AGLC4 Rule 3.5: Legislative Materials: Short Title and Subsequent References

An Act, instrument or Bill may be given a short title for later references under rule 1.4.1, and ibid is used for all legislative materials. The short title appears in italics inside quotation marks and brackets after the first citation, following any pinpoint. The first mention in text and the first footnote citation are always in full, and a footnote always contains the title even when the sentence names it.

AGLC4 page 75

Formatting

  • The short title is italic, in single quotation marks, inside round brackets.
  • In a footnote it comes after any pinpoint or parenthetical clause.
  • Ibid is used for legislative materials in the situations rule 1.4.3 allows.
  • Later references that are not ibid give the italic short title, then (n and the footnote number), then the pinpoint.
  • The first mention in the text gives the full name.
  • The first citation in a footnote is always complete.
  • A short title first introduced only in the footnotes must also be introduced in the text when it is first used there.
  • The title, or the short title, always appears in the footnote even if the sentence the footnote supports already names the legislation.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 75
  1. 45
    Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) s 6 (‘Property Act’). [Not: Property Act s 6]
  2. 46
    Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) (‘ADJR Act’).
  3. 47
    Ibid s 6; Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ss 198, 198AB (‘Migration Act’).
  4. 48
    ADJR Act (n 46) s 7. [Not: ADJR Act s 7.]

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 75
  • [Not: Property Act s 6]
    the first footnote citation must be full, with the short title after the pinpoint
  • [Not: ADJR Act s 7.]
    a later reference needs the cross reference to the footnote that introduced the short title

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 75
  • This is covered by the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) (‘Property Act’).45

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.