OSCOLA stands for the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. As you may have guessed already, it is a way of citing and referencing legal materials. But before we discuss oscola referencing any further, let us understand the process of referencing and citation first.
Whether you are a student working on an essay paper or a ghost writer working on a legal document – it is important for you to cite and reference the sources of information you use in your assignments. The process of referencing allows you to acknowledge that you have used the ideas and written materials of another author.
If you have used facts or information that are common knowledge, then you do not need to provide a citation. However, if you have any doubt, it is better to cite the source.
What is Oscola Referencing?
As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, oscola is a referencing style used for citing and referencing legal materials. It is a footnote referencing style. In other words, you need to place small superscript numbers in your text that those superscripts link to footnotes at the bottom of every page.
If you are working on longer documents, you may be asked to add a list of abbreviations and tables of cases, legislation, and other sources of primary data at the beginning and a bibliography of the sources of secondary data at the end. This will work as an addition to your footnotes.
The entries in your bibliography will take the citation format to the items mentioned in the footnotes. So, it is recommended to thoroughly understand the guidelines of oscola style before preparing a list of abbreviations, tables, and a bibliography.
How to Cite Primary Sources in Oscola Style of Referencing?
In legal writing, here is how you cite different primary sources as per the oscola style of referencing.
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Cases (England and Wales)
For case citations that have a neutral citation, you need to follow the template below:
case name | [year] | court | number, | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page
E.g.: Corr v XYZ Pvt Ltd [2013] UKHL 17, [2013] 1 AC 919
For case citations where you cannot find a neutral citation, you need to follow the template below:
case name | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page | (court)
E.g.: Lamar v Jones [2003] AC 232 (HL)
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UK primary legislation
While citing such a source, you need to mention the short title and year. Here is an example:
Human Rights (Protection) Act 1998
In case you are referring to a section only, you need to use the following format:
Human Rights (Protection) Act 1998, s1
Note: You need to mention the year in square brackets if the year is essential in identifying the law report volume. You should use round brackets if the year is note needed to identify it since, in those cases, the volumes of the law report series are numbered independently.
How to Cite Secondary Sources in Oscola Style of Referencing?
While citing the secondary sources of data in oscola, you need to comply with the following rules and guidelines:
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Books:
While citing a book in Oscola, you need to comply with the following template:
author, | title | (additional information, | edition, | publisher | year)
E.g., Jean-Paul Edward, Business Law (4th edn, Penguin 2012)
In case you are trying to cite a particular page of the book, you need to add the page number at the end of the citation.
E.g., Jean-Paul Edward, Business Law (4th edn, Penguin 2012) 218
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Articles:
If the journal article is available in print, you should follow the template below for citation:
author, | ‘title’ | [year] | journal name or abbreviation | first page of the article
OR
author, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | journal name or abbreviation | first page of the article
E.g., Edward B Newman, ‘The History of UK Legislation’ (2005) 42 TNS 234
If you are citing a journal article that is published on a digital platform only, you need to follow the template below:
author, | ‘title’ | [year] OR (year) | volume/issue | journal name or abbreviation | <web address> | date accessed
Conclusion:
These were the major details that you should know while working with oscola referencing style. While you can now find lots of online tools such as an essay typer, referencing generator, and plagiarism checker to make your academic tasks easier to solve, it is always recommended to know the basic guidelines for your own knowledge.
Author Bio:
Marco Evans is a law practitioner in Sydney, Australia. I also associated with the team of experts at Myassignmenthelp.com. He also helps students with their assignment needs on AGLC and OSCOLA referencing as per their requirements.
