LAW DEPARTMENT REFERENCING GUIDE

FOR POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

SESSION 2009-2010

Department of Law
Aberdeen Business School
The Robert Gordon University
Garthdee Road
Aberdeen AB10 7QE

Table of Contents
The importance of referencing coursework
Plagiarism
Referencing system
Bibliography
References
Books
Chapters in books
The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia
Journal articles
Law Commission materials
UK Government publications
UK Parliament Bills
Command Papers
Hansard
Scottish Parliament materials
Bills
Official Report
Minutes of Committees
Minutes of Proceedings
Petitions
Scottish Parliament papers
Scottish Parliament Information Centre publications
Scottish Executive papers
Conference proceedings
Theses
Newspaper articles
Online Resources
CD-Rom material
Primary legal materials
Cases
Legislation
Acts of the UK Parliament
Statutory Instruments
Acts of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Statutory Instruments
European Union materials
Cases
Legislation
Draft legislation
International materials
Treaties
International treaties
European treaties
Cases
United Nations documents
Regional bodies documents
Primary materials in dissertations
Quotations

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1. The importance of referencing coursework

It is essential to reference your coursework according to the conventions set out in this
referencing guide. The reasons that referencing is so important are twofold:
1. Proper use of appropriate referencing enhances your coursework and will gain
additional marks.
2. Failure to reference material taken from another source could amount to plagiarism.

2. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of thoughts or writings of others as your own original
work, without properly identifying and referencing the source.
Plagiarism, falsifying or fabricating data, copying from another students work, etc.
are unacceptable behaviour. Any allegations of such cheating in assessments will be
reported to one of the Associate Deans of the Aberdeen Business School, and dealt
with as academic misconduct in accordance with the Universitys Academic
Regulations. Aiding and abetting another student to commit academic misconduct will
be dealt with in the same way. The Associate Dean has the authority to apply a range
of penalties in proven cases.
The following is extracted from the Universitys Academic Regulations, A3 Section 2,
regulation 6 (1):
The University defines this as the practice of presenting the thoughts, writings or
other output of another or others as original, without acknowledgement of their
source(s) at the point of their use in the students work. All materials including text,
data, diagrams or other illustrations used to support a piece of work, whether from a
printed publication or from electronic media, should be appropriately identified and
referenced and should not normally be copied directly unless as an acknowledged
quotation. Text, opinions or ideas translated into the words of the individual student
should in all cases acknowledge the original source.
At university you will be exploring the literature and exposed to many academic
influences. In order to take advantage of these without plagiarising you should:

Ensure that you acknowledge and reference the sources which you have used;
If you want to paraphrase make sure that you refer to it as, e.g. As view of B is

If you want to use the exact words, use a quotation.

Expressing ideas from someone elses work in your own words and acknowledging
the source is known as paraphrasing. This is acceptable practice. Expressing someone
elses ideas and presenting them as your own is plagiarism.

3. Referencing system
The referencing system which should be adopted is a variation of the Vancouver Style
and is outlined below. You should insert numbered footnotes in the text of your
coursework which refer to notes containing details of the reference which appear at
the foot of the page. This is done in Word by clicking insert, reference, footnote and
then accepting the default setting and clicking insert. Alternatively you can use the
function keys Ctrl, Alt, f.
You should use footnotes, not endnotes. The footnote marker should appear after the
relevant punctuation in the text (if any) and normally at the end of a sentence. It may
sometimes be necessary, for the sake of clarity, to put the footnote after the word or
phrase to which it relates.
Footnotes should end with a full stop (or, if appropriate a question mark or
exclamation mark). Where more than one citation is given in a single footnote, they
should be separated by semi-colons.
The details required for different types of reference (books, articles, URLs etc) are
itemised below under References. In addition, when you include a reference in a
footnote you should include page numbers/paragraph numbers where appropriate.
Where a case name is given in the text, it is not necessary to repeat it in the footnote
but the citation should be included in the footnote.
This system means that each reference is given a different number. Multiple citations
of the same item receive separate numbers. The first time that an item appears in a
footnote the full bibliographic details should be given (including page numbers if
appropriate). If further references to the same item are made it is possible to avoid a
full re-citing of the document by using the following terms:
ibid (Ibidem the same) can be used if successive references are made to the same
document. Each use of ibid should be followed by the page number.
op.cit. (Opere citato in the work previously cited) where the document has been
cited at an earlier point, but not immediately before this reference. The authors name
and page number are required. The original citation should contain full bibliographic
information.

4. Bibliography
At the end of a piece of coursework you must always include a bibliography. Failure
to do so may lead to a lower grade being awarded.
A bibliography is a list of books, journal articles, reports, theses, URLs or any other
secondary sources of information consulted during the preparation of a piece of
research. All the items included should have been of positive use to you. You should
not list items which you have not consulted.
The items should be listed in alphabetical order of the authors surname. If the
references start with the authors surname they should appear as described in the
References section in a footnote but should be turned around (eg Walker DM) for
listing in a bibliography.
Primary sources of information (such as cases and statutes) should not be included in
a bibliography.
The purpose of a bibliography is to:
Acknowledge the sources which have been consulted;
Enable readers of the research to access the material;
Provide examiners with an indication of the soundness of your research.
For an example of the use of a bibliography, see Appendix A
Points to note
1. When referring to a source you should always reference the source you actually
used. If you did not use the primary source but instead e.g. looked at a case in a
casebook or an excerpt of an article in a collection of shortened versions then you
should acknowledge this. This means referring to it e.g. J. F. DiMento Can Social
Science Explain Organisational Non-compliance with Environmental Law? (1989) 45
(1) Journal of Social Issues 109-132 in B. M. Hutter A Reader in Environmental Law
(OUP, Oxford 1999) 218.
2. Where legal material is available in both electronic and papers formats you should
cite the paper source. This means that if you have used an article e.g. from Westlaw,
you should not state that you have accessed via the particular database instead you
should reference it in the same way as if you had looked at the paper version.
3. You should never include databases such as LexisNexis Butterworths or Westlaw in
your bibliography. This would be the equivalent of noting down the university library
which is also inappropriate.
4. You should never include your lecture notes or course handouts in your
bibliography or in footnotes.

5. References
The appropriate reference details to be included in coursework are outlined below.
Further information on legal referencing can be obtained from:

The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). The most
recent version is OSCOLA 2006 and this can be found at
<http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/published/oscola.shtml>.

K. Fullerton, Legal Research Skills for Scots Lawyers (2nd edn, W Green,
Edinburgh 2007) chapter 13.

For an example of the use of references, see Appendix A

Books
Author, surname and initials, title in italics followed by the publication information in
parentheses (edition if other than the first edition, publisher, place of publication date
of publication) e.g.
DM Walker, The Scottish Legal System (8th edn, W Green, Edinburgh 2001)
If a book has two authors both should be included e.g.
RM White and ID Willock, The Scottish Legal System (4th edn, Tottel, Haywards
Heath 2007)
If a book has three or more authors you should include the first named author and then
put et al meaning and the others e.g.
C Ashton. et al., Understanding Scots Law (W Green, Edinburgh 2007)
Chapters in books
Author, title of chapter in inverted commas, in author/editor of main work, title of
main work, followed by the publication information in parentheses (edition if other
than the first edition, publisher, place of publication date of publication). The pages
numbers for the contribution are unnecessary.
WG Carson Symbolic and Instrumental Dimensions of early Factory legislation: A
Case Study in the Social Origins of Criminal law in R Hood (ed), Crime,
Criminology and Public Policy (Heinemann, London 1974)

The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia

The style of reference to the Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia depends on whether the
material is from one of the original volumes or a reissue.
Material in a title in one of the original volumes should be styled: The Laws of
Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, vol 6, paras 896-922
Material in a title that has been reissued should be styled: The Laws of Scotland: Stair
Memorial Encyclopaedia Criminal Procedure Reissue, para 183
There is no need to cite the date of publication given that this encyclopaedia is
updated on an ongoing basis.
Journal articles
Author, title of the article in inverted commas followed by the publication date and
volume number, title of the journal and the page number marking the first page of the
article e.g.
V Aubert, Some Social Functions of Legislation (1966) 10 Acta Sociologica 97
Points to note:
Journal titles are not italicised like book titles.
If the publication date identifies the volume the year reference should not be in
brackets unless it is an English journal in which case it should appear in square
brackets e.g.
DM Walker, The Importance of Stairs Work for the Modern Lawyer1981 JR 161
Boch, The Enforcement of the Environmental Assessment Directive in the National
Courts: A Breach in the Dyke [1997] JEL 129
Normal practice is to abbreviate journal titles but if you are referring to a lesser
known or foreign journal you should provide its full title.
If you are referring to a particular page within the article you should put a comma
between the first page of the article and the particular page number e.g.
DM Walker, The Importance of Stairs Work for the Modern Lawyer 1981 JR 161,
167
If you are referring to a paragraph number as opposed to a page number it should
appear in square brackets.

Electronic journal articles

If an article is published in a printed format and also available electronically, you
should reference the printed source for the article.
Some journals are only published electronically in which case they should be
referenced as above but with the following additional details: the website address
within angled brackets and most recent date of access e.g.
A Paliwala, Legal e-Learning in Network Society [2007] 1 JILT
<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/jilt/2007_1/paliwala/> accessed 8/10/07
Law Commission materials
Scottish Law Commission
Scottish Law Commission Reports should be referenced by title followed by the
following details in parenthesis (number, any Scottish Executive or House of
Commons paper numbers as appropriate and the year) e.g.
Report on Variation and Termination of Trusts (Scot Law Com No 206, SE/2007/42,
2007)
The reference for Scottish Law Commission Discussion Papers should include the DP
number which indicates that it is a discussion paper as opposed to a final report e.g.
Discussion Paper on Personal Injury Actions: Limitation and Prescribed Claims (Scot
Law Com DP No 132, 2006)
English Law Commission
Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide (Law Com No 304, 2006)
UK Government publications
UK Parliament Bills
Each Bill is given a number. However, if the Bill is reprinted it will be given a new
number. The number of a Bill has no connection with the chapter number that will be
allocated when it becomes an Act.
The elements of the citation of a Bill are: the initials of the House (e.g. HC or HL), the
session of Parliament (e.g. 200607) and the Bill number which will be in square
brackets if it is being considered by the House of Commons.
Example of a Bill being considered by the House of Commons: Rating (Empty
Properties) Bill HC 2006-07 [102]
Example of a Bill being considered by the House of Lords: Forced Marriage (Civil
Protection) Bill HL 2006-07 70 (this is the Bill as reprinted following amendments,
the Bill was originally introduced as the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill HL
2006-07 3)

Command Papers
Name of author/department/institution/body, title of report in inverted commas
followed by the (Command number and date) in parenthesis e.g.
The Scottish Office, Scotlands Parliament (Cm 3658, 1997)
Note that how the reference to Command papers is styled depends on the year of
publication. There are six series of Command Papers. Each Command Paper has a
number; they are all numbered less than 10,000 and (apart from the first series)
preceded with a different form of abbreviation for Command:
18331866
18701899
19001918
19191956
19561986
1986

14222
C.1 C.9550
Cd.1 Cd.9239
Cmd.1 Cmd.9889
Cmnd.1 Cmnd.9927
Cm.1

Hansard
You should include the following details in a reference: Hansard, the appropriate
abbreviation for the House, full details of the date and column number e.g.
Hansard HC 17 June 1974, Col 134
Scottish Parliament materials
More information about referencing material from the Scottish Parliament can be
found in A Guide to Recommended Citations for Scottish Parliament Publications,
FS3-12, 17 April 2008 which is available on the Scottish Parliament website.
The reference styles below should be used for both electronic and print versions of the
various documents.
Bills
Bills should be referenced by Scottish Parliament (SP) Bill number, title, [printing],
session, (year) e.g.
SP Bill 75 Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill [as
introduced] Session 2 (2006)
SP Bill 58A Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill [as amended at Consideration stage]
Session 2 (2007)
SP Bill 59-ML2 Christmas Day and New Years Day Trading (Scotland) Bill
[Marshalled List of Amendments selected for Stage 3] Session 2 2007
Unlike UK Parliament Bills, Scottish Parliament Bills keep the original numbering.
Subsequent revisions are indicated as follows:

1A

SP Bill 1
SP Bill

Bill as introduced
Bill as amended at Stage

10

Official Report
The reference for the Official Report for meetings of the Parliament should include SP
OR followed by full details of the date and column numbers e.g. SP OR 29 March
2007, col 33710-33712
The reference for the Official Report for Committee meetings should include SP OR
followed by the appropriate committee abbreviation, the date and column numbers
e.g. SP OR ERD 24 April 2006, col 3061-3104
The reference for the Official Report for written answers should include SP WA date,
parliamentary question number e.g. SP WA 28 March 2007, S2W-32485
Minutes of Committees
Minutes of Committees should be referenced as follows: SP M followed by the
appropriate committee abbreviation and the date e.g. SP M SL 29 November 2005
Minutes of Proceedings
Minutes of Proceedings should be referenced as follows: SP MOP, volume, number,
session and date e.g.
SP MOP vol 4 no 41 Session 2, 14 December 2006
Petitions
Petitions are referenced according to their PE number e.g. PE975
Scottish Parliament papers
These should be referenced as follows: author/committee/body, report number, year,
title (SPP number) in parenthesis e.g. Environment and Rural Development
Committee Report 1st Report, 2006, Stage 1 Report on the Animal Health and Welfare
(Scotland) Bill (SPP 502)
Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) publications
These should be referenced as follows: title, series in abbreviated form, number, date.
The abbreviations for the various series are below:
Series name
Fact Sheet
IPRN Briefing
Research Note (until 31 December 2001)
Research Paper (until 31 December 2001)
SPICe Briefing
Subject Map. Comparative Series
Subject Map. Devolved Area Series
Subject Map. Scottish Parliament Series

Abbreviation
FS
IPRN
RN
RP
SB
SM CS
SM DA
SM SP

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Examples include:
Sustainable Development Scrutiny of Legislation SB 06/75, 16 October 2006
Allotments RN 00/102, 23 November 2000
The Water Industry SM DA21, 21 December 1999
Scottish Executive papers
Scottish Executive papers are given a running number as they are published within a
calendar year: e.g. SE 2007/12.
Conference proceedings
The style of reference will depend on whether the conference proceedings have been
published. If this is the case the following details should be included:
Author(s), title (of specific paper), conference title, publisher; place of publication,
date, paper number of specific paper, if given e.g.
B. Brown The Nature of Law of Things Proceedings of the Conference on Legal
Things, Research Association, Aberdeen 2007, Paper 6.
If the conference proceedings are only available at a conference or directly from the
author they should be referenced by author, title, conference title and date.
If the conference proceedings are only available online the reference should include
the additional details of the web address and date of access.
Theses
Author, title in inverted commas, followed by the remaining information in
parentheses (degree or award, university or other institution, year)
IM Smaart, Some Comparative Aspects of Specific Matters in Scots Law (PhD
Thesis, Dundee University 2008)
Newspaper articles
Author/editorial as appropriate, title of article in inverted commas, name of
newspaper in italics, followed by the publication details in parenthesis (city of
publication, the full date), page number. If the author is not named, insert two joined
em-dashes.
I Bell, Springtime in Quangopolis The Scotsman (Edinburgh, 17th March 1999) 19
If the article is from a newspapers web site and there is no page number, the
reference should include the website address and date of access e.g.

12

Large populations of water voles set for return to their habitats in the Cairngorms
The
Press
and
Journal
(Aberdeen
8
October
2007)
<http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=149664&command=displayContent&sourceNode=149490&contentPK=1860
8677&folderPk=85696&pNodeId=149221> accessed 8/10/07.
Citation of Online Resources
Web pages should be cited as follows: author or institution, title, [type of document if
relevant], date of issue [if available], <URL> and date accessed e.g.
Liz Fisher, The Role of Environmental Courts in Developing Environmental Law: The
Administrative Law Dimension Lecture at Edinburgh Law School 5 March 2008
<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/blogsandpodcasts/podcasts.aspx> accessed 14/08/08
Elish Angiolini, Legal Responses to Rape Speech given at the Rape Crisis Scotland
Conference
2008,
4
March
2008
<http://www.copfs.gov.uk/Publications/2008/03/LASPEECH> accessed 14/08/08
SEPA, Joint initiative aims to stop pollution of Aberdeen burn Press Release 1
October 2007 <http://www.sepa.org.uk/news/releases/view.asp?id=589&y=2007>
accessed 14/08/08
BBC News, Judge Questions Cannabis Law 6 July 2003
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3048708.stm> accessed 14/08/08
Scott Wortley, Law Reform after World's End - Scottish Law Commission, Report on
Crown Appeals Scots Law News 31 July 2008
<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/sln/blogentry.aspx?blogentryref=7553> accessed 14/08/08
If the author is not named, insert two joined em-dashes () e.g.
Lies and Statistics, is there a difference? 10 October 2007 <http://www.lies.lies>
accessed 17/10/07
When referring to URLs you should enclose them with < > symbols as this helps to
differentiate them from other punctuation e.g. < http://www.rgu.ac.uk/abs/ >.
The URL should be split at the end of a line only after the forward slashes in the
address. Hyphens or other punctuation should not be added. The case of the characters
in the address should not be altered.
Cases obtained from websites (e.g. Scottish courts website) and not otherwise
reported should use the neutral citation from its date of introduction (supreme courts
in Scotland from January 2005 and the Privy Council, House of Lords, Court of
Appeal and High Court in England from 11 January 2001).
Journals that are only published on the internet should be cited with the usual
reference details for articles (see above) along with the URL for the website and
details of the date accessed.

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CD-Rom material
If the CD-Rom is replicating an existing paper source you should reference the paper
source. Otherwise, you should include the following details: author/editor, title
publisher CD-Rom, edition or date.
e.g. B. Jones A Waste of Time Awful Aberdeen Publishing Ltd CD-Rom Autumn
2007
Primary legal materials
Cases
The case name should be in italics followed by the full citation e.g.
Tiffney v Bachurzewiski 1984 SC 108
If you are referring to a particular judgment you should refer to the name of the judge,
the page number and corresponding letter in the margin (if included in the series of
law reports) e.g.
McNulty v. Marshalls Food Group Ltd 1999 SC 195, per Lord Macfadyen, p. 206F.
A system of media neutral citation was introduced into some Scottish courts from
January 1, 2005. This means that opinions from the Court of Session, High Court of
Justiciary and High Court of Justiciary sitting as an appeal court have been issued
with unique judgment numbers which are completely independent of published law
reports. This system was introduced in England for the judgments of the Privy
Council, House of Lords, Court of Appeal and High Court from 11 January 2001.
For cases where a neutral citation is available you should provide the neutral citation
first, followed by a citation of the most authoritative report i.e. Session Cases in
Scotland and the Law Reports in England.
Martin v HM Advocate [2006] HCJAC 86, 2007 JC 70
If the case has not been reported in the law reports, the neutral citation alone should
be used. Note that the form of neutral citation refers to a paragraph number and not a
page number e.g.
Performing Right Society Ltd v Kwik-Fit Group Ltd [2007] CSOH 167
Unreported cases with no neutral citation are cited as follows: party names (court and
the date of judgment in brackets).
Note: if a case is published in a printed format and also available electronically, you
should reference the printed source for the case.
When citing more than one case in one footnote, arrange them in chronological order
separated by semi-colons.
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Legislation
Acts of the UK Parliament
The normal citation is the short title with no comma before the date e.g. Marriage
(Scotland) Act 1977
If you are referring to particular parts of an Act, you should include the following
details.
If you are referring to a section: Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act 1993 s5
If you are referring to a subsection: Scotland Act 1998 s78(3)
If you are referring to a paragraph in a subsection: Law Reform (Miscellaneous
Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1980 s22(1)(d)
Statutory Instruments
Title, date, and number (if available) e.g.
The Bluetongue (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2007/2808
Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999-)
Short title with no comma before the date e.g.
Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007
Scottish Statutory Instruments(1999-)
Title, date, and number (if available) e.g.
The Zoonoses (Monitoring) (Scotland) Regulations 2007/420
European Union materials
Cases European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance
The official version is contained in the European Court Reports. The full case citation
is made up as follows: Case number/year, names of the parties [year of judgment]
ECR page number
e.g. Case 6/64 Costa v ENEL [1964] ECR 585
In 1990 the Court of First Instance started to issue judgments. In order to distinguish
cases from the two courts, the letter C was added to cases from the Court of Justice
which appear in ECR I and the letter T added to cases from the Court of First
Instance which appear in ECR II.
If the letter P appears after the year it denotes that the case has been appealed from
the Court of First Instance to the European Court of Justice.

15

Examples:
Case C-200/02 Zhu and Chen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004]
ECR I-9925
Case T-93/02 Confdration nationale du Crdit mutuel v Commission of the
European Communities [2005] ECR II-00143
Case C-113/04 P Technische Unie BV v Commission of the European Communities.
[2006] ECR I-08831
Alternative versions may be in other law reports e.g. Common Market Law Reports or
the All England Law Reports (European Cases):
Case C-200/02 Chen, Zhu v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2004] 3
CMLR 48
Case C-200/02 Chen, Zhu v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2005] All
E.R. (EC) 129
EC Legislation
The citation convention for secondary legislation (Regulations, Directives and
Decisions)
The institutional origin (Commission or Council or European Parliament and Council)
The form (Regulation or Directive etc.)
The institutional treaty basis (EC, ECSC, EURATOM)
The number of the instrument and its year of adoption (Regulations are cited by
number first followed by the year whereas Directives and Decisions cite the year
followed by the number)
Date passed
Title
Reference for the Official Journal in which it was published which should appear as
OJ followed by the series issue details, date and page.
Examples:
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1696/2006 of 16 November 2006 establishing a
prohibition of fishing for lemon sole and witch in ICES zone IIa (EC water), IV (EC
waters) by vessels flying the flag of Germany OJ L318 17.11.06 p.9
Directive 2008/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March
2008 amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community
action in the field of water policy, as regards the implementing powers conferred on
the Commission OJ L08 20.3.08 p60
2007/508/EC: Commission Decision of 6 December 2006 on the State and C 22/2006
(ex N 615/05) which Italy is planning to implement for tax rebates on oil emulsions
with water (notified under document number C(2006) 5805) (Text with EEA
relevance) OJ L187 19.7.07 p22

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EC Draft Legislation (Com documents)

The following details should be included: body who produced the document title
COM reference, date
e.g. Commission (EC) Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be
adopted on behalf of the European Community with regard to a proposal for
amendment of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change COM (2006) 602 final, 17 October 2006
International materials
Treaties
International treaties
There is no general agreement on the citation of treaties however OSCOLA states that
if parties can accede to the treaty (which will be the case for most multilateral
treaties), the full date upon which the treaty was opened for signature should be cited.
Otherwise, the date that it was signed or adopted should be cited. If available, the date
it entered into force should then be given. If there is both a date of adoption and a date
on which the treaty opened for signature, the dates should be cited in that order.
Full citation details will include a reference to the relevant treaty series where the
treaty appears. If the treaty is cited in different treaty series, the order of citation
should be:
(a) Primary treaty series e.g. United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS)
(b) Official treaty series of one of the States parties, e.g. UK Treaty Series (UKTS)
(c) Other international treaty series e.g. British and Foreign State Papers
(d) Treaties which have not been published in an official series should be referenced
when they appeared in International Legal Materials (ILM)
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties was signed on 23 May 1969 and
entered into force on 23 January 1980. Therefore the full citation for this treaty is:
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (signed 23 May 1969, entered into force 23
January 1980) 1155 UNTS 331, UKTS 58 (1980), Cmnd. 7964, (1969) 8 ILM 679
Explanation of the citations for the different treaty series:
1155 UNTS 331 (refers to the United Nations Treaty Series volume 1155 and page
331;
UKTS 58 (1980), Cmnd. 7964 (relates to the entry in the United Kingdom Treaty
Series. This series forms a sub-series to the Command Papers. This means that treaties
are referred to by the Treaty Series number, a Command Paper number and the date of
issue); and
(1969) 8 ILM 679 (refers to International Legal Materials 1969 volume 8 and page
679).

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The different sections of a treaty are referred to as articles and article always has a
capital A e.g. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (signed 23 May 1969,
entered into force 23 January 1980) 1155 UNTS 331, UKTS 58 (1980), Cmnd. 7964,
(1969) 8 ILM 679, Article 1
Note that for multilateral treaties it is not necessary to include the names of the
parties. However, for bilateral treaties the names of parties should appear (in
parentheses) immediately after the title.
European treaties
The normal way to refer to European treaties is by their formal titles. Dates are not
generally included as the original treaty may have been amended several times e.g.
Treaty on European Union
Some treaties have shortened titles and these can be used but only in a subsequent
reference when both formal and informal titles are used in the first reference to the
treaty. e.g.
Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty)
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR)
The different sections of European treaties are referred to as articles and article always
has a capital A e.g. Treaty of Nice, Article 1
Cases and decisions
International Court Reports (ICJ Reports) (1947)
Cite case names as they appear in the ICJ Reports e.g.
Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland
and Jan Mayen (Denmark v Norway) [1993] ICJ Rep 38
Reports of case law of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ)
Between 1922 and 1946 PCIJ judgments were published in Series A (Nos. 124):
Collection of Judgments (up to and including 1930) and Series A/B (Nos. 4080):
Judgments, Orders and Advisory Opinions (beginning in 1931) e.g.
Case of the SS Wimbledon (UK, France, Italy, and Japan v Germany) PCIJ Rep Series
A No 1
International Law Reports (ILR)
This series started in 1919 and was originally called the Annual Digest of Public
International Law Cases. This is the name for volumes 116. From Vol.17 (1950) they
have been called International Law Reports.
e.g. Rainbow Warrior Arbitration (New Zealand/France) (1990) 82 ILR 499
International Legal Materials (ILM) e.g.
International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes
Asian Agricultural Products Ltd v Republic of Sri Lanka (1990) 30 LLM 577

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Reports of International Arbitral Awards (RIAA) e.g.

Rainbow Warrior Arbitration (New Zealand v France) (1990) 20 RIAA 217
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Decisions should be cited: Case name (Decision type) ICTY-year-case (date) e.g.
Prosecutor v Aleksovski (Judgment) ICTY-95-14/1-T (25 June 1999)
International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR)
Decisions should be cited: Case name (Decision type) ICTR-year-case (date) e.g.
The Prosecutor v Bisengimana (Judgment and Sentence) ICTR-00-60-T (13 April
2006)
International Criminal Court (ICC)
Decisions should be cited: Case name (Decision type) ICC number (date) e.g.
The Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (Judgment on the appeals of the Prosecutor
and the Defence against Trial Chamber I's Decision on Victims' Participation of 18
January 2008) ICC-01/04-01/06 OA 9 OA 10 (11 July 2008)
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
I/A Court HR Case of Caesar v Trinidad and Tobago, Judgment of March 11, 2005,
Series C, No. 123
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights should be cited either by the
reference in the official reports or the European Human Rights Reports. See below.
The form of citation should give party names (application number) followed by the
publication details.
The official reports
Until 1998 the Council of Europe published judgments and decisions in Publications
of the European Court of Human Rights. Series A contained judgments and Series B
pleadings, oral arguments and documents e.g.
Knig v. Federal Republic of Germany (No.1) (A/27) (1978), Series A no 27
Y v United Kingdom (App no 14229/88) (1992) Series A no 247-A
From 1 November 1998 the series was then called Reports of Judgments and
Decisions. They are cited as ECHR e.g.
Jokela v Finland (App no 28856/95) ECHR 2002-IV
The European Human Rights Reports (EHRR) is numbered consecutively but you
should note that from 2001 the case number, as opposed to a page number, constitutes
the citation e.g.
Y v United Kingdom (App no 14229/88) (1994) 17 EHRR 238
Gault v UK (App no.1271/05) (2008) 46 EHRR 48

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References to unreported judgments include details of the court and the date of the
judgment e.g.
Johansson v Finland (App no 10163/02) ECHR 6 September 2007
The Official Collection of Decisions of the European Commission on Human Rights
was published by the now defunct Commission of Human Rights and contains
decisions which they made where cases were not passed on to the court e.g.
Kurup v Denmark (App 11219/84 (1985) 42 DR 287
Additional points to note about international cases:
If a case is published in a printed format and also available electronically, you should
reference the printed source for the case.
Cases from other jurisdictions should be cited as they are cited in their own
jurisdiction apart from including the jurisdiction and the court of the decision if it is
not obvious from the name of the series of law reports.
Unreported cases are cited as follows: party names (court and the date of judgment in
brackets).
United Nations documents
Documents produced by the different organs of the UN (the Security Council, General
Assembly, Economic & Social Council, Secretariat and the Human Rights Council)
should be referenced in the following order: author title date document number.
Examples:
UN Security Council (UNSC)
UNSC Res 1818 (13 June 2008) UN Doc S/RES/1818
UNSC Security Council Press Statement on Terrorist Attack In Lebanon (13 August
2008) Press Release SC/9422
UN General Assembly (UNGA)
UNGA Res 62/247 (24 April 2009) UN Doc A/RES/62/247
UNGA Report of the Second Committee on Sustainable Development: Promotion of
New and Renewable Sources of Energy (12 December 2007) UN Doc
A/62/419/Add.9
UN Secretary-General documents are cited by reference to the UN body to which the
Secretary-Generals documents are addressed e.g.
UNGA Report of the Secretary-General 62/343 (2007) UN Doc A/62/343
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General
Recommendation 23 in Compilation of General Comments and General
Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies (12 May 2003) UN Doc
HRI/GEN/1/Rev.6

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Regional Bodies documents

Organisation for African Unity e.g.
Organisation for African Unity (Council of Ministers) Resolution on the Situation of
Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa (OAU Addis Ababa 1991) CM/Res/1316
(LIII)
Organisation of American States e.g.
Organisation of American States, Right to the Truth General Assembly Res AG/Res
2267 (XXXVII-O/07) (Panama, Republic of Panama 5 June 2007)
Primary materials in dissertations
In a dissertation cases and legislation should appear in tables at the beginning of the
dissertation after the Table of Contents but prior to the substantive text. In a Table of
Cases the cases should be listed alphabetically by the first named party. Tables of
legislation should be divided and presented as appropriate: Table of Statutes; Table of
Statutory Instruments; Table of European legislation; Table of Treaties, Conventions
and Agreements. Within these tables the legislation should be listed chronologically
and then alphabetically within each year.

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6. Quotations
If you want to repeat the exact words used in one of your sources of information you
must use a quotation. Quotations, including punctuation, should be exactly as in the
original text.
Quotations of three lines or less should be incorporated into the text, within single
quotation marks. If there are any quotations within the quotation you should mark
them by using double quotation mark e.g.
An example is Holland and Webbs discussion of Wood v Smith [1992] 3 All ER 556
which states the testator made a will two days before he died which started My will
by Percy Winterborne...1
The superscript footnote marker should come last, after both the punctuation and the
closing quotation mark.
Quotations which are longer than three lines should be in a double-indented singlespaced paragraph. Standard practice is to highlight the text, increase the indent on the
left hand margin (click on the increase indent icon on the formatting toolbar) and drag
the right indent to 13.5 on the ruler (use the ruler on the view menu, and drag the
arrow head on the right hand side of the ruler to 13.5). This will ensure that the text is
indented from both sides rather then being centred. Quotation marks should not be
used, except for single quotation marks round quotations within quotations. The
quoted extract should end with a footnote providing the source of the page reference
in full.
Use a colon to introduce a long quotation except where the lead-in moves seamlessly
into the quoted material where a comma should be used.
Begin with an ellipsis () when a quotation starts mid-sentence.
If you add something to the quotation you should put the addition in square brackets.
If you omit something you should mark this by adding an ellipsis ().
For an example of the use of quotations, see Appendix A.

J Holland and J Webb Learning Legal Rules (6th edn OUP Oxford 2006) 188

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