NLIU JOURNAL OF BUSINESS LAWS

MINI OSCOLA STYLE CHECKLIST

This journal follows the OSCOLA style of citation: (1) 4th ed, Hart 2012; and (2) International Law Sources,
Oxford 2006. Both are available here: http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php. This checklist is merely
a guide, and is not to be considered exhaustive in its scope.
REFERENCE STYLE
• References given in footnotes.
• Reference style is always OSCOLA.
• General:
▪ Et al: not used. If 3 or more authors, list the 1st author followed by ‘and others’.
▪ Page spans are full elided: 1942-9.
▪ Latin phrases: not allowed.
▪ Ibid: allowed. Or repeat the citation in an abbreviated form. E.g. Jones (n 27).
▪ Do not use full stops in abbreviations. Separate citations with a semi-colon.
▪ Use ‘cf’ for ‘compare’. E.g. ‘Cf Ashworth (n 27) 265-67.’
▪ Use ‘See’ to point the reader somewhere. E.g. ‘See n 27, below’.
• Treaties:
▪ The first citation to a treaty in the text can be a short form of the treaty name (but not an acronym), but
there should be a corresponding footnote that includes a citation to the full name of the treaty and the date
of adoption and/or signature and entry into force). An informal/shortened title may be given in
parentheses before the pinpoint reference, and used in subsequent references.
▪ Example 1: Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of
Other States (opened for signature 18 March 1965, entered into force 14 October 1966) (‘ICSID
Convention’) art 45.
▪ Example 2: Agreement between the Republic of France and the Republic of Austria on the
Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (signed 12 March 1999, entered into force 16
October 2000) (‘France–Austria BIT’) art 11.
• Legislation:
▪ Follow OSCOLA.
• Journal Articles:
▪ Style: Author, ‘article title’ (publication date) volume ∙ OSCOLA abbreviation of journal title ∙ first page
of article, pinpoint citation.
▪ Example: Wenhua Shan, Norah Gallagher and Sheng Zhang, ‘National Treatment for Foreign Investment
in China: A Changing Landscape’ (2012) 27 ICSID Rev—FILJ 120, 135.
• Books and Reports:
▪ Style: Author(s) name, Title (edition publisher year) pinpoint citation.
▪ Example 1: Gerald Aksen and others (eds), Global Reflections on International Law, Commerce and
Dispute Resolution: Liber Amicorum in Honour of Robert Briner (ICC Publishing 2005) 601–53.
▪ Example 2: Report of the Executive Directors on the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes
between States and Nationals of Other States (18 March 1965) paras 9–10.
 •Chapter within Book or Report:
▪ Style: Author, ‘article title’ in ∙ names of editors (eds), name of book (publisher, place ∙ year) pinpoint.
▪ Example: Mark Tushnet, ‘Corporations and Free Speech’ in David Kairys (ed), The Politics of Law
(Pantheon 1982) 253, 256.
• Press Releases:
▪ Example: Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Press Release, ‘Minister Fast Highlights
Successes of Prime Minister Harper-led Trade Mission to China’ (22 February 2012) 3
http://www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/comm/news
communiques/2012/02/22a.aspx?lang=eng&view=d accessed 10 May 2012.
• Newspapers and Magazines:
▪ Example: Pablo Garibian and Rachelle Younglai, ‘Canada, Mexico Ask to Join Pan-Pacific Trade Talks’
Reuters (13 November 2011) 5 <www.reuters.com/article> accessed 16 March 2012
• The Internet (HTML Websites):
▪ Example: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ‘Fact Sheet on the Investment Chapter of
AUSFTA’ <link> accessed 3 August 2012.
CITATION FORMAT
• Format: superscript number.
• Footnote marker appears after all punctuation.
• No need to repeat case name in footnote if already given in the citation.
QUOTATIONS
• More than 3 lines: displayed as separate text. No quotation marks.
• Use single quote marks.
• Double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
ABBREVIATIONS
• Accepted abbreviations for law reports, case names, journals and footnotes at the end of the style guide at
http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/published/oscola_2006.pdf
• Otherwise define at first mention.
• Page: numbers only
• Paragraph(s): para; paras
NUMBERS AND DATES
• Number spans partly elided, e.g. 526–29, 2005-06.
• Date format: 27 April 2005.
CAPITALIZATION
• Use ‘Claimant’, ‘Respondent’, ‘Court’ for a particular case; and ‘Decision’ or ‘Order’ for a particular case
document. Use lower case if referring to multiple cases/case documents or if making reference to the term in the
generic sense.
• ‘State’ or ‘States’ always capitalized if referring to a nation-State/country, either specifically or generically (eg the
State of France, the State party to the dispute, investor–State dispute). Government capitalized if referring to a
specific government (eg the Indian Government), but not capitalized if making reference to the term ‘government’
in the generic sense.