PRIMARY SOURCES
Cases Give the party names, followed by the neutral citation (the court’s own
case reference), followed by the Law Reports citation (eg AC, Ch, QB).
If there is no neutral citation, give the Law Reports citation followed by
the court in brackets. If the case is not reported in the Law Reports, cite
the All ER or the WLR, or failing that a specialist report.
Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884. R (Roberts) v Parole Board [2004] EWCA Civ 1031, [2005] QB
410. Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL).
The preferred citation is the Law Reports, or if unavailable, then the
Weekly Law Reports, or the All England Law Reports.
If the name of the case is given in the text, it is not necessary to repeat it
in the footnote, and the footnote would begin with the year.
[2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884.
[2004] EWCA Civ 1031, [2005] QB 410. [1996] AC 155 (HL).
When ‘pinpointing’ to a specific part of the judgment, give paragraph
numbers in square brackets at the end of the citation. If the judgment
has no paragraph numbers, provide the page number pinpoint after the
court.
Callery v Gray [2001] EWCA Civ 1117, [2001] 1
WLR 2112 [42], [45].
Bunt v Tilley [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), [2006] 3
All ER 336 [1]–[37].
R v Leeds County Court, ex p Morris [1990] QB
523 (QB) 530–31.
If citing a particular judge:
Arscott v The Coal Authority [2004] EWCA Civ
892, [2005] Env LR 6 [27] (Laws LJ).
Legislation The full name of the Act and the relevant section should only be
included in the footnote if it is not included in full in the text.
Marriages Act 1949.
Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b).
EU Legislation and Cases Official notices are carried in the Official Journal of the European
Communities (OJ). Cite the legislation title, year, OJ series, issue/first
page. Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ
C115/13.
Council Regulation (EC) 139/2004 on the control of concentrations
between undertakings (EC Merger Regulation) [2004] OJ L24/1, art
5.
Case C–176/03 Commission v Council [2005] ECR I–7879, paras
47–48.
European Court of Human Rights Cases When pinpointing, put a comma at the end of the citation followed by
‘para’ or ‘paras’
Omojudi v UK (2009) 51 EHRR 10, para 35.
Osman v UK ECHR 1998–VIII 3124.
Balogh v Hungary App no 47940/99 (ECHR, 20
July 2004).
Simpson v UK (1989) 64 DR 188, paras 6-8.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Books Give the author’s name as it appears in the publication. Give relevant
information about editions, translators and so forth before the
publisher, and give page numbers at the end of the citation, after the
brackets. Trevor Buck, International Child Law (3rd edition, London and
New York, Routledge 2014) 204.
Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier, Blamestorming, Blamemongers
and Scapegoats: Allocating blame in the criminal justice process
(Bristol: Policy Press, 2015) 113-120.
Jonathan Herring, Family Law (Longman Law Series, 8th Edition,
New York, Pearson 2017).
Contributions to Edited Books Rajnaara Akhtar, ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages: An Emerging
Culture of Celebrating Rites and Compromising Rights’ in
Rebecca Probert, Jo Miles and Pervez Mody (eds), Marriage
Rites and Rights (Hart Publishing, Oxford 2015).
Jo Samanta, ‘Enforcing Human Rights at End of Life: Is there a
Better Approach?’ in Alice Diver and Jacinta Miller (Eds),
Justiciability of Human Rights Law in Domestic Jurisdictions
(Springer International Publishing, 2016).
Encyclopedias Halsbury’s Laws (5th edn, 2010) vol 57, para 53.
Journal Articles Authors name, ‘title of article’, year of publication in [year identifies
the volume] or (year and there is a separate volume number), volume
number if applicable (issue number), name of journal in full or
abbreviated form, number of the first page of the article.
Kate Wilkinson, ‘Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Green
Economy: Green Washing or Something New?’ (2014), 5(2)
Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, 168.
When ‘pinpointing’, put a comma between the first
page of the article and the page pinpoint.
JAG Griffith, ‘The Common Law and the Political Constitution’
(2001) 117 LQR 42, 64.
Online Journals Caroline Coles, ‘The role of new technology in improving
engagement among law students in higher education’ (2009) 3
Journal of Information, Law & Technology
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/2009_3/coles accessed 14
September 2017.
Papers and Law Commission Reports Department for International Development, Eliminating World
Poverty: Building our Common Future (White Paper, Cm 7656,
2009) ch 5 Law Commission, Reforming Bribery (Law Com No
313, 2008) paras 3.12–3.17.
Websites and Blogs Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May
2009) <www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html> accessed 19
November 2016.
Newspaper articles Graham Ruddick, ‘BBC chief unveils plans to tackle gender pay gap
and pay inequality’, the Guardian (London, 6 September
2017)https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/06/bbcchief-
unveils-plans-to-tackle-gender-pay-gap-and-pay-inequality, accessed
14 September 2017.
SCHOOL OF LAW 2
FOOTNOTES Cases
First footnote Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL
13, [2008] 1 AC 884
Subsequent footnotes Corr, the Corr Case, Corr v IBC….
Bibliography Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd [2008] UKHL
13, [2008] 1 AC 884
Notes: Add the page or paragraph number at the
end to show which part of the judgment
you are referring to.
Legislation
First footnote Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998, sX.
Subsequent footnotes HRA, 1998, sX.
Bibliography Human Rights Act 1998
Notes: If all the information with regards to the
source is actually in the text, a footnote
citation is not needed.
Books
First footnote Gavin Dingwall and Tim Hillier,
Blamestorming, Blamemongers and
Scapegoats: Allocating blame in the
criminal justice process (Bristol: Policy
Press 2015) 113-120.
Subsequent footnotes Dingwall and Hillier (n X) 95.
Bibliography Dingwall G. and Hillier T,
Blamestorming, Blamemongers and
Scapegoats: Allocating Blame in the
Criminal Justice Process (Bristol: Policy
Press 2015)
Notes: In ‘(n X)’ above, the ‘X’ denotes the first
footnote where the full citation of the
source appears.
Contribution to Edited Books
First footnote Rajnaara Akhtar, ‘Unregistered Muslim
Marriages: An Emerging Culture of
Celebrating Rites and Compromising
Rights’ in Rebecca Probert, Jo Miles and
Pervez Mody (eds), Marriage Rites and
Rights (Hart Publishing, Oxford 2015).
Subsequent footnotes Akhtar (n X) 167.
Bibliography Akhtar R, ‘Unregistered Muslim
Marriages: An Emerging Culture of
Celebrating Rites and Compromising
Rights’ in Probert R, Miles J, and Mody P,
(eds) Marriage Rites and Rights (Hart
Publishing, Oxford 2015)
Journal Articles
First footnote Kate Wilkinson, ‘Payment for Ecosystem
Services and the Green Economy: Green
Washing or Something New?’ (2014),
5(2) Journal of Human Rights and the
Environment, 168.
Subsequent footnotes Wilkinson (n X) 170.
Bibliography Wilkinson K, ‘Payment for Ecosystem
Services and the Green Economy: Green
Washing or Something New?’ (2014),
5(2) Journal of Human Rights and the
Environment, 168
Notes: Although you may access the journal
article online, you should not reference it
to an online url. You should always
reference the journal itself.
Online Journals First footnote Caroline Coles, ‘The role of new technology
in improving engagement among law
students in higher education’ (2009) 3
Journal of Information, Law & Technology
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/2009_3/coles
accessed 14 September 2017.
Subsequent footnote Coles (n X).
Bibliography Coles C, ‘The role of new technology in
improving engagement among law students
in higher education’ (2009) 3 Journal of
Information, Law & Technology
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/2009_3/coles
accessed 14 September 2017
Websites and Blogs
First footnote Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’
(Naked Law, 1 May 2009)
<www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html>
accessed 19 November 2016.
Subsequent footnote Cole (n X).
Bibliography Cole S, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’
(Naked Law, 1 May 2009)
<www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html>
accessed 19 November 2016
Newspaper Articles First footnote Graham Ruddick, ‘BBC chief unveils plans
to tackle gender pay gap and pay
inequality’, the Guardian (London, 6
September 2017)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/s
ep/06/bbc-chief-unveils-plans-to-tackle-
gender-pay-gap-and-pay-inequality,
accessed 14 September 2017.
Subsequent footnote Ruddick (n X).
Bibliography Ruddick G, ‘BBC chief unveils plans to
tackle gender pay gap and pay inequality’,
the Guardian (London, 6 September 2017)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/se
p/06/bbc-chief-unveils-plans-to-tackle-
gender-pay-gap-and-pay-inequality,
accessed 14 September 2017
——————————————————————–
REFERENCE LIST At the end of your essay, there should be a reference list and
bibliography listing all the primary and secondary materials you have
referred to. For example:
Table of Cases
UK Cases
Bunt v Tilley [2006] EWHC 407 (QB), [2006] 3 All ER 336
Callery v Gray [2001] EWCA Civ 1117, [2001] 1 WLR 2112
[42]
European Cases
Case C–176/03 Commission v Council [2005] ECR I–7879,
paras 47–48
Table of Legislation: UK
Human Rights Act 1998
Table of Legislation: Other Jurisdictions
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ
C115/13
Bibliography
Akhtar R, ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages: An Emerging Culture of
Celebrating Rites and Compromising Rights’ in Probert R, Miles J,
and Mody P, (eds) Marriage Rites and Rights (Hart Publishing,
Oxford 2015)
Dingwall G, and Hillier T, Blamestorming, Blamemongers and
Scapegoats: Allocating Blame in the Criminal Justice Process
(Bristol: Policy Press 2015)
Wilkinson K, ‘Payment for Ecosystem Services and the Green
Economy: Green Washing or Something New?’ (2014), 5(2) Journal
of Human Rights and the Environment, 168
