Secondary Sources - Legal Citation - OSCOLA - LibGuides at The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Citing Secondary Sources

This session provides guidelines for citing various types of secondary sources, ranging from books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries, to journal articles, websites, online databases, YouTube videos, newspapers, conference papers, theses, and United Nations documents.

We highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the General Principles for Secondary Sources Citation before exploring the specific examples for each type of material. These principles cover essential aspects of secondary sources citation and can help you navigate the specific guidelines more efficiently.

General Principles for Secondary Sources Citations

Name of Author(s):

Give the name of author(s) exactly as it is written in the publication.
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¹ Stefan H C Lo, Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng and Wing Hong Chui, The Hong Kong Legal System (2nd edn, CUP 2020).

List all authors for materials with no more than three authors.
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¹ Yaman Akdeniz, Cliver Walker and David Wall, The Internet, Law and Society (Person 2000).

If there are more than three authors, list the name of the first author followed by ‘and others’.
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¹ Roy Goode and others, Transnational Commercial Law: International Instruments and Commentary (OUP 2004).

Cite the institution as the author if no individual author is identified, and the institution claims editorial responsibility for the work.
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Begin the citation with the title for the work with no person and institution claiming authorship.
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Titles:
- Capitalize the first letter of all major words in the title.
- Minor words, such as ‘for’, ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘the’, do not take a capital unless they begin the title or subtitle.
- For a material that has a title and subtitle not separated with punctuation, insert a colon in between.
E-resources:
- When citing e-resources that are also available in hard copy, cite the hard copy version.
- For e-only materials, provide the URL in angled brackets < >, followed by the accessed date.
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  ¹ James Edwards, 'Theories of Criminal Law' (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2018) <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/criminal-law/> accessed 6 April 2023.
- If the e-only material is from a legal database, put down the name of the database as the URL.
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  ¹ 'Due diligence' (Hong Kong Bilingual Legal Dictionary) <Lexis Advance> accessed 11 April 2023.

Pinpoint References:

Use ‘pt’ for part, ‘ch’ for chapter, and ‘para’ for paragraph.

Page numbers should stand alone without ‘p’ or ‘pp’. Add a comma before the page number if the citation ends with a starting page.
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Abbreviated Name for Subsequent Citations:
- If you wish to use an abbreviated name for the source in subsequent citations, provide the short form in brackets at the end of the first citation.
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  ¹ University of Oxford, Report of Commission of Inquiry (OUP 1966) vol1, ch 3 (Franks Report).

Secondary Referencing

Secondary referencing involves citing a source that you have not directly read but have learned about from another source.
You should avoid secondary referencing as it may be less reliable than citing the original source. You should always try to read and cite the original source whenever possible.

In case where the original source is inaccessible, you may cite with the following format:
Secondary Source | Pinpoint | citing | Original Source | .
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In the Bibliography, include only the source you actually read.

Authored Books

Edited or Translated Books

For edited or translated books with author information, cite the author as usual and attribute the editor or translator in the "Additional Information" of the citation.
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Chapter in an Edited Books

The basic elements to cite a chapter in an edited book are as follows:

Encyclopedias

When citing an encyclopedia, follow the same format as for a book, but exclude the author, editor, and publisher, and include the edition and year of issue or reissue. Pinpoints to volumes and paragraphs should be included at the end of the citation.
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If an encyclopedia credits an author for a specific segment, include both the author and the segment title at the beginning of the citation.
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For online-only encyclopedia, refer to the guidelines for citing websites & online databases.

Dictionaries

To cite a print dictionary, cite the term you are referencing as a chapter title in an edited book. Exclude the author and editor in the citation.
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For online-only dictionaries, follow the guidelines for citing websites & online databases.

Looseleaf Services

To cite a looseleaf service, cite the title in italics only. Do not provide the name of the current author or editor, unless these names have become part of the title. Avoid pinpointing as the information may change when the looseleaf is updated.
Title in Italics | .
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If pinpointing is necessary, provide the volume (if any) and pinpoint to paragraphs rather than pages. Include the release number and/or date of issue in the citation as well:
Title in Italics, | vol Volume, | para/paras Paragraph | (release OR issue Number | Date) | .
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Journal Articles

The publication year should be given in square brackets [ ] if it identifies the volume, and in round brackets if the journal volume is numbered consecutively, and the year is not required to locate the volume.
Journal titles are usually abbreviated without the use of full stops, e.g. HKLJ instead of H.K.L.J. You can check the journal abbreviations via Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.

Websites

If there is no date of publication, only provide the date of access.

Online Databases

For information on an online database that also has a hard copy publication, such as HKFCAR, you should cite it in the same format as the hard copy version.