AGLC4 Rule 1.1.2: The Position of Footnote Numbers

The footnote number normally goes at the end of the sentence, after its closing punctuation. Where precision requires it, the number may instead be placed immediately after the words it relates to, in which case it follows any adjacent punctuation except a dash, which it precedes.

AGLC4 page 2

Formatting

  • Default position: superscript number directly after the full stop that ends the sentence, with no space.
  • Mid sentence position: the number goes straight after the relevant words, after an adjacent comma, semicolon or closing quotation mark, with no space.
  • Dash exception: the number is placed before an em dash, never after it; the em dash itself stays spaced.
  • After a short title introduced in the text, the number follows the closing round bracket and any comma after it, for example after (‘Pape’),.
  • At the end of a block quotation the number follows the final punctuation of the quoted passage; where the block ends with an ellipsis, the number is attached to the ellipsis with no space.
  • A possessive on an italic title is roman: the title is italic and the apostrophe and s are not.

In the text

The Court of Appeal in Burger King Corporation v Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd was also of the opinion that a duty of good faith should be implied in law.4

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

The court describes the best interests of the child as the ‘paramount or pre-eminent consideration’;6 it is the ‘final determinant’ of what orders the court must make.7

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

Bainbridge acknowledges that ‘the tort creditor has no ability to bargain out of the default rule’ of limited liability and that the company is likely to be the cheapest cost avoider (with the ability to organise insurance or take precautions to ensure the accident is prevented).9

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

The Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law argued that s 80.2(5) was ‘welcome because it would criminalise … incitement to violence against racial, religious, national, or political groups’11 — consistent with international human rights treaty obligations.

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

Some of the issues have now been resolved by the High Court’s decisions in Pape v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (‘Pape’),13 Williams v Commonwealth (‘Williams [No 1]’)14 and Williams v Commonwealth [No 2] (‘Williams [No 2]’).15

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

So much is recognised by the Constitution’s provisions17 for ‘a practical system of law where [the] Commonwealth can sue a State, a State can sue [the] Commonwealth, and a State can sue a State’.18

Quoted from the Guide, page 2

Their Honours went on to observe:

The appellant has indeed behaved badly, but no worse than many of his age who have also lived as members of the Australian community all their lives but who happen to be citizens. The difference is the barest of technicalities. It is the chance result of an accident of birth, the inaction of the appellant’s parents and some contestable High Court decisions.20
Quoted from the Guide, page 2

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 2
  • implied in law.4
  • consideration’;6
  • groups’11 — consistent
  • (‘Pape’),13
  • the Constitution’s provisions17

See also

Check your footnotes against these rules

Paste your paper into the free AGLC4 checker and each footnote is graded against the Guide, with the rule it breaks. To write a citation from scratch, use the AGLC4 citation generator.

AGLC4 citation checker AGLC4 citation generator

Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.