AGLC4 Rule 1.1.7: Spans of Pinpoint References

A span of pinpoints is joined by an en dash with no spaces. Page and note spans are shortened to the fewest digits needed under rule 1.10.1, but paragraph spans are never shortened and each paragraph number keeps its own square brackets.

AGLC4 page 6

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 6
Page–Page
[Para]–[Para]
Page–Page [Para]–[Para]
Pages / [Para] nn Fn–Fn

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

Formatting

  • Join the two ends of any pinpoint span with an unspaced en dash, never a hyphen.
  • Page spans keep only the changing digits of the second number but always keep two digits when the last two digits of the second number fall in the teens.
  • Paragraph spans are written in full, each number in its own square brackets, joined by an unspaced en dash.
  • A page span followed by a paragraph span is separated by one space.
  • Footnote spans use the plural "nn" with one space before the span of note numbers.
  • Judges follow the whole span in round brackets.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 6
  1. 36
    Karen J Alter, Establishing the Supremacy of European Law: The Making of an International Rule of Law in Europe (Oxford University Press, 2001) 182–91.
  2. 37
    City of Swan v Lehman Brothers Australia Ltd (2009) 179 FCR 243, 262–5 [50]–[59] (Rares J). [Not: … [50–9] (Rares J).]
  3. 38
    Wurridjal v Commonwealth (2009) 237 CLR 309, 389–90 [196]–[197].
  4. 39
    Paul L Davies, Gower’s Principles of Modern Company Law (Sweet & Maxwell, 6th ed, 1997) 348 nn 22–4.

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 6
  • ‘121–127’
    page spans must be shortened to the minimum digits
  • ‘[56–9]’
    paragraph spans are never shortened and each paragraph number needs its own brackets
  • … [50–9] (Rares J).
    a paragraph span in one pair of brackets and shortened

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 6
  • ‘121–7’
  • ‘[56]–[59]’
  • 431–2
  • 312–13
  • [57]–[63]

How each kind of pinpoint span is written, with the Guide's examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 6
Type of PinpointRuleExamples
PagesPage–Page431–2
Paragraphs[Para]–[Para][57]–[63]
Pages and ParagraphsPage–Page [Para]–[Para]312–13 [5]–[11]
14–15 [18]
Footnotes/EndnotesPages / [Para] nn Fn–Fn466 nn 7–8
[88] nn 113–14
23 [40] nn 22–3

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.