AGLC4 Rule 1.7: Capitalisation
Capitalisation should be consistent, and in general limited to the start of sentences, titles and headings and to proper nouns. In cited titles and in headings, the first word of the title and subtitle, the word after a hyphen and all other words except articles, conjunctions and prepositions are capitalised. Certain words are usually capitalised, others usually lower case, and "Court", "State" and "Territory" are capitalised only when they refer to a particular one.
AGLC4 page 24
Formatting
- Title case applies to the titles of all sources cited and to all headings, whatever the capitalisation used by the source.
- Capitalise the first word of a title and the first word of any subtitle.
- Capitalise the part after a hyphen in a hyphenated word within a title or heading.
- Leave articles (the, a, an), conjunctions (and, but) and prepositions (on, with, before, within, in) in lower case unless they begin the title or subtitle.
- Foreign phrases in titles follow the capitalisation rules of their own language.
- A hyphenated word starting a sentence does not capitalise the part after the hyphen unless otherwise required.
- Areas of law are lower case, such as administrative law.
- "Court" is capitalised for a specific court and lower case for courts in general.
- "State" and "Territory" are capitalised, as nouns or adjectives, for a specific state or territory and lower case in a general sense.
In the text
the State of Victoria
the State of Turkey
the State Revenue Office
her State of the Union address
the nation-state in international law
state sovereign immunity
state legislation
state government
In a negligence claim, the court must judge the reasonableness of the defendant’s act or omission.134
The High Court had handed down its judgment in Cole v Whitfield,136 but not in Bath v Alston Holdings Pty Ltd.137 The Court’s decision in Cole nevertheless proved difficult to apply.
The Supreme Court of Tasmania applied the rule accordingly.139
The State of New South Wales has always taken a different approach from that of other states.141
There are eight supreme courts, one for each state and territory.143 The Chief Justice of the State was Marilyn Warren.144
Forms in the rule
Quoted from the Guide, page 24- ‘administrative law’
Words normally capitalised wherever they appear
Quoted from the Guide, page 24| Act (or ‘Bill’) of Parliament |
| Attorney-General |
| Bar (group of practising barristers) |
| Bench (judiciary/where judges sit) |
| Cabinet |
| Commonwealth |
| Crown |
| Executive Council |
| Governor, Governor-General |
| Her Majesty, the Queen |
| her/his Honour, their Honours |
| Imperial |
| Law Lord/s |
| Lords of Appeal in Ordinary |
| Member (of Parliament) |
| Minister/s (of the Crown) |
| Ombudsman/s |
| Parliament |
| Premier |
| Prime Minister |
| Senator (Member of the Senate) |
Words normally lower case except at the start of a sentence, title or heading
Quoted from the Guide, page 24| common law |
| the executive |
| federal |
| government |
| internet |
| judiciary |
| legislature |
| local government |
| parliamentary |
| press (the media) |
| statute |
Examples of State capitalised for a specific state and lower case in a general sense
Quoted from the Guide, page 24| the State of Victoria |
| the State of Turkey |
| the State Revenue Office |
| her State of the Union address |
| the nation-state in international law |
| state sovereign immunity |
| state legislation |
| state government |
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.
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.