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1. Preparing a Manuscript
for Publication
OSCOLA Hard
copy Table of contents
Electronic copy
Style sheet
2. General Style
Points
Spelling Grammar
Full stops Hyphenation
Dashes Use
of capitals Foreign words
Names Numbers
Dates
3. Structure and
Layout
Headings Paragraphs
Quotations Footnotes
Figures, tables and graphs
4. Citation of Sources
Books Chapters
in edited volumes Journal
articles Cases
Legislation
5. Edited Collections
6. (Author, Date)
Referencing Systems
Books Chapters
in edited volumes Journal
articles
7. Further Guidance
1.
Preparing a Manuscript for Publication
There is no definitive guide to writing and styling
law books. Much can be gained from consulting
the Harvard Manual (the ‘Blue Book’),
the Chicago Manual of Style (the ‘Maroon
Book’) and books such as the Oxford Dictionary
for Writers and Editors (‘ODWE’) or
Butcher’s Copy-editing: the Cambridge
Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders,
4th edn (Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press, 2006). The latter contains a very useful
short section on best practice for preparing law
books (360-75).
OSCOLA
Our style is consistent with OSCOLA (the Oxford
Style for the Citation of Legal Authorities).
This is a comprehensive guide to citation which
is available from the Oxford University Law Faculty’s
website. It is a modern style which adopts straightforward
and easily followed rules for citing all manner
of legal materials.
The points listed below are set out either to
alert authors to particular features of our house
style which may be inconsistent with the styles
of some of the larger publishers, or to reinforce
what we view as best practice. Whatever style
you decide to adopt, please be consistent in what
you do, and try to stick to the rules listed in
section 2 below.
When you deliver your manuscript please make
sure you include the following:
Hard Copy
The typescript should be word-processed, double
spaced and printed on one side of A4 paper. Ample
margins should be left. The typescript should
be printed on a good quality laser or inkjet printer.
The typescript pages should be numbered consecutively
through the entire book, not by chapter.
Table of Contents
You must prepare a table of contents, though it
is not necessary to include page numbers at this
stage. For edited collections the chapter number,
title and contributor name is sufficient. For
single-authored books you
may include up to the first three levels of heading.
Electronic copy
The typescript should always be delivered electronically
by e-mail, on a CD Rom, memory stick or 3.5 inch
disk, as well as in hard copy. NB. The electronic
version must exactly match the hard copy. Please
remember to let us know the type of software used
and the name of the files in which the text and
notes are stored. Text can be saved in Word, Wordperfect
or Rich Text Format. Label the files clearly by
chapter number (1, 2, 3, 4 etc). Each chapter
should be saved as a separate file. Figures, imported
tables and other embedded objects should be saved
as separate files.
Please virus-check your material before sending
it to us.
Style
Sheet
If, for any reason, you have adopted a style which
is inconsistent with our house style, or if you
suspect that you may have done so but are not
sure then please prepare a ‘style sheet’
noting any peculiarities which you think we ought
to be alerted to.
2.
General Style Points
Consistency
A consistent approach to the style of the text
and footnotes should be adopted at all times.
Any departures from Hart style should also be
consistent, and should be notified when the manuscript
is delivered.
Spelling
English spelling should be used throughout. The
‘ise’ form should be used for words
such as ‘modernise’, ‘civilise’,
‘organise’, and the ‘se’
form for ‘analyse’.
‘Per cent’ is preferred in the text,
but can be abbreviated to ‘%’ in the
footnotes. Exceptionally if you are referring
to a large amount of statistical data in the text
then you may use %.
In the text, references to other chapters should
be in the form ‘chapter one’ rather
than ‘Chapter 1’; in the footnotes
this can be ch 1 etc.
Grammar
Grammar is to be guided by RW Burchfield (ed),
Fowler’s Modern English Usage,
3rd edn (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006)
Full stops
Full stops are not required for abbreviations,
either in text or in footnotes. A full stop should
appear within parentheses only when it completes
a full sentence contained therein.
Hyphenation
A hyphen is used where it is effectively being
used to make one word out of the two words separated
by the hyphen. There are no absolutely hard and
fast rules about hyphenation, though terms such
‘Solicitor-General’ and ‘Attorney-General’
are commonly hyphenated. You should choose the
form you prefer, with or without hyphenation,
and stick to it. Butcher contains useful guidance
on hyphenation.
Dashes
An em-dash is used to mark an interruption in
the structure of a sentence. A pair of em-dashes
can be used to enclose a parenthetical remark.
Alternatively, an em-dash can be used to replace
a colon.
An en-dash is half as wide as an em-dash and is
ordinarily equivalent to the word ‘to’.
It is used for number ranges. It is also sometimes
used to suggest tension and carries the sense
‘versus’.
The use of
capitals
Other than at the beginning of a sentence or in
the titles of works, capitals should only be used
for proper nouns. The following should also be
capitalised:
Act (or Bill) of Parliament
Attorney-General
Cabinet
Commonwealth
Constitution (but constitutional)
Crown
Executive Council
Governor
Governor-General
Her Majesty, the Queen
his Honour, her Honour, their Honours
Law Lords
their Lordships
Lords Justices
Member States
Parliament (but parliamentary) (and the Houses
thereof)
Political parties
Province (eg Nova Scotia)
Religious denominations
Prime Minister
State (eg Queensland)
Vice-Chancellor
The following words should not be capitalised:
common law, and other names of legal classification
(eg criminal law)
court (unless naming it—eg High Court)
judiciary
legislature
local government
press
schedule
statute
Foreign words
Foreign words and phrases should be italicised
and, if necessary, translated in an immediately
following parenthesis. However, foreign words
and phrases which have been anglicised are not
italicised. Unfortunately, there is no agreed
method of determining whether foreign words or
phrases have been anglicised. However, as a guide,
those appearing in the following list may be judged
to have passed into everyday legal usage, and
do not require italicisation:
amicus curiae; a priori; a fortiori; bona fide;
de facto; de jure; ex parte; ex post facto; indicia;
inter alia; laissez-faire; novus actus interveniens;
obiter dicta; per se; prima facie; quantum meruit;
quid pro quo; raison d’etre; ratio decidendi;
stare decisis; terra nullius; ultra vires; vice
versa; vis-a-vis; viz.
Names
Conventional titles such as Mr and Ms, and honorific
titles or titles indicating qualification, such
as Dame, Dr or Professor, may be included in the
text before a person’s name (although this
practice is not required). No full stops should
be used where an abbreviated form of a title is
given.
No titles, whether conventional or honorific,
should be included before an author’s name
cited in footnotes (including honorific titles
such as ‘Sir’, ‘Dame’
and peerage titles).
Postnominals, such as QC or AM, are usually not
referred to after the name of authors in either
text or footnotes, except in footnotes which state
the qualification and status of the author.
Numbers
Numbers under 10 should be written in words. Figures
should be used:
(i) for numbers over nine;
(ii) when the material contains a sequence of
stated quantities, numbers, ages, etc (example:
children in the 7–12 age group);
(iii) for numbers of sections, clauses, paragraphs
etc; and
(iv) wherever words would appear clumsy.
References to sequential page numbers should be
made as follows:
When a range of numbers delineating a sequence
of pages (or paragraphs) is used, the numbers
should be elided as far as possible except for
11-19 in each hundred, which retains the ‘tens’
digit and where the number ends in zero, the last
two digits should be used (12–15; 113–16;
240-45; 400–99; 325–8). However, when
the range between two numbers crosses the boundary
between two or more units of 100, the last three
figures should be cited (eg, 96–1177; 195–305;
401–500; 1206–310; 13, 729–803).
Dates
Dates should be given in the style 1 January 1993;
1993–94; 1999–2001; 1990s (NB not
1990’s).
3.
Structure and Layout
Headings
Chapter and Part titles and numbers should always
be clearly indicated.
Headings should be as straightforward and brief
as possible. Please adopt a consistent approach
to headings throughout the book. A simple way
of thinking about heading structure is to label
headings as ‘A’, ‘B’,
and ‘C’ headings and so on. It is
not necessary for you to do the labelling but
it does help if you have a labelling scheme firmly
in mind as you are writing or revising the script.
A typical chapter scheme might look like this:
You can go to further levels of heading but in
practice this can become quite difficult to follow.
You can also number your headings, and this often
helps, but beware of numbering systems which themselves
become self-defeating because of their complexity.
Any numbering system used in a multi-author work
must be consistent throughout the book. You may
not use a number alone as a heading (ie, headings
must contain text, or numbers and text).
It is not essential to use a numbering/lettering
system to differentiate parts within a particular
level of heading, but if you choose to, please
use the following:
A headings – I, II, II etc
B headings – A, B, C etc
C heads – i, ii, iii etc
D heads – a, b, c etc
All headings should use initial capitalisation
(eg, General Principles of Interpretation).
Paragraphs
New paragraphs following headings should be ranged
full left. New paragraphs not following a heading
should be indented one tab.
Quotations
Quotation marks should be single, except for quotation
marks within quotations which should be double.
Quotes of less than twenty words should be run
on as part of the text, whereas quotes of more
than twenty words should be displayed as indented
quotes. A single tab indentation will suffice.
Quotation marks should not be included around
indented quotations.
Quotations within short quotations take double
quotation marks. Quotations within long, indented
quotations are given single quotation marks.
Legislative extracts should appear in the format
of a long quotation.
Punctuation
Typically, a colon is the appropriate punctuation
to introduce a long quotation. It is acceptable
to use a comma when the lead-in moves seamlessly
into the quoted material.
The closing quotation mark precedes all punctuation
except an exclamation mark, question mark, dash
or parenthesis belonging only to the quotation.
Capitalisation at the
start of a long quote
A change in the capitalisation of the first letter
of a quotation is to be avoided wherever possible.
Short quotations within the text can begin with
either a capital or non-capital letter according
to the original material. Where a colon or full
stop precedes a long quotation, the first letter
of the quotation should be capitalised.
Where a comma or no punctuation precedes the quotation,
the first letter of the quotation should not be
capitalised.
Where complying with either of these rules requires
that the first letter of the quotation be altered
from how it appears in the original text, it should
be placed into square brackets.
Mistakes in the original
quotation
Significant or bizarre mistakes in the original
quotation—that is, where the meaning of
the text is affected—should be followed
by [sic]. Examples of such mistakes include: use
of the wrong word, or omission of a crucial word.
Insignificant mistakes, where the sense of the
text is not compromised—for example, unusual
spelling or punctuation, minor spelling mistakes
or incorrect verb conjugations—should be
left as they appear in the original.
‘[Sic]’ should not be used to mark
American English spelling.
Ellipses
Omissions from a quotation must be indicated by
an ellipsis (three dots only) whether or not it
indicates the omission of the following: the last
part of one sentence and the first part of the
next sentence; a whole sentence; and a whole paragraph.
No ellipsis points should be used before a block
quotation or after a block quotation ending with
a complete sentence.
Leaders (an ellipsis at the beginning of a quotation)
and trailers (an ellipsis at the end of a quotation)
are not necessary. Please do not include them.
Change in emphasis
Any change of emphasis should be indicated in
a parenthetical clause after the citation by use
of (emphasis added). The indication of the change
of emphasis occurs immediately following the quotation,
and not at the end of the footnote which references
that quotation. If the original quotation contains
emphasis, the words ‘author’s emphasis’
should not be added.
Omission of citations
Any omission of citations or footnotes which were
contained in the quotation should be indicated
by a parenthetical clause after the footnote which
references that quotation. The following are acceptable:
(citation(s) omitted), (footnote(s) omitted).
Whenever possible, a quotation within a quotation
should be attributed to its original source.
Where the quotation includes a footnote which
the author wishes to reproduce rather than omit,
the footnote text appears at the end of the quote,
indented, in smaller font than the quote itself.
Editing quotations
Spelling, capitalisation, punctuation and italicisation
inside quotations should not be changed.
Square brackets are used to indicate an adjustment
to a quote, such as making lower-case a letter
that was upper-case in the text cited. They may
also be used to enclose comments, modifications
of tense, corrections or explanations that were
not in the original text being cited. However,
a precise reproduction of a quotation is the preferred
practice, and square brackets are only to be used
where absolutely necessary.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be double spaced and numbered
consecutively by chapter. Start each new chapter
with a new footnote 1. Footnotes can be presented
as footnotes or as endnotes. When the book is
printed the notes will, in practice, appear as
footnotes on the page. All footnotes should end
with a full point. Where footnote cues are used
at the end of a clause or sentence they should
be placed after full stops and commas, and before
colons and semi-colons. All footnotes should end
in a full point.
Footnotes begin with a capital letter, except
when the first word is a conventionally lower
case abbreviation.
The purpose of footnotes is to provide authority
for a proposition or argument, and to identify
supplementary sources for the reader, in moderation.
Additional text and quotations should be kept
to a minimum, such that the footnotes are not
generally the vehicle for the conduct of interesting
counter-arguments.
In footnotes, the following words and phrases
should be abbreviated:
and
others, et alii
a appendix
approximately, about, circa
Article/Articles (of a Constitution)
chapter/chapters
clause/clauses
compare, confer
compiler/compilers
Directive
division
edition/editions
editor/editors
following
footnote/footnotes
(reference
to a footnote outside the chapter)
for example
that is
Ibidem
manuscript/manuscripts
number
number (of an Act)
note/notes (reference to footnote within
the chapter)
page/pages
paragraph/paragraphs
part
Regulation/Regulations
Rex/Regina
rule/rules
schedule
section/sections
sub-section/sub-sections
supplement/supplements
translated, translation, translator
volume/volumes |
et
al
app
c
Art/Arts
ch/chs
cl/cls
cp, cf
comp/comps
Dir
div
edn/edns
ed/eds
ff
fn/fns
eg
ie
Ibid
MS/MSS
no
No
n/nn
p/pp
para/paras
pt
Reg/Regs
R
r/rr
sch
s/ss
sub-s/sub-ss
supp/supps
trans
vol/vols
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In footnotes, the following words and phrases
should be abbreviated:
Introductory signals may be used at the beginning
of a footnote to indicate the relationship between
the authority cited in the footnote and the proposition
stated in the text. These introductory signals
comprise the following:
Eg or See, eg: The
authority cited provides qualified support for
the proposition or is one of several supporting
the proposition in the text.
See especially: The
authority cited is the strongest of several
which support the proposition in the text.
See also: The authority
cited provides added, additional qualified,
or general support for the proposition in the
text.
See generally: The
authority cited gives background information
on the topic discussed in the text.
Compare: The authority
cited provides a useful contrast to illustrate
the proposition in the text.
But see: The authority
cited partially disagrees with the proposition
in the text.
Against: The authority
cited directly contradicts the proposition in
the text.
(No signal): The authority
cited is directly quoted or states the proposition
made in the text.
These introductory signals should not be italicised.
Cross-referencing within
footnotes
Generally speaking cross-referencing should be
kept as precise and clear as possible. Cross-references
to pages are fine as long as it is appreciated
that this will involve careful checking and correcting
at page proof stage. The alternative is to refer
to the relevant part of the chapter or nearest
footnote (eg, see text at part I and accompanying
notes; or, see n 44 below). References to paragraphs
are acceptable if you use a paragraph numbering
scheme (common with more practice-oriented books).
The only form of cross-referencing within chapters
which we permit are ‘above’ and ‘below’
and ‘ibid.’ ‘Supra’, ‘infra’,
‘op cit’, ‘loc cit’, ‘ante’,
‘post’ should not be used.
‘Ibid’ should only be used if you
are referring to the immediately preceding note.
If the note you are referring to does not immediately
precede the ‘ibid’ reference then
you should change the reference either to a more
specific one such as ‘[1992] Public Law
59,’ or ‘Above n 23, at 67.’
Figures,
tables and graphs
All figures should be numbered with consecutive
Arabic numerals, have descriptive captions and
be mentioned in the text. Ideally you should indicate
where in the text you want the figure to be placed.
Figures should be kept separate from the text
(and when provided electronically should be saved
in a separate file) but their approximate location
noted in the margin. It is the author’s
responsibility to obtain permission for the reproduction
of copyright figures or information which may
be copyright. Figures must be of high enough standard
for direct reproduction. They should be printed
in black ink on white card or paper with all the
lettering or symbols included. Axes of graphs
should be properly labelled and appropriate units
given. Photographs intended for black and white
reproduction must be high quality glossy originals.
4.
Citation of Sources
As a general rule sources should always be fully
cited, and except in unusual circumstances the
citations should always appear in footnotes (although
if you are using an author-date referencing system
see section 6 below). The first reference within
a chapter should always be given in full. Thereafter
it may be shortened using an acceptable abbreviation.
Periodicals should always be cited in full. Where
frequent reference to one or more citations is
necessary it is acceptable for the first footnote
to specify an abbreviation. Subsequent abbreviations
should refer to the full version eg Lacey, n 23.
Books
Books should be cited as follows:
M Hunt, Using Human Rights Law in English
Courts (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 1997)
19.
Place and date of publication is required, and
should be given in that order. The name of the
publisher is less necessary, but if you supply
it you must do so consistently. Similarly it is
not necessary to provide an author’s full
name, but an initial must be supplied, and again
this should be done consistently. When an author
has more than one initial, initials should be
closed up (eg, PBH Birks, PS Atiyah, rather than
P B H Birks and P S Atiyah). Do not place a comma
before the page/pinpoint number.
When referring to book editions, please use normal
script, not superscript, ie 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
Chapters
in edited volumes
Chapters published in edited volumes should be
cited as follows:
PS Atiyah, ‘Personal Injuries in the
Twenty-First Century: Thinking the Unthinkable’
in P Birks (ed), Wrongs and Remedies in
the Twenty-First Century (Oxford, Clarendon
Press, 1996).
Journal
articles
Journal articles should be cited as follows:
CW Maughan and K McGuinness, ‘Towards
an Economic Theory of the Corporation’
(2001) 1 Journal of Corporate Law Studies
141.
Do not include the issue number of a journal
that is numbered consecutively through the volume.
Do not place a comma before the page/pinpoint
number.
Journal Titles
In keeping with the OSCOLA guide, journal titles
should be spelled out in full (as in the above
example) and put in italics. This is preferable
to including a long list of abbreviations in the
front of every book. There are, however, exceptions
to this rule. The most commonly cited journals
may still be abbreviated. The following list is
not exhaustive but contains the titles of those
journals which we are happy to see abbreviated
in footnotes
Law Quarterly Review
Cambridge Law Journal
Modern Law Review
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies
Public Law
Criminal Law Review Crim
Common Market Law Review CML
European Law Review
International and Comparative Law Quarterly
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LQR
CLJ
MLR
OJLS
PL
LR
Rev
EL Rev
ICLQ |
Cases
Case names should be in italics (Hart v Hart),
including ‘v’ (no full point).
Cases should be cited, whenever possible, using
the accepted neutral form of citation –
ie EWCA, HL, etc, and if necessary from the official
law reports (for example ‘AC’ or ‘QB’).
A reference to the ‘WLR’ is acceptable,
as are references to specialised series of reports
such as ‘BCLC’, ‘CMLR’
or ‘Med LR’
Names of cases should be in italics with citations
in roman. For example:
Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co Ltd
[1970] AC 1004 (HL)
References to European Cases should include case
number and European Court Reports (ECR) citation
(if available). For example:
Case T–65/33 Christy v Mulliner
[1994] ECR II–323
Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights
should always be cited using the relevant reference
in the official reports (Series A) and, if possible,
also the European Human Rights Reports. For
example:
Young, James and Webster v UK Series
A no 44 (1982) 4 EHRR 38
As with book titles, case names may be abbreviated
after the first full citation has been given.
The abbreviated form of a case name appearing
at the head of the law report page is acceptable
for this purpose. Foreign law reports should always
be cited in the style of the original law report
and no attempt should ever be made to ‘Anglicise’
them.
As should be apparent from the above examples,
punctuation in citations should be kept to a minimum.
Full stops as abbreviation marks should be omitted
from law report references, titles of journals,
titles of judges, and in the names of cases and
after initials and other parts of names of parties.
GATT and WTO Cases should be in italics and fully
referenced, eg, United States—Standards
for Reformulated Conventional Gasoline, Panel
Report, WT/DS2/R, adopted 2 May 1996.
Legislation
European legislation should always have an OJ
reference in the form: [2000] OJ L/27/18
The accuracy of all references, citations
and quotations is the responsibility of the author,
and care should therefore be taken to check their
accuracy before the final typescript is submitted.
5.
EDITED COLLECTIONS
Each individual contribution should be clearly
marked with the name of the contributor, omitting
the title of the contributor. The preferred method
of marking the name is to type it in capitals
under the number and title of the chapter eg:
A list of contributors with a brief description
of each author should be provided by the editors
or autobiographical details should be included
as note ‘*’ to the chapter. Details
should include the contributors name, academic
and professional qualifications, current title
and position. At the editor’s discretion
it can also include any further, relevant information.
Contributors will normally receive a copy of the
book and 25 offprints of their contribution. Copyright
remains the property of the contributor.
Contributions should conform in every way to the
general notes on style given above, except that
it is wise to refrain from attempting to cross
refer to other essays in the same volume (unless
you have read the other papers and are familiar
with their contents).
Editors are requested to ensure that contributions
conform to Hart Publishing style.
6.
(AUTHOR, DATE) REFERENCING SYSTEMS
It is acceptable to use an (author, date) referencing
system as long as it is used consistently through
the work. References in the text should take the
form (Young, 2001), or (von Hirsch and Shearing,
2000: 82).
A complete references section must be provided
for each chapter, or a full bibliography for the
whole book. In this kind of referencing system
the date should follow the author name. In other
respects references follow the format given above.
For example:
Books
Hunt, M, (1997) Using Human Rights Law in
English Courts (Oxford, Hart Publishing).
Chapters
in Edited volumes
Atiyah, PS (1996) ‘Personal Injuries in
the Twenty-First Century: Thinking the Unthinkable’
in P Birks (ed), Wrongs and Remedies
in the Twenty-First Century (Oxford, Clarendon
Press).
Journal Articles
Maughan, CW and McGuinness, K (2001) ‘Towards
an Economic Theory of the Corporation’ 1
Journal of Corporate Law Studies 141
at 156.
Do not include the issue number of a journal that
is numbered consecutively through the volume.
References should be listed in alphabetical order.
When there are two or more references to work
by one author these should be listed in chronological
order. In consecutive references by the same author
the author name should be replaced with a double
em dash. Any co-authorships should be dealt with
as relating to a new author (the surname should
be retained). For example:
Ashworth, A (1998) The Criminal Process:
An Evaluative Study, 2nd edn (Oxford University
Press, Oxford).
—(2000) ‘The Roles of the Legislature
and Judiciary in English Sentencing’ in
S Doran and J Jackson (eds) The Judicial Role
in Criminal Proceedings (Hart Publishing,
Oxford).
Ashworth, A and von Hirsch, A (1997) ‘Recognising
Elephants: The Problem of the Custody Threshold’
Criminal Law Review 187.
7.
FURTHER GUIDANCE
More detailed guidance on the citation of cases,
legislation and other sources is available in
the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal
Style Guide, available at:
www.law.ox.ac.uk/ouclj
or from OSCOLA, also available at www.law.ox.ac.uk/oscola.
If you have any queries, or would like further
information on any of these points please contact
Hart Publishing, 16C Worcester Place, Oxford,
OX1 2JW
Tel: 44 (0) 1865 517530, Fax: 44 (0) 1865 510710
e-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk.
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