AGLC4 Rule 1.4.3: Ibid

Ibid refers to the source in the immediately preceding footnote, including its pinpoint. It cannot be used when that footnote cited more than one source, when the new reference is general but the previous one had a pinpoint, or to refer back to a source earlier in the same footnote. A new pinpoint is written after ibid; an identical pinpoint is not repeated.

AGLC4 page 11

Formatting

  • Ibid is roman, never italic, and has no full stop of its own.
  • Capital I when ibid opens the footnote; lower case when it follows a signal or appears elsewhere: See ibid.
  • A different pinpoint follows ibid after one space with no comma: Ibid 162.
  • Section and other legislative pinpoints keep their usual form after ibid: Ibid s 38.
  • Several pinpoints after ibid are separated by a comma and a space.
  • The same pinpoint as the previous footnote is not repeated: the footnote is simply Ibid.
  • A signal used with ibid applies only to the new footnote; ibid does not carry over the previous footnote's signal.
  • Where the previous footnote cited two or more sources, use the cross reference form of rule 1.4.1 instead.
  • Where the previous footnote had a pinpoint but the new reference is general, use the cross reference form without a pinpoint instead.
  • Within a single footnote, use "at" (rule 1.4.6), never ibid.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 11
  1. 68
    Eric Barendt, Freedom of Speech (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2005) 163.
  2. 69
    See ibid.
  3. 70
    Ibid 162.
  4. 72
    Defamation Act 2005 (Vic) s 37.
  5. 73
    Ibid s 38.
  6. 75
    Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use It (Clarendon Press, 1994). Cf Barendt (n 68) 67.
  7. 76
    Barendt (n 68) 69. [Not: Ibid 69 nor Barendt, ibid 69.]
  8. 78
    Higgins (n 75) 220.
  9. 79
    Ibid 222, 239.
  10. 80
    See generally Higgins (n 75). [Note: ‘Ibid’ should not be used here as this footnote is referring to the source generally and not to any pinpoint.]

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 11
  • Ibid 69
    the preceding footnote cites two sources, so ibid cannot be used
  • Barendt, ibid 69
    ibid is never combined with an author name

See also

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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.