|
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
|
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 |
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.
|
