What Is OSCOLA?

OSCOLA is a footnote-based citation system developed by the Oxford Law Faculty, now in its 4th edition (2012). Unlike American legal citation (Bluebook), OSCOLA strips away most punctuation and abbreviates aggressively. The goal: let readers locate sources quickly without visual clutter.

The system divides sources into primary sources (cases, legislation, treaties) and secondary sources (books, articles, websites). Primary sources follow strict legal conventions; secondary sources look more like standard academic citations.

Citing Cases

Case citation format depends on whether the case has a neutral citation—a court-assigned reference introduced after 2001.

With neutral citation:

Corr v IBC Vehicles [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884

Without neutral citation (older cases):

Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL)

Key conventions: case names in italics, minimal punctuation in report abbreviations (AC not A.C.), square brackets when year identifies the volume, round brackets when volumes are numbered independently.

Pinpoint references cite specific paragraphs:

Corr v IBC Vehicles [2008] UKHL 13 [42]

Citing Legislation

UK legislation requires only the short title and year:

Acts of Parliament:

Human Rights Act 1998, s 6

Statutory Instruments:

Civil Procedure Rules 1998, SI 1998/3132, r 44.2

EU legislation:

Council Directive 2000/78/EC on equal treatment in employment [2000] OJ L303/16

No punctuation in section abbreviations (s not s.). For multiple sections, use ss. Schedules are abbreviated as sch, paragraphs as para.

Citing Secondary Sources

Books:

Jonathan Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (8th edn, OUP 2018)

Format: Author, Title (edition, Publisher Year). Note the comma before edition, no comma after publisher.

Edited books (chapter):

Andrew Ashworth, 'Sentencing' in Mike Maguire and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology (6th edn, OUP 2017)

Journal articles:

Alison L Young, 'In Defence of Due Deference' (2009) 72 MLR 554

Format: Author, 'Title' (Year) Volume Abbreviation First Page. Journal titles are abbreviated without punctuation.

Websites:

Ministry of Justice, 'Criminal Court Statistics' (GOV.UK, 14 March 2024) https://www.gov.uk/statistics accessed 20 June 2024

Include the access date for online-only sources.

Footnotes and Subsequent Citations

OSCOLA uses footnotes exclusively—no in-text citations. Number footnotes consecutively using superscript after punctuation.

For subsequent citations of the same source, use shortened forms:

First citation: Jonathan Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (8th edn, OUP 2018) 245. Subsequent: Herring (n 1) 302.

The "(n 1)" refers back to footnote 1 where the full citation appears.

ibid refers to the immediately preceding footnote:

1. R v Smith [2020] EWCA Crim 1

2. ibid [15].

Bibliography

OSCOLA bibliographies list primary and secondary sources separately. Primary sources are subdivided by type (cases, legislation, treaties). Secondary sources list author surname first:

Herring J, Criminal Law: Text, Cases, and Materials (8th edn, OUP 2018)

Note: Many shorter essays only require footnotes—check your institution's requirements.

Common OSCOLA Mistakes

Adding unnecessary punctuation. Write MLR not M.L.R., AC not A.C.

Italicizing legislation. Case names are italic; statute titles are not.

Including database information. Don't cite Westlaw or LexisNexis—cite the underlying report as if it were print.

Forgetting pinpoints. Always cite the specific paragraph or page when referring to particular content.

OSCOLA vs Bluebook

Who Uses OSCOLA?

OSCOLA is standard for UK law schools, most Commonwealth jurisdictions, and many international law journals. If you're writing for a US audience or US courts, use Bluebook instead.

Managing legal citations across multiple sources? Wonders helps you organize research and generate properly formatted references—including OSCOLA.