Skip to Main Content

Referencing / Citation Styles: Legal Citation

Introduction

For legal citation at Otago, use the New Zealand Law Style Guide (NZLSG).

This guide shows you how to cite legal sources in text, or as footnotes.

Although the guide is now into its third edition, some publication types, particularly for other jurisdictions, are only superficially considered.

For information about other commonly cited jurisdictions, you may also wish to consult:

  • The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC)
  • The Oxford Standard Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA)
  • The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (from McGill)
  • The Bluebook: A uniform system of citation (for United States law)

 These guides are all available from the Law Library at K 114

Legal citation and reference management

Legal citation styles do not map easily into reference management sytems.

We recommend Endnote, if you are working on research on a large scale, and Zotero, if you need something simple and mobile.

Both options require some manipulation!

Citation styles

Legal abbreviations

Use these tools to find or decode legal abbreviations

Books