LibGuides: The Law Guide: OSCOLA

Official OSCOLA Guides

Foundational Principles of OSCOLA

General Principles
Additional Information

(A) Footnote

OSCOLA is a footnote referencing style, in which all citations are presented at the bottom of the paper. In-text citation is not applicable when using this style.

Freedom of assembly is a fundamental freedom for residents in a civilised and liberalised society. However, the freedom, like most rights, is not absolute and is subject to various restrictions.[1] This article will study the extent to which the freedom can be enjoyed in Hong Kong by analysing possible restrictions, especially those under the Public Order Ordinance which may be imposed on it.[2]

[1] Eric C. Ip, ‘Constitutional Finance’: The Role of the Hong Kong Basic Law during the Global Financial Crisis Symposium: 20 Years of the Basic Law’ (2019) 49 Hong Kong Law Journal 295.

[2] Hin Ting Liu and Joshua Chan, “Horizontal effect” of the Hong Kong Basic Law’ (2016) 45 Common Law World Review 101.

Full stop will be used in the footnote for closing of a citation. If more than one citation is listed in the same footnote, you may use semicolon (;) in between the citations for separation. When citing a specific chapter or paragraph, indicate the number at the end of citation.

(B) Use of Abbreviations

When addressing the courts, law reports and journal titles within the citations, abbreviations will be used. For instances, Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal – HKCFA; England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) – EWCA Civ; Weekly Law Reports – WLR; Butterworths Company Law Cases – BCLC…etc.

To look for abbreviated titles, you may make use of the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations, which is available online and convenient to use. Also, the Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations (R K112 R15) available from the Law Library’s Reference Collection (2/F) is also an alternative tool.

(C) Bibliographies

Bibliography generally refer to listing of secondary sources, which will be displayed at the end of the paper (i.e. after the main texts and appendices). Please be reminded that author’s surname will be stated before his or her initial, and only initials will be used but not forenames.

Other than bibliography of secondary sources, table of cases and table of legislation would be presented individually. You may take references from other university libraries on Bibliographies, Table of Cases and Table of Legislations:

Not only can EndNote help to generate references, bibliography will also be produced automatically at the end of paper with the Cite While You Write feature. Visit HKU Libraries' LibGuide on EndNote for more details!

*For full details, please refer to OSCOLA Style Manual listed on the left.

(A) Pinpointing

When referring to specific parts, chapters, paragraphs and pages, pinpoints are to be added at the end of the citation at the footnote. You may use ‘pt’ for part, ‘ch’ for chapter, ‘para’ for paragraph. Full stop is not applicable. When addressing the pages, simply indicate the page number in roman, in which ‘p’ or ‘pp’ is not required.

(B) Punctuations

Full stop are generally not to be included in OSCOLA, except the closing of each citation in the footnote. Commas will be inserted to separate information, like authors and titles, to avoid confusion. En dash will be used to indicate ranges, such as range of numbers.

Using square brackets for indication of year reflect that the year is used to search for the publications (e.g. law reports and journal articles), while round brackets are applied when the year is not regarded as the sole source for looking for that material, in which volume number shall be stated and taken into consideration for searching of the item.

(C) Subsequent citations

When a subsequent, or repeated, citation is used, cite only author’s surname with a cross-citation (indicated as (n n)) to the footnote. Pinpoint would follow the cross-citation.

If a citation is repeated immediately in the next footnote, you may use ‘ibid’ (meaning “in the same place” in Latin) to present. Pinpoint the corresponding section to be mentioned after ‘ibid’

[1] Eric C. Ip, ‘Constitutional Finance’: The Role of the Hong Kong Basic Law during the Global Financial Crisis Symposium:20 Years of the Basic Law’ (2019) 49 Hong Kong Law Journal 295.

[2] Hin Ting Liu and Joshua Chan, “Horizontal effect” of the Hong Kong Basic Law’ (2016) 45 Common Law World Review 101.

[3] Ibid

*For full details, please refer to OSCOLA Style Manual listed on the left.

OSCOLA - Case Law

Reported cases in Hong Kong from 2018:

The Judiciary introduced neutral citations in 2018 (see Practice Direction 5.5), which specify that the neutral citation should follow the law report citation, separated by a comma: