibid‟ (an abbreviation of „ibidem‟ meaning „in the same place‟) if
referring to the same case/citation as the previous footnote.

The numbers at the end of footnotes 33 and 34 (638 and 124) are called „pinpoints‟; they give the
page on which the quotation can be found. It is also acceptable to include the full case reference in
all footnotes.

Citing legislation
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, as in the following sentence:
This case highlights the far-reaching judicial role ushered in by the Human Rights Act 1998.
Where the text does not include the name of the Act or the relevant section, this information should
be provided in a footnote.
British courts must only consider Strasbourg jurisprudence: they are not bound by it.1
1
Human Rights Act 1998, s 2.

Citing secondary sources

If relying on or referring to a secondary source, such as a book or an article, provide a citation for the
work in a footnote.

Give the author‟s name in the same form as in the publication. Give relevant information about
editions, translators and so forth before the publisher, and give page numbers at the end of the
citation, after the brackets.

Hart wrote that the doctrine of precedent is compatible with „two types of creative or
legislative activity‟: distinguishing the earlier case by „narrowing the rule extracted from the
precedent‟, and widening the rule by discarding „a restriction found in the rule as formulated
from the earlier case‟.34
34
HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (2nd edn, Clarendon Press 1994) 135.
Bibliographies
After the main body of the text and any appendices, you should include a list of cases, legislation and
secondary sources used. Each list should be alphabetised.
The list of cases should contain the full name and case citation of the cases.
The list of legislation needs to contain the title of each piece of legislation and the relevant date. You
could divide your list of legislation into different types of legislation e.g. statutes and statutory
instruments.
The list of secondary sources should include all such sources cited in the work and need not be
indexed.
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 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.
CIT ATION in a footnote
15 Elizabeth Fisher, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Hart Publishing 2007).

CIT ATION in a bibliography

Fisher E, Risk Regulation and Administrative Constitutionalism (Hart Publishing 2007)
 Quick reference examples
Primary Sources Secondary Sources
Do not use full stops in abbreviations. Books
Separate citations with a semi-colon.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (first published
Cases 1651, Penguin 1985) 268
Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, Gareth Jones, Goff and Jones: The Law of
[2008] 1 AC 884 Restitution (1st supp, 7th edn, Sweet &
R (Roberts) v Parole Board [2004] EWCA Maxwell 2009)
Civ 1031, [2005] QB 410
K Zweigert and H Kötz, An Introduction to
Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL)
Comparative Law (Tony Weir tr, 3rd edn,
When pinpointing, give paragraph numbers in OUP 1998)
square brackets at the end of the citation. If the
Contributions to edited books
judgment has no paragraph numbers, give the
page number pinpoint after the court. Francis Rose, „The Evolution of the
Species‟ in Andrew Burrows and Alan
Callery v Gray [2001] EWCA Civ 1117, Rodger (eds), Mapping the Law: Essays in
[2001] 1 WLR 2112 [42], [45] Memory of Peter Birks (OUP 2006)
Bunt v Tilley [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), Encyclopedias
[2006] 3 All ER 336 [1]–[37] Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010) vol 57,
R v Leeds County Court, ex p Morris [1990] para 53
QB 523 (QB) 530–31 Journal articles
If citing a particular judge: Paul Craig, „Theory, “Pure Theory” and
Arscott v The Coal Authority [2004] EWCA Values in Public Law‟ [2005] PL 440
Civ 892, [2005] Env LR 6 [27] (Laws LJ) When pinpointing, put a comma between the
first page of the article and the page pinpoint.

Statutes and statutory instruments JAG Griffith, „The Common Law and the
Political Constitution‟ (2001) 117 LQR 42,
Act of Supremacy 1558
64
Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b)
Online journals
Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour Graham Greenleaf, „The Global
(Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, Development of Free Access to Legal
SI 2004/3166 Information‟ (2010) 1(1) EJLT
EU legislation and cases <http://ejlt.org//article/view/17> accessed
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on 27 July 2010
European Union [2008] OJ C115/13 Command papers and Law Commission
Council Regulation (EC) 139/2004 on the reports
control of concentrations between Department for International Development,
undertakings (EC Merger Regulation) Eliminating World Poverty: Building our
[2004] OJ L24/1, art 5 Common Future (White Paper, Cm 7656,
Case C–176/03 Commission v Council 2009) ch 5
[2005] ECR I–7879, paras 47–48 Law Commission, Reforming Bribery (Law
Case C–556/07 Commission v France Com No 313, 2008) paras 3.12–3.17
[2009] OJ C102/8 Websites and blogs
European Court of Human Rights Sarah Cole, „Virtual Friend Fires Employee‟
Omojudi v UK (2010) 51 EHRR 10 (Naked Law, 1 May 2009)
Osman v UK ECHR 1998–VIII 3124 <http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.h
tml> accessed 19 November 2009
Balogh v Hungary App no 47940/99
(ECHR, 20 July 2004) Newspaper articles
Jane Croft, „Supreme Court Warns on Quality‟
Simpson v UK (1989) 64 DR 188 Financial Times (London, 1 July 2010) 3