Law assignments and dissertations use the OSCOLA Referencing Style.
The Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is a specific style of referencing, developed by the Oxford University Law Faculty for the referencing of legal materials. OSCOLA referencing uses numeric references embedded within the text, which are linked to footnotes that contain the full details of the cited source. This guide provides students with a brief introduction to OSCOLA, with examples of the most commonly used source-types provided on the following pages. For further details and examples, students should refer to the official OSCOLA guide, available online at: http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php.
All Law students within Dublin Business School are required to use the OSCOLA referencing format in their assignments.
How to create a Footnote: (in Microsoft Word 2007/2010/2013/2016)
Format of book reference (for both footnote and reference list):
Author, Title in Italics (series title, edition publisher, place date) page.
| Type | Example |
| Book - Single Author |
Body of text: ...significant influence on the development of legislation in this area.⁵⁹ Footnote: ⁵⁹ PA McDermott, Contract law (Butterworth Ireland, Dublin 2001) 251. |
| Book - Two or Three Authors |
⁶⁶ Eric Barendt and Leslie Hitchens, Media law: cases and materials (Longman Law Series, Longman, Harlow 2000). Note: Longman Law Series = Series Title |
| Book - Four or More Authors |
⁴⁰ Roy Goode and others, Transnational commercial law: international instruments and commentary (OUP, Oxford 2004). |
| Book - Editor |
⁵⁰ A Kerr (ed), Employment equality legislation (Round Hall Annotated Legislation, Round Hall, Dublin, 2001). Note: If the book is a translation use ‘(tr)’ for translator in place of ‘(ed)’ for editor. |
| Book - Chapter in an Edited Book |
⁷⁴ D Cahill, ‘European law, litigation and the ECJ’ in TP Kennedy (ed), European law (4th edn Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008). |
Repeating Citations – ‘Ibid’
This guide presents examples of how to reference textual sources. However if you use material from non-textual sources such as podcasts or documentaries you must also cite the source in full.
For details check out the OSCOLA Manual.
| Type | Example |
| Journal - article from print journal |
Joan O’Connor and Gerard Feeney, ‘Transfer pricing legislation in Ireland – a new reality?’ (2010) 23 IrTR (2) 45. Publication information: 23 = Volume number IrTR = Journal title abbreviation (see below for more on abbreviations) 2 = Issue number (only needed if the page numbers begin again for each issue) 45 = Page number (the first page number only is usually sufficient) |
|
eJournal – full text article an electronic database |
D Brooke, ‘Police interrogation: for justice not punishment – part I’ (2010) 28 ILT 22 <http://www.westlaw.ie> accessed 3 June 2010. |
|
eJournal – full text article from a free open-access online journal |
J Mulcahy, ‘Duty of care’ (2010) 104 GLSI (4) 34 <http://www.lawsociety.ie/Documents/Gazette/Gazette%202010/May2010.pdf> accessed 3 June 2010. |
Legal Abbreviations:
| Type | Example |
|
Irish Statute – Bill or Act |
Arbitration Act, 2010. |
|
Irish Statute – Statutory Instrument
|
Solicitors Acts 1954 TO 2008 (Section 44) Regulations 2009 SI 2010/35. |
|
EU Legislation – from the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)
|
Council Regulation (EC) 260/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the common rules for imports [2009] OJ L84/1. |
|
Reported Judgment (Ireland) |
Within the text of an assignment you would simply refer to the names of the two parties, like so: Quinlivan v O'Dea⁴⁶ ⁴⁶ Maurice Quinlivan v Willie O'Dea [2010] 1 ILRM 72 Publication information: 1 = Volume number ILRM = Publication title abbreviation (see below for more on abbreviations). 72 = Page number |
|
Reported Judgment (UK) – All England Law Reports |
Gill & Anor v l Vino Co. Ltd. [1993] 1 All ER 398 |
|
Unreported Judgment |
Christopher Giblin v Irish Life & Permanent Plc [2010] IEHC 36 (unreported). Court information: As the case was not reported in an official law report, the judgment is referred to by the court in which it was handed down In this example it was the High Court: IEHC = High Court (Ireland). |
|
Law Reform Commission Report (Ireland) |
Law Reform Commission, ‘Report: corporate killing’ (LRC 77-2005) [4.22]. Publication information: LRC = Law Reform Commission 77-2005 = Law Com Number (found on report; always includes the year) 4.22 = Paragraph number |
Legal Abbreviations:
Evaluating Websites: You should always ask the question ‘Is this website reliable?’ when using the internet for research. Check out the guide to ‘Evaluating Websites’ for further details.
| Type | Example |
|
Web page with an individual author |
C Baksi, ‘Solicitors support advocacy quality assurance scheme’ (2010) <http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicitors-support-advocacy-quality-assurance-scheme> accessed 4 June 2010. |
|
Web page with an organisation as author
|
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, ‘Credit Supply Clearing Group’ (2010) <http://www.entemp.ie/enterprise/smes/creditsupply.htm> accessed 24 May 2010. |
|
Web page with no author and no date
|
‘Irish Redundancy Payments Scheme’ (no date) <http://www.finfacts.com/Private/personel/redundancy.htm> accessed 4 June 2010. |