OSCOLA referencing — the UK law guide

When to use OSCOLA

OSCOLA (the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) is mandatory at every UK law school. Unlike Harvard or APA, it uses footnotes, not in-text citations — and it has very specific formatting rules for cases, statutes, secondary sources and pinpoint citations. This guide covers OSCOLA 4th edition, which is current.

Footnotes, not in-text

OSCOLA puts every citation in a numbered footnote at the bottom of the page. The footnote number goes after the punctuation in the body text, like this.¹ The footnote itself ends with a full stop.

Cases

For modern cases with a neutral citation, use the neutral citation first, then a published law report:

R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19, [1994] 1 AC 212.

For pinpoint references (paragraphs in neutral citations, pages in older reports):

R v Brown [1993] UKHL 19, [1994] 1 AC 212, [16].

Note: square brackets [16] for paragraph numbers in modern reports; page numbers without brackets in older ones.

Statutes

Cite by short title and year. Pinpoints use lowercase “s” for section, “ss” for multiple sections, “sub-s” for sub-section.

Human Rights Act 1998, s 6(1).

Theft Act 1968, ss 1–3.

Books

Andrew Burrows, A Restatement of the English Law of Contract (2nd edn, OUP 2020) 47.

Note: author’s name in normal order (first then last), no comma before the year.

Edited books

Hugh Beale (ed), Chitty on Contracts (34th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2021).

Journal articles

Catherine MacKinnon, ‘Feminism, Marxism, Method and the State’ (1982) 7 Signs 515, 520.

Article title in single quotes, journal in italics, no “p.” before page numbers.

Websites

Law Commission, ‘Hate Crime Reform’ (Law Commission, 7 December 2021) <https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/...> accessed 3 March 2024.

Cross-references and short forms

After you’ve cited a source in full once, use shortened forms in later footnotes:

• Cases: short case name only — “Brown (n 1) [22].”
• Books: author surname and short title — “Burrows (n 4) 50.”
• Ibid: immediately following footnote refers to the same source as the previous one — “ibid.” (or “ibid 50.” if different page).

Bibliography

OSCOLA bibliographies are split into sections: Cases, Legislation, Secondary Sources. Within each section, ordered alphabetically (by case name, statute title, or author surname). Secondary sources use surname-first formatting in the bibliography (different from footnotes!):

Burrows A, A Restatement of the English Law of Contract (2nd edn, OUP 2020).

Common mistakes

• Mixing up footnote vs bibliography format for the same source — they’re different (author order, comma vs no comma).
• Using “p.” before page numbers — OSCOLA doesn’t.
• Italicising case names in the bibliography — they’re not italicised in OSCOLA; only book and journal titles are.
• Putting full stops after foot­note text but missing them after short forms.
• Forgetting access dates on websites — “accessed [date]” is required.

Related guides: Harvard · How to structure a dissertation · Law essay help