Citation
OSCOLA Citation Format — A Practical Guide
6 min read
OSCOLA is the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities. It is the dominant UK legal citation format and the one most law schools require for essays and dissertations. This guide covers the rules you’ll use 95% of the time. For everything else, see the full OSCOLA 4th edition (PDF).
Cases
With neutral citation (post-2001): Case name [year] court abbreviation number, [year] report volume series page (court). Example:
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100, [1932] AC 562 (HL).
Without neutral citation (pre-2001): Case name [year] volume series page (court). Example:
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256 (CA).
Pinpoints. For neutral citations use square brackets around the paragraph number: R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19, [12]. For traditional reports use the page number: Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, 580 (HL).
Statutes
Short title plus year. Add section, sub-section, paragraph as needed. No italics, no comma between title and year:
Theft Act 1968, s 1(1)(a).
For statutory instruments, use the SI series number:
Civil Procedure Rules 1998, SI 1998/3132.
Books
Author, Title (edition, publisher year) pinpoint:
HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (3rd edn, OUP 2012) 100.
For chapters in edited books:
Joseph Raz, ‘The Rule of Law and Its Virtue’ in The Authority of Law (OUP 1979) 210.
Journal articles
Author, ‘Article title’ (year) volume Journal abbrev first page, pinpoint:
Lon L Fuller, ‘Positivism and Fidelity to Law — A Reply to Professor Hart’ (1958) 71 Harv L Rev 630, 645.
Footnotes vs bibliography
- Footnotesend with a full stop and use first names initialised (“HLA Hart”).
- Bibliography entries omit the closing full stop and invert the author (“Hart, HLA”).
- Cross-references in footnotes use “ibid”, “n 4”, or short-form citations after first reference.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using italics on statute titles (don’t).
- Using square vs round brackets wrongly — the year goes in square brackets when the volume number is the year (most modern reports), and in round brackets when the volume is independent of the year (e.g. (1880) 5 QBD).
- Adding “p.” before page numbers (don’t).
- Putting full stops in author initials (don’t).
Format any source live with our free OSCOLA generator. Every case in our case library carries a pre-formatted OSCOLA citation ready to copy.