AGLC4 Rule 1.1.6: General Format of Footnotes: Pinpoint References

A pinpoint identifies the exact page, paragraph, footnote or other part of a source being relied on, and follows the citation directly. Paragraph numbers go in square brackets; where both page and paragraph are known, both are given. Sources without page numbers are pinpointed by paragraph alone, and notes are pinpointed by the page or paragraph where the note starts followed by "n" and the note number.

AGLC4 page 4

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 4
Page [Paragraph]
n Footnote/Endnote Number

A boxed element is filled in with the source's details; everything outside a box is written exactly as shown.

Formatting

  • No "p", "pg" or "at" before a pinpoint (the only exception is "at" under rule 1.4.6).
  • Paragraph pinpoints are numbers inside square brackets; "para" is not used, except for legislation (rule 3.1.4) and certain international materials such as rule 9.2.13.
  • Page and paragraph together: the page, one space, then the bracketed paragraph, for example 6 [23].
  • For a report, the pinpoint follows the starting page after a comma and a space.
  • For a medium neutral citation, the paragraph pinpoint follows the citation after a comma and a space.
  • For a book, the pinpoint follows the closing round bracket of the publication details after one space, with no comma.
  • For a journal article, the pinpoint follows the starting page after a comma and a space.
  • Footnote or endnote pinpoint: the page and/or paragraph where the note begins, a space, lower case "n" with no full stop, a space, then the note number.
  • Multiple pinpoints to the same source are separated by a comma and a space.
  • Judges are named in round brackets after the pinpoint they relate to; where different judges relate to different pinpoints, each set of brackets follows its own pinpoint.
  • Several judges are listed with commas and "and" before the last, followed by the plural title, for example JJ.
  • For a quotation, pinpoint only the page on which the quoted words appear; for a proposition in a paragraph that crosses two pages, give both pages unless the proposition sits on only one.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 4
  1. 30
    Agius v South Australia [No 6] [2018] FCA 358, [90]–[97] (Mortimer J).
  2. 31
    HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Press, 1970) 15.
  3. 32
    Futuretronics.com.au Pty Ltd v Graphix Labels Pty Ltd (2009) 81 IPR 1, 6 [23] (Tamberlin, Finn and Sundberg JJ).
  4. 33
    Alysia Blackham, ‘Judges and Retirement Ages’ (2016) 39(3) Melbourne University Law Review 738, 745.
  5. 34
    Davies v Gertig [No 2] (2002) 83 SASR 521, 528 [57] n 6, 529 [64].
  6. 35
    Kenman Kandy Australia Pty Ltd v Registrar of Trade Marks (2002) 122 FCR 494, 509 [43], [45] (French J), 529–30 [137] (Stone J).

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 4
  • ‘213–14 [31]’

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.

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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.