OSCOLA Citation Generator

Format UK cases, statutes, books, and journal articles to the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edition). Free, fast, no sign-up.

Case name (e.g. Donoghue v Stevenson)

Year (judgment)

Neutral citation (post-2001)

Report year

Volume

Report series

First page

Court (e.g. HL, CA, QBD)

Pinpoint (page or [paragraph])

OSCOLA output

Fill in the form above to generate a citation.

OSCOLA is a footnote style — italicise case names and book titles in your final document. This tool emits plain text for portability.

What is OSCOLA?

OSCOLA — the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities — is the citation format used by most UK law schools and legal scholarship. It’s footnote-driven, deliberately sparse, and very different from APA, MLA, or Bluebook.

Use this tool to format any source you cite in an essay, dissertation, or moot bundle. Output is plain text — paste into Word, Pages, LaTeX, or your reference manager.

Quick reference: case citations

Neutral citation present (post-2001 cases): Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100, [1932] AC 562.
Pre-neutral: case name in italics, then the most authoritative report only. Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256 (CA).
Court abbreviation in brackets when the report alone doesn’t make it obvious (HL, CA, QBD, Ch, Fam).
Pinpoint references — paragraph for neutral citations ([34]), page for law reports (562).

Want every case in your reading list pre-formatted? Caselaw stores an OSCOLA citation on every brief in our case library.