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Law

Legislation

Legislation (Sections 2.4-2.5 in OSCOLA Guide)

  • Cite an act by its short title and year in roman

  • Do not use popular titles of Acts, such as ‘Lord Campbell’s Act'

  • You can give any shortened form of a UK statute in brackets the first time you cite it.

  • If you give all the information about a piece of legislation in the text of your essay, you do not need to footnote it. 

  • Capitalise the major words in the title of legislation.

  • If you're repeatedly referring to the same act in quick succession, you can use an abbreviated form of the title in the footnote, as long as you make it clear to the reader. From page 23 of the OSCOLA guide: 

'The abbreviation is usually the initials of the main words in the title, and should always include the year (so that, for example, the Human Rights Act 1998 becomes ‘HRA 1998’ and not just ‘HRA’). In the text, it is acceptable in such circumstances to refer without any prior warning to ‘the 1998 Act’, but only where this short form is sure to be understood.

¹²Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (NIA 1965) s 7(1).

…

¹⁵NIA 1965, s 12.'

  • Footnote format:

Short title Year of act, s section(subsection)(paragraph).

  • Footnote example:

Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(a).

  • Table of Statutes (bibliography) format:

Short title Year of Act

  • Table of Statutes (bibliography) example:

Human Rights Act 1998

Abbreviations for part of statutes (Section 2.4.2 in OSCOLA Guide)

  • You can use the following abbreviations for parts of statutes:

    • part/parts | pt/pts

    • section/sections | s/ss

    • subsection/subsections | sub-s/sub-ss

    • paragraph/paragraphs | para/paras

    • subparagraph/subparagraphs | subpara/subparas

    • schedule/schedules | sch/schs

  • Use the full form at the beginning of a sentence, or when referring to part of a statute without repeating the name of the Act.

Bills (Section 2.4.5 in OSCOLA Guide)

House of Commons Bills

  • Footnote format:

Title HC Bill (Session) [Number] Clause(Subpart).

  • Footnote example:

Criminal Justice Bill (2023-24) [5] cl 8(1).

  • Table of Legislation Format (bibliography):

Title HC Bill (Session) [Number]

  • Table of Legislation (bibliography) example: 

Criminal Justice Bill (2023-24) [5]

House of Lords Bills

  • Footnote format:

Title HL Bill (Session) Number Clause(Subpart).

  • Footnote example:

Arbitration Act 2025 (2024-25) 1 cl 6(2).

  • Table of Legislation format (bibliography):

Title HL Bill (Session) Sumber

  • Table of Legislation (bibliography) example:

Arbitration Act 2025 (2024-25) 1

Statutory Instruments (Section 2.5.1 in OSCOLA Guide)

  • Statutory instruments include orders, regulations and rules.

  • They are numbered consecutively throughout the year.

  • The SI number is the year combined with the serial number. This is used to identify the legislation.

  • You can use the following abbreviations for parts of statutory instruments in addition to those for statutes (listed above)

    • regulation/regulations | reg/regs

    • rule/rules | r/rr

    • article/articles | art/arts

  • Footnote Format:

Title Year, SI number Section (subsection if applicable)(paragraph if applicable).

  • Footnote Example:

Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, SI 2004/3166 s12(3).

  • Table of Statutory Instruments (Bibliography) Format:

Title Year, SI number

  • Table of Statutory Instruments (Bibliography) Example:

Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order 2004, SI 2004/3166

Referencing Foreign Law

NYU libraries has a useful guide of resources on this topic, as does the University of Washington.

Legislation from other jurisdictions outside the UK:

  • OSCOLA is vague about this and says: "2.8.2 Legislation Cite legislation from other jurisdictions as it is cited in its own jurisdiction, but without any full stops in abbreviations. Give the jurisdiction if necessary" (page 32)
    • Example:
      • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Refugees Act 2021 (Kenya), Cap 173, s 25(4).​​​​​
  • OSCOLA says foreign titles should be italicised, but you can write the footnote in English and put the foreign name in brackets and italics after the English (bear in mind the language limitations/capabilities of the person assessing your work).
  • Give the jurisdiction if this is not clear from the text of your essay.
  • It's not mandatory to include a URL but it helps with transparency and ease of access for non-UK legislation. If including the URL, put it in both the footnote and bibliography (and remember to include the date accessed!)
    • Example: Refugees Act 2021 (Kenya), Cap 173 <https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/2021/10/eng@2022-12-31> accessed 1 September 2025.
       

Table of Legislation

Tables of legislation and other tables (1.6.3 in OSCOLA Guide)
  • Tables of legislation and other tables, such as tables of international treaties and conventions, UN documents, official papers and policy documents, should follow the table of cases.
  • Legislation should be listed in alphabetical order of first significant word of the title, not chronologically by date of enactment.
  • If legislation from more than one jurisdiction is cited, it may be helpful to have separate lists for each jurisdiction.
  • If there are a large number of citations of statutory instruments, it may be helpful to have wholly separate tables of statutes and statutory instruments.