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• Book
• AGLC Checklist
• AGLC - Full Version
• Why reference?
• Useful tips
• Journal article
• United Nations materials
• Endnote
• Footnotes
• Newspaper articles
• Internet materials
• Examples of AGLC
• Case law
• Legislation
• Theses and Dissertations
• Bibliography
• Sample bibliography
• Sources referring to other sources
• Repeated citations - Above N
• Repeated citation - Ibid
• Government Documents
• Electronic Journals
• Looseleaf Services and Legal Encyclopedias

Referencing is necessary to avoid plagiarism, to verity quotes and to enable readers to identify and consult any item to follow-up a cited author's arguments.

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) is recommended by Victoria University School of Law for preparing student assignments and research papers. 

For more information check the following:

• Australian Guide to Legal Citation (Melbourne University Law Review Associtaion, 3rd ed, 2010)
• VU Academic Integrity and Preventing Plagiarism Policy

• The most important principle in referencing is to be consistent
• All sources used in assignments, essays, reports and theses must be acknowledged in the text of your document by giving a footnote to identify the author's name (first name and surname) and publication details including date
• A 'reference list' or 'bibliography' at the end of your document contains the full details of all your references, arranged alphabetically by author's surname and grouped in specific sections
• Reference list and bibliography are terms often used interchangeably - a reference list only includes items you have cited in your assignment whereas a bibliography also inlcudes items you used to prepare your assignment (check with your lecturer/tutor which they require)
• A 'pinpoint' reference is used to identify the page within a work that is being referred to

Frequently Cited UN Treaties / Official Documents

Charter of the United Nations.

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, opened for signature 4 November 1950, 213 UNTS 221 (entered into force 3 September 1953).

Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981).

Convention on the Rights of a Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990).

Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008).

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 150 (entered into force 22 April 1954).

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976).

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature 21 December 1965, 660 UNTS 195 (entered into force 4 January 1969).

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, opened for signature 11 December 1997, 2303 UNTS 148 (entered into force 16 February 2005).

Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, opened for signature 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 January 1995) annex 1C ('Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights').

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, GA Res 217A (III), UN GAOR, 3rd session, 183 plen mtg, UN Doc A/810 (10 December 1948).

United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, opened for signature 11 April 1980, 1489 UNTS 58 (entered into force I January 1988).

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, opened for signature 23 May 1969, 1155 UNTS 331 (entered into force 27 January 1980).

Sample reference to Human Rights Committee View

Human Rights Committee, Views: Communication No 900/1999, 76th sess, UN Doc CCPR/C/76/D/900/1999 (13 November 2002) (‘C v Australia’).

Where a pinpoint reference is included it should follow immediately after the date.

Please refer to AGLC rules 8.2 and 8.3.

Endnote is a bibliographic management software tool.  It is of most use for large pieces of work such as essays longer than 5,000 words.

 The good news:

• Endnote is available for free from the VU Library
• Endnote will format book and journal article citations according to AGLC.
• It will automatically create a bibliography.

The bad news:

• Endnote doesn't come with the AGLC style files.  You will need to install these.
• You'll need to import a new reftypetable
• Endnote won't format case law or legislation references.  You'll still need to do these manually.

• In the AGLC style, a footnote number is usually a superscripted number (for example: ¹, ², ³) and is used to direct the reader to the information about the sources and quotations placed within the text of the work
• A footnote number should follow the portion of text to which the footnote refers and should appear after any relevant punctuation
• Footnote citations appear at the bottom of the page containing the sources
• If multiple sources are cited in the same sentence in a footnote, a semi-colon is used to separate the sources
• A full stop appears at the end of every footnote

View this sample file to see what AGLC looks like on the page. 

Alternatively, view the Victoria University Law Journal to see articles that use AGLC.  Simply choose an article and then click View as PDF.  

A guide to the third edition of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

The details required in order are: author - full first name (where possible) and surname (an author may also be editor/s, compiler/s or the institution responsible); title of publication and subtitle if any (as it appears on the title page - titles must be italicised with sentence style capitalisation as below); publisher (brief version of name); edition (if other than the first); publication year (in round brackets) and pinpoint page number (if applicable). A publisher's name should not be included for government documents.

Example: Andrew Clarke, John Devereux and Julia Werren, Torts: A Practical Learning Approach (LexisNexis Butterworths, 3rd ed, 2014).
 

The details required in order are: author of the article - full first name (where possible) and surname; article title (in single quotation marks); publication year (in round brackets); volume number; issue number (in round brackets); journal title (in italics and capitalised, omitting words such as ‘The’ and ‘An’ from the beginning); starting page number, pinpoint reference to a specific page or pages (if applicable).

Example: H J Glasbeek, 'Contortions of Corporate Law: James Hardie Reveals Cracks in Liberal Law's Armour' (2012) 27(2) Australian Journal of Corporate Law 132.

Articles should only be cited as being from electronic journals when no printed version of the journal exists.

PRINTED NEWSPAPERS
The details required for hard copy newspapers are: author of the article - full first name (where possible) and surname; article title (in single quotation marks); name of the newspaper in italics; place of publication (in round brackets); full date, pinpoint reference to a specific page or pages (if applicable).

Example: James David Neal, 'The Continuing Crisis in our Legal Aid', The Age (Melbourne), 15 May 2013, 18.

ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS
Electronic newspapers should only be cited where the identical printed edition (of the newspaper or article cited) does not exist.

The details required for online newspapers are: author of the article - full first name (where possible) and surname; article title (in single quotation marks); name of the newspaper in italics; the word online (in round brackets); full date, the URL.

Example: Jonathon Ames, 'A Crucial Pillar of Justice', The Times (online), 10 November 2016 <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/unpaid-work-a-crucial-pillar-of-justice-rnx5rd6fs>.

Only use this rule to cite a document if it is not readily accessible in hard copy and there is not the information necessary for it to be cited as a hard copy document. Where available, the full date of last update of the web page should be included after the document name. If not shown, the full date of the creation should be included. Where there is no date, the date should be omitted.

Example: Rebecca Park, Changes to Power of Attorney in Victoria (17 May 2017) (18 February 2010) Law Institute of Victoria <https://www.liv.asn.au/Staying-Informed/General-News/General-News/May-2017/Changes-to-Powers-of-Attorney-in-Victoria>.

A case citation has five elements and generally follows the order of - Case name, year, volume number (of law report), abbreviation of the law report and starting page number.

In reported cases the details required are: Case name (italicised or underlined if unable to italicise); year (in round brackets); volume number; abbreviation of the law report; starting page number; pinpoint page number (used when referring to a specific point in the judgment) and name of judge/s (only used where appropriate).

Example: Kartinyeri v Commonwealth (1998) 195 CLR 337, 383 (Gummow and Hayne JJ).

Todorovic v Waller (1981) 150 CLR 402
   For round bracket ( ) citations, the year is not essential for locating the case.

Macpherson v Kevin J Prunty & Associates [1983] 1 VR 573 
   For square bracket [ ] citations, the year is essential as the report series either does not have a volume number or, as in this instance, begins with volume 1 each year.

Watts v Turpin [2000] Aust Torts Reports 81-544
   Cases published by CCH have a slightly different citation style. Numbers such as 81-544 as shown above are references to paragraphs.  These numbers are displayed at the bottom of the page in CCH reports.  Numbers that do not include a hyphen are references to page numbers.  These numbers are displayed at the top of the page in CCH reports. 

McCracken v Melbourne Storm Rugby League Football Club [2005] NSWSC 107 (22 February 2005)
   This citation is called a medium neutral citation.  This method of citation was developed to accommodate referencing unreported judgments.  In the example above, 2005 is the year that the case was decided, NSWSC stands for the New South Wales Supreme Court; 107 is the number of the case, and 22 February 2005 is the judgement date.

A legislation citation consists of up to 3 elements and follows the order of name, jurisdiction and sometimes a pinpoint section or regulation number.

Details to include are: Short title or long title if there is no short title (in italics); year (in italics); jurisdiction abbreviation (in round brackets) and section/s (if applicable).

Example: Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) s 76.

A thesis citation consists of up to 6 elements and follows the order of author, title, type of theses, institution, year and sometimes a pinpoint page number.

A URL may be added after the first reference to a thesis where this would assist the reader access it.

Example: Christopher Brien, Judge Willis in Port Phillip: 1841-1843  (Phd Thesis, Australian Catholic University, 2012).

A legal encyclopedia citation consists of up to 8 elements, when the online version is used, and follows the order of Publisher, Title of Encyclopedia, Full Date of when Accessed, Title Number & Name, Chapter Number & Name and a pinpoint paragraph number.

The volume number should not be used when the online version of the looseleaf or encyclopedia has been used.

Example: LexisNexis, Halsbury's Laws of Australia (at 16 January 2012) 110 Contract, '3 Implied terms' [110-2100].

• Should be used to refer the source in the immediately preceding footnote
• Should NOT be used if the immediately preceding footnote contains more than one source
• May be used for any type of source eg book, case, legislation
   

Book
 ¹ D Khoury and Y Yamouni, Understanding Contract Law (LexisNexis, 7th ed, 2007) 56.

 ² Ibid.
 
 
Legislation
 ⁸ Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) s 38.

 ⁹ Ibid s 38(2).
 
 
 
Case
 15 Chamberlain v The Queen (1984) 153 CLR 521, 525.

 ¹⁶ Ibid 526.
 

• Should be used when a source has been cited in a previous footnote other than the immediately preceding footnote. 
• Should be used when the immediately preceding footnote contains more than one source.
• Should NOT be used for cases, international decisions, legislation, treaties, UN documents, WTO, GATT & EU documents (if unsure ask Library staff).

Tip: Include the title (shortened) where there are multiple works by the same author.

 Book 
¹ Catharine MacMillan, Mistakes in Contract Law (Hart Publishing, 2010) 38. 
² N C Seddon and M P Ellinghaus, Cheshire and Fifoot’s Law of Contract (LexisNexis, 9th ed, 2008) 867.
³ Des Butler, Contract Law (LexisNexis, 4th ed, 2012) 38.

Journal article 
⁴ James Allsop, ‘Good Faith and Australian Contract Law: A Practical Issue and a Question of Theory and Principle’ (2011) 85(6) Australian Law Review 341, 352. 
⁵ Des Butler,  ‘Breach of Contract and Contributory Negligence: a Protracted Debate Finally Resolved’ (2000) 28(2) Australian Business Law Review 132, 135.

Multiple sources in footnote 
⁷ J W Carter, Carter’s Guide to Australian Contract Law (LexisNexis, 2nd ed, 2011) 521; Peter Radan and John Gooley, Principles of Australian Contract Law (LexisNexis, 2nd ed, 2010) 489. 
⁸ Radan and Gooley, above n 7. 

¹⁴ Seddon and Ellinghaus, above n 2, 869. 
¹⁶ MacMillan, above n 1. 
²⁵ Allsop, above n 4, 353-4.
²⁶ Butler, above n 5, 134.

A bibliography lists all the sources that have been used in preparing your assignment. (Those referred to in your footnotes plus any others.)

Divide the bibliography into the following sections:

A Articles/Books/Reports (not law reports as they should be listed in the section: Case Law)
B Case Law
C Legislation
D Treaties
E Other

If not all sections are required then sections may be omitted and the remaining sections may be renumbered.

Sources should be listed in alphabetical order under each heading according to the surname of the first listed author.

Where more than one work by an author is listed, the works should be listed chronological order.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A  Articles/Books/Reports

Bailey, David, ‘Reforming Civil Procedure in Victoria – Two Steps Forward and One Step Back?’ (2011) 1(1) Dictum 81

Francis, Angus and Neil Andrews, 'Insolvency Law in Taiwan: The Interplay between Official and Unofficial Law' in Roman Tomasic (ed), Insolvency Law in East Asia (Ashgate 2006)

French, Robert, ‘The Role of the High Court in the Recognition of Native Title’ (2002) 30(2) University of Western Australia Law Review 129

Graw, Stephen, An Introduction to the Law of Contract (Lawbook, 7th ed, 2011)

Victorian Law Reform Commission, Civil Justice Review, Report No 14 (2008)

B Cases

Chamberlain v The Queen (1984) 153 CLR 521

Frontier Dispute (Benin v Niger) (Judgment) [2005] ICJ Rep 90

Lane v Morrison [2009] HCA 29 (26 August 2009)

C Legislation

Australian Constitution

Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)

Crimes Act 1958 (Vic)

D Treaties

Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, opened for signature 23 November 2007, 47 ILM 257 (not yet in force)

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 150 (entered into force 22 April 1954)

 E Other

New South Wales, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 15 December 1990

The original of all sources used should be consulted and cited. However, it is sometimes important to indicate where one source has referred to another. Use the following clauses to indicate where one source has quoted or cited another.