Legal Citation - Faculty of Law Style Online Guide: General Information

Footnotes

• Footnotes (citation references inserted at end of relevant page) should be used instead of endnotes (citation references inserted at end of paper or assignment) or in-text citations. 
• You should footnote all materials referred to or directly quoted from as well as materials that ideas were taken from. 
• ‘See’ references in footnotes:
  • ‘See’: supports idea or argument in text.
  • ‘See also’: added information to support idea.

Bibliography

• You should provide a Bibliography at the end of your papers or assignments using the following headings to group references (all materials in alphabetical order within group). 
  • Textbooks/journal articles/government publications  
  • Cases  
  • Legislation  
  • Treaties or international documents

Referencing

• In assignments or papers, the first reference should always be provided in full.
• For subsequent references to the same source, use:
  • Ibid: (Latin meaning: ‘in the same place’) for same source cited immediately above.
    Add relevant page if different from page used in original footnote.
• For a reference already cited that does not appear immediately above, use:
  • Above n (n= footnote number) for sources cited in earlier footnotes.
  • Below n (n= footnote number) for sources cited in later footnotes. 

Quotations

• Substantial quotations should be indented and single-spaced preceded by a semi-colon - use of quotation marks is optional. 
• Short quotations placed within the text should have quotation marks or inverted commas. 
• When quoting judges in text: 
  • Provide judge’s name and abbreviation of their judicial title when quoting their judgments in the text of paper or assignment.
  • In a footnote, provide case reference and then reference to judge and their judicial title in brackets. 

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