AGLC4 Rule 7.12: Written Correspondence

Letters, emails and similar items are cited by the kind of correspondence, from the author, to the recipient, then the date and any pinpoint. Positions may follow names; archived correspondence adds archive details in brackets after the date; and where the item is reproduced elsewhere, that source is cited after a comma and a phrase such as reproduced in, or a URL is given.

AGLC4 page 125

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 125
Type of Correspondence from Author to Recipient, Full Date, Pinpoint.

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

Formatting

  • The kind of correspondence (Letter, Email and so on) begins the citation, roman, with an initial capital.
  • The words from and to, in lower case roman, introduce the author and recipient.
  • A correspondent's position or location may follow the name, set off by commas.
  • A comma separates the recipient from the full date.
  • A pinpoint follows the date after a comma.
  • Archive details and the item's place in the archive go in round brackets after the date.
  • A source reproducing the item follows after a comma and a linking phrase such as reproduced in; alternatively a URL follows after a space in angle brackets, optionally with an archived link.
  • Email attachments may be cited the same way where no other rule applies.
  • The citation ends with a full stop.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 125
  1. 93
    Email from Vanessa Li to Samantha Jones, 4 November 2015.
  2. 94
    Letter from Sir Peter Cosgrove to Malcolm Turnbull, 3 July 2016 <https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/gg/2016/Election%20Letters%20PM%20GG.pdf>, archived at <https://perma.cc/59PC-V4YW>.
  3. 95
    Letter from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Melbourne, to Opes Prime Clients, 1 April 2008, 3 <http://www.deloitte.com.au/media/docs/OpesPrime_groupcircular.pdf>.

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.