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Referencing and citations - OSCOLA: Cross referencing

Referencing and citations - OSCOLA

In a nutshell

You will only have to give the full/long citation of a source once in your work.

Providing you have given all the details in a footnote the first time you reference, you can, in subsequent footnotes, briefly refer to the source, and then provide a cross-citation in brackets to the footnote in which the full citation can be found.

If the subsequent citation is in the footnote immediately following the full citation, you can generally use ‘ibid’ instead.

Aside from 'ibid', avoid the use of ‘Latin gadgets’ such as supra, infra, ante, id, op cit, loc cit, and contra, which are not widely understood.

Avoid sending the reader off to another part of the text when a short point could as easily be restated. Never make a cross-reference that will be difficult for the reader to find, such as ‘See above’.

Cross-referencing the immediately preceding footnote

Regardless of material type, if a footnote refers to the same source as the IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING footnote, you can indicate this with 'ibid', including a new pinpoint if necessary. You can continue doing this for several footnotes as long as the source doesn't change, eg

22 Robert Stevens, Torts and Rights (OUP 2007).

23 ibid 217-78.

24 ibid 290.

Cross-referencing a case

Give the full citation as per advice for cases the first time you reference it. If you mention the full name of the case in the body of your work you do not need to repeat it in the footnote. If the next citation is to the same case, simply put 'ibid' with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, use the short name of the case (usually the first party, or the respondent in criminal cases, or the ship name in some maritime cases) then give the cross reference to the original footnote, eg

1 Austin v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2009] UKHL5, [2009] AC 564.

2 ibid.

7 Austin (n 1).

Cross-referencing legislation

Give the full citation as per advice for legislation the first time you reference it, and indicate the 'short form' in brackets at the end - eg FSMA, e-commerce directive. The title and short form do not need to be repeated if specified in the body of your essay. If the next citation is to the same piece of legislation, simply put 'ibid' with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, you can now just use the short form of the legislation without cross referencing, eg

32 Council Directive (EC) 93/104 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time [1993] OJ L307/18 (Working Time Directive).

40 Working Time Directive, art 2.

 

Cross-referencing secondary sources

Give the full citation the first time you reference it. If the next citation is to the same source, simply put ibid, with a new pinpoint if necessary. If it does not follow on directly, put the author's surname followed by a cross reference to the original footnote, eg

1 Robert Stevens, Torts and Rights (OUP 2007).

26 Stevens (n 1) 110.

27 ibid 271–78.