How To Cite Case Law In Assignment In UK?

Are you a law student in any reputed university in the UK? Then, you need to know how to cite case law UK. In this blog we will discuss about how to cite a case law in your law university assignment.

Citing a case law is actually providing all the specific details like name of the case, reporter, volume a well the page number. This allows you to locate the full text in your law report.

Why Proper Case Law Citation is Important in UK Assignments

A proper case law citation is needed in the UK assignments to ensure the credibility to demonstrate a good undertaking of the subject by allowing the readers to verify all your resources. This is elaborated as below:

Credibility and Honesty: A proper citation can always build a trust on your own work by showing your readers that you have conducted a thorough research and study. It showed your academic honesty by credit to the original authors who has influenced your ideas. In this way plagiarism is also countered.

Verifying the source Locations: The citations always provide you with a very specific as well standardized information like name, year, case, etc. that allows your assessors to locate the sources.

It Demarcates a Deep Understanding: If you use proper citations it shows you that you have a very firm grasp on your subject as well research methodologies.

Supporting Doctrine of the Precedent: The UK legal system always rely on the precedent where the courts are always bound in following these decisions. If you cite the cases properly, it will allow you with a very clear identification of these precedents.

Consistency is Your Key: it is always essential for you to choose a style that is consistent throughout your assignment paper.

Consult with your Instructor: You always need to check with your instructor or mentor if any specific citation is needed for your law assignment.

Understanding Case Law in the UK Legal System

The UK case law is the law that is made by the judges as per decisis made by them in the court. This needs the court to apply the decisis to the higher court for ensuring the consistency as well clarification.

What is Case Law?

• Judge Made Law: It is a law body that develops from the judicial decisions.
• Judicial Precedent: This is the law where the judge interests the status as the laws passed by the parliament via any case law by providing a clarity or practical application.

Doctrine of the Precedent

• The Hierarchical Structure: In the common law system of the UK, the lower courts are always bound to follow the higher courts decision.
• Binding the Precedent: A high court judge can follow any decision as per the court appeal and both need to follow any decision passed by the Supreme Court.
• Flexibility: High courts like the supreme court can be sometimes overturn the previous decisions.

Which Citation Style is Used for Law in the UK? (OSCOLA Explained)

As per the OSCOLA referencing guide, the UK citation style is used for the legal writing in the Oxford standard of citation for the legal authority (OSCOLA) as a numerical foot note that is based as a system developed by the Oxford university.

It is the commonest types of citation used in the UK  legal field. It is also widely used in the higher education systems like journals, law schools, publishers for citing the primary and secondary sources. This is explained as follows:

• Footnotes: All the citation are placed in the foot notes.
• Super Script Numbers: It is added to the text after the punctuation for indicating a citation.
• Consistency and Clarity: This style aims to clarify everything and the author needs to be consistent in using the capitalization, punctuation, using initials etc.
• Bibliography and Tables: If you are doing longer writings like these and books, the OSCOLA recommend to use the case table, legislation table as well a very clear bibliography.

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How to Cite Case Law in OSCOLA Referencing Style?

For citing the case law in the OSCOLA style, in a foot note you need to include the case name that is italicized, a neutral citation, and is followed by any law report citation like a year, first page or a report abbreviation.

It needs to have a specific paragraph or any page number at the end of the references. It is explained as below:

• Format for case names: The case name should always be italicized along with and unpunctuated “V” in between the parties. Ex: Tom vs Harry
• Neutral citation: It includes the particular year in square brackets, the court name, case number in the unreported case particularly.
• Law report citation: It provides all the information on any published law report. It includes the following:

1. Law report citation: It provides al the information in the law report that is published
2. Year: it identifies the volume thin third brackets
3. Report abbreviation: This is for the law report Ex:: AC for the appeal cases
4. First page: the page number where the report begins.

• Pinpoint references (paragraphs/pages): In any specific paragraph or any page number from the law case that you are referring to – for a specific para, a range of paras, foot notes, etc.

Thus, Citing a case in law is done in this way.

Also Read: 5 Useful Tips to Write Law Assignment Paper Efficiently

Citing a Case Law Report: In order to  site a case law report, you need to follow s definite format – case name, page number, volume number, etc.

Case Law Reference Examples UK: The case law references in the UK follow the (Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) style. This generally includes name of the case, neutral citation, court number, year, volume, law report, page number, etc.

How to Cite Paragraphs: In the all England law reports citation, you need to use the in-text citation at the terminal part of the paragraph where you also need to include last name of the author, page number, etc.

If you are directly quoting, you always need to ensure that your citation includes page number or paragraph number. If you want to write a longer direct quotation more than 40 words, you need to write it in APA style. It also needs a block quote format along with the citation after writing the last word before closing your final punctuation.

Examples of Case Law Citation in OSCOLA: Some examples of OSCOLA case law citations are “citations include Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd UKHL 13, 1 AC 884” for the cases with neutral citations. These are the Case citation examples.

Example 1: Neutral citation format: It is a unique identifier for any judgement as issued by the courts since the year 2001.

Example 2: Law reports format: It includes citation, case name, catch words, head note, case facts, arguments and judgement.

Example 3: Pinpoint references: It directs the reader to any specific page para, section or any other location writing the source like book, journal, article, legal judgement, etc. A pinpoint is used to refer the precise location of any direct quote.

Difference Between Citing Cases in Footnotes vs. Bibliography

The footnotes provide an in text details of any specific points like volume, reporter, page number, case that appears at the bottom of the page while a biography offers a full list of all the consulted sources by providing a full overview for the future researches.

Common Mistakes Students Make While Citing Case Law

Missing information: Sometimes, you might miss certain vital informant from the case law Thus, you always need to be very careful regarding this.

Wrong citations: Proper citation play a very important role in your case law assignment writing. Thus, you always need to be a hundred percent accurate while making the citation.

Plagiarism: It is one of the biggest drawbacks of any type of assignment and the case law assignment are also no exception, so never copy paste.

Wrong Details: Never write any writing information.

Inconsistent Styles: You need to use consistent style while writing.

Improper Paraphrasing: You always need to paraphrase very accurately.

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Tips for Accurate Case Law Referencing in UK Assignments

• Italicizing case name
• Adding neutral citations
• Including the law report citation
• Minimum punctuation
• Abbreviation
• Pin points
• Law reports
• First referencing
• Subsequent referencing

Mastering Case Law Citation in Your UK Law Assignments

If you want to master in making the best all England case law reports, you always need to avail the best online UK case law reference format writing service provider. The casestudyhelp.com is always the best choice for you in this regard.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Citing Case Law

• How to do the citation properly?
• What is the best format to be used in case law?
• How to avoid mistakes while writing a case law assignment?
• How to accurately follow the OSCOLA law case report writing format?
• Why to avail the case law assignment writing online services?

Our team of law experts is here to answer all your queries related to law assignments and citations. We’ll guide you with the best strategies so you can confidently submit a flawless law paper.

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