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Andrew Taylor› Academic Services Librarian Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology

When citing cases using OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities), you should give the party names, followed by the neutral citation, followed by the law report citation. The neutral citation always uses square brackets. Whether you use square [ ] or round ( ) brackets for the law report citation depends on whether the year is essential for identifying the volume of the law report.

Square Brackets [ ] – Year is Essential

Square brackets are placed around the year when volumes are numbered by year rather than sequentially. In these cases, the year is essential information for locating the correct volume in the law report series.

Example:

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

In the above example:

[2008] UKHL 13 is the neutral citation, which always uses square brackets. 

[2008] 1 AC 884 is citing a law report. The first part of the citation, '[2008] 1', indicates it is the first volume of the year 2008, 'AC' is the abbreviation of the Appeal Cases law report, and '884' pinpoints the starting page number of the report. As the volume numbers for this law report reset to '1' each year, it is possible that, in the following year, there could be a law report with the citation [2009] 1 AC 884. Without the year, both the 2008 and 2009 citations would read 1 AC 884, which would make it impossible to find the correct law report. This is indicated by placing the year in square brackets.

Round Brackets ( ) – Year is Not Essential

Round brackets ( ) are used around the year when the law report series has consecutive volume numbers. This indicates that the year is not essential for finding the case.

Example:

R. v John Graham Bailey (1983) 77 Cr App R 76

As this case pre-dates 2001, there is no neutral citation, therefore you cannot include one.

(1983) 77 Cr App R 76 is citing a law report. '(1983) 77' indicates the year and the volume, 'Cr App R' is the abbreviation for the Criminal Appeal Reports law report, and 76 pinpoints to the starting page. Unlike the square bracket example, this journal does not reset volume numbers, so volume 77 will not appear in any other year; it will only appear in 1983. Therefore, when searching for this law report in Westlaw UK, you do not need to use the year; 77 Cr App R 76 will take you to it.

Cite & Print in Westlaw UK

This information is useful, as you might use a citation to quickly search for a law report in Westlaw UK. Using Westlaw UK's 'Cite & Print' tool, you can quickly retrieve up to 100 law reports using just the citation. The square brackets let you know that you should include the year in your search, while the round brackets indicate that you don't need to include the year.

Please contact me if you need any support with OSCOLA referencing.

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