How to Use Citations

Here are a few notes on the use of citations in legal text.

References to statutes

The names of statutes should be written without a comma between the name of the statute and the year it was enacted. For example, the ‘Children Act 1995’.

The word ‘the’ should not form part of the name of a statute. Therefore, one should write ‘the Single European Act 1986’ and not ‘The Single European Act 1986’.

When referring to a section of a statute write ‘section’ in full using a lowercase ‘s’ (unless starting a sentence). For example, ‘section 2 of the Sales of Goods Act 1979’.

When referring to a particular sub-section of a statute do not use the word ‘sub-section’. Use the word ‘section’ followed by the relevant number and letter, for example, ‘section 722(1) of the Companies Act 1985’.

References to cases

Case citations fulfil two functions. They name the case and also tell the reader where a report of the judgment can be found. The name of the case itself appears in italics, with the word ‘versus’ replaced by ‘v’. The notation which appears after the name of the case indicates where the case report can be found

For example, the citation Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL) tells us that the case was decided by the UK House of Lords (HL), involved a claimant called Donoghue and a defendant called Stevenson, and can be found in the 1932 volume of the series of the Law Reports called the ‘Appeals Cases’ at page 562.

Footnotes in academic texts

When citing works in footnotes, the following rules apply:

• The names of authors are generally given with the surname first followed by initials. For example: Rutherford, T. B. , Taylor, R. D. and Footner, B. A.

• The names of individual articles are generally given in quotation marks, with only the first letter of the first word capitalised. For example: ‘The future of fossil fuels’.

• The names of publications are italicised without quotation marks, followed by the year of publication and the name of the publisher. For example: The Environmental Law Review, Vol. 35 (Dogford University Press, 2006).

• The page number or numbers relevant to the point raised in the text are given at the end of the footnote.

Therefore, a footnote citing the information given above would appear as follows: Rutherford, T. B. , Taylor, R. D. and Footner, B. A., ‘The future of fossil fuels’, The Environmental Law Review, Vol. 35 (Dogford University Press, 2006) at p. 35.

Standard bibliographical abbreviations

Here is a list of some of the standard bibliographical abbreviations used when citing works in footnotes.

and others (et alii): et al.
edition: edn.
editions: edns.
editor: ed.
editors: eds.
in the same place (ibidem): ibid.
line: l.
lines: ll.
number: No.
page 35: p. 35
pages 35-43: pp. 35-43
paragraph: para.
paragraphs: paras.
revised/revision: rev.
translator/translated: trans.
volume: Vol.

For further guidance on citing legal sources, have a look at the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (‘OSCOLA’), which can be found at www.law.ox.ac.uk/published/oscola.

For further legal English materials, try the Legal English Store.

Subject-Verb Agreement: Guidelines and Examples

When relating the subject of a sentence with the main verb, the basic rule is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb. The difficulty lies in knowing whether the subject and verb are singular or plural.

Here are some specific rules together with examples of usage. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list.

(1) When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb. For example:

The attorney and her assistant are in court today.

(2) Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb. For example:

My lawyer or my accountant is attending the meeting today. 

(3) Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb. For example:

Neither my lawyer nor my accountant is available.

(4) When a singular subject is connected by or or nor to a plural subject, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb. For example:

Your signature as well as those of the other parties go at the bottom of the document. 

(5) In circumstances where the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not, disregard these expressions when deciding which verb form to use. For example:

My lawyer, along with my accountant and one of his colleagues, is expected to arrive later. 

(6) Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.

(7) The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. For example:

Each of the candidates is capable of the doing the job well.

(8) The phrase the number should be followed by a singular verb, but the phrase a number should be followed by a plural verb. For example:

The number of different companies involved in this process is five.

But:

A number of different companies are involved in this process.

(9) A singular verb should be used with sums of money or time periods. For example:

Five years is a long time to wait for a court hearing.

(10) Nouns ending in ‘s’ normally require plural verbs but not always. The words news, mathematics, and dollars (among others) require singular verbs. For example:

I'm afraid the news is bad.