Research

Citation

Bluebook 21st and OSCOLA 4th, side by side, with the Indian sources you will actually have to cite.

Settle this before you write a footnote

Your competition's rulebook names the style and the edition, and both matter. Bluebook 20th and 21st are not interchangeable, and a memorial submitted in the wrong one drops marks in a category you could have won by reading a single page.

Converting a finished memorial from one style to the other is genuinely miserable work, and it is entirely avoidable. Decide first.

By source type

Bluebook examples use Indian sources throughout. OSCOLA is drafted around UK material, so where an Indian equivalent has no published form, the rule to adapt is noted.

Reported cases

The citation you will write more than any other. Bluebook puts the year of the reporter in parentheses and closes with the jurisdiction; OSCOLA runs the neutral citation first and uses no full stops at all.

Bluebook 21st

<case name>, (<reporter year>) <volume> <reporter> <first page>, <pinpoint> (<country>).

  • Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, (1973) 4 SCC 225, 366 (India).
  • Union Carbide Corp. v. Union of India, AIR 1990 SC 273 (1989) (India).
  • Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 684, 751 (per Bhagwati, J., dissenting) (India).

OSCOLA 4th

Party v Party [year] Court Number, [year] Report Page [pinpoint paragraph]

  • R (Miller) v Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41, [2020] AC 373 [55]
  • Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL)
  • Arscott v The Coal Authority [2004] EWCA Civ 892, [2005] Env LR 6 [27] (Laws LJ)

The Constitution of India

Bluebook 21st

  • India Const. art. 19, cl. 1(a).
  • India Const. art. 269, amended by The Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000.

OSCOLA 4th

OSCOLA has no Indian form. Adapt the statute rule: name, then the pinpoint, no full stops.

  • Constitution of India 1950, art 19(1)(a)

Statutes

Bluebook wants the Gazette as the source of record for central legislation. Each state has its own gazette for state law.

Bluebook 21st

<act name>, <year>, § <section> (<country>).

  • The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, § 6(2)(a).
  • The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013, Bill No. 112 of 2013, § 3 (August 5, 2013).

OSCOLA 4th

Short Title Year, s section(subsection)(paragraph)

  • Human Rights Act 1998, s 15(1)(b)
  • Act of Supremacy 1558

Rules, regulations and notifications

Where Indian moots most often go wrong, because the source is a circular or a gazette notification rather than an Act.

Bluebook 21st

<rule name>, <year>, Rule/Reg. <number> (<country>). For circulars: <issuing authority>, <name>, <number> (Issued on <date>).

  • Income Tax Rules, 1962, Rule 5.
  • SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, Reg. 3.
  • Reserve Bank of India, Master Directions on Relief/Savings Bonds, RBI/IDMD/2018-19/61 (Issued on July 2, 2018).
  • Ministry of Finance, S.O. 387(E) (Notified on January 27, 2020).

OSCOLA 4th

Name Year, SI Year/Number

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

Books

Bluebook sets author and title in small caps. OSCOLA uses ordinary type and puts publication details in brackets at the end.

Bluebook 21st

<volume> AUTHOR, TITLE <page> (<editor/translator>, <edition> <year>).

  • 2 FREDERICK POLLOCK & FREDERIC WILLIAM MAITLAND, THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW 205-06 (2d ed. 1911).
  • M.P. JAIN, INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 412 (8th ed. 2018).

OSCOLA 4th

Author, Title (additional info, edition, publisher year) page

  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (first published 1651, Penguin 1985) 268
  • K Zweigert and H Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law (Tony Weir tr, 3rd edn, OUP 1998)

Journal articles

Bluebook distinguishes consecutively paginated journals from those repaginated each issue. OSCOLA does not — but it does care whether the year is in square or round brackets.

Bluebook 21st

Author, Title, <volume> ABBREV. <first page>, <pinpoint> (<year>).

  • Charles A. Reich, The New Property, 73 YALE L.J. 733, 737-38 (1964).
  • Barbara Ward, Progress for a Small Planet, HARV. BUS. REV., Sept.-Oct. 1979, at 89, 90.

OSCOLA 4th

Author, 'Title' [year] Abbrev page — square brackets where the year identifies the volume, round where there is a volume number.

  • Paul Craig, 'Theory, "Pure Theory" and Values in Public Law' [2005] PL 440
  • JAG Griffith, 'The Common Law and the Political Constitution' (2001) 117 LQR 42, 64

Newspapers and websites

Bluebook 21st

  • Ari L. Goldman, O'Connor Warns Politicians Risk Excommunication over Abortion, N.Y. TIMES, June 15, 1990, at A1.
  • Eric Posner, More on Section 7 of the Torture Convention, THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY (Jan. 29, 2009, 10:04 AM), http://www.volokh.com/posts/1233241458.html.

OSCOLA 4th

  • Jane Croft, 'Supreme Court Warns on Quality' Financial Times (London, 1 July 2010) 3
  • Sarah Cole, 'Virtual Friend Fires Employee' (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) <www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/index.html> accessed 19 November 2009

House rules

Bluebook, 21st edition

  • Every footnote ends in a full stop.
  • Abbreviate months: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
  • A citation sentence starts with a capital and ends with a period. Separate multiple citations inside it with semicolons.
  • Two authors are joined with an ampersand; three or more become the first author followed by et al.
  • The abbreviation tables at the back of the Bluebook govern reporters, periodicals and geographical terms. Do not invent an abbreviation.
  • Add the country in parentheses where jurisdiction is not obvious from the reporter — (India) after an SCC or AIR citation in an international moot.

OSCOLA, 4th edition

  • No full stops in abbreviations, anywhere. It is UKHL, not U.K.H.L.
  • No full stop at the end of a footnote unless the footnote ends in a full sentence.
  • Separate citations within one footnote with a semicolon.
  • Give the neutral citation first, then the Law Reports citation. Where there is no neutral citation, give the report and then the court in brackets.
  • Pinpoint paragraphs go in square brackets at the end. Where a judgment has no paragraph numbers, give the page after the court.
  • Square brackets around a year mean the year identifies the volume. Round brackets mean there is a separate volume number.

Four mistakes that cost marks

Citing the case without the paragraph. A judgment runs to hundreds of paragraphs. Citing it alone says you know it exists; citing paragraph 56 says you read it. This is the cheapest improvement available to any memorial.

Citing an Indian Kanoon URL. Indian Kanoon is an excellent place to find a judgment and not a place to cite from. Find it there, then go and get the reported SCC or AIR citation.

Stacking authorities. Twelve footnotes on one sentence makes a reader suspect that none of the twelve says quite what you need. One authority squarely on the point beats six that gesture at it.

Never checking the footnote against the source. Before submitting, open ten footnotes at random and read the paragraph each one cites. Most teams find at least one that does not say what the sentence claims, and finding it yourself is a great deal better than a judge finding it.

The official sources

This page is a working reference, not a substitute for the rulebooks. Where the two disagree, the rulebook wins.

OSCOLA 4th edition — Quick Reference Guide

Two pages covering every common source type, published free by the Oxford Faculty of Law.

The Bluebook — official site

Check which edition your rulebook names before you start.

Back to the Research Starter for where to find the authorities in the first place.