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Chicago B: Author-Date Style:  Govt documents

UON Library guide to Chicago B: Author-Date Style 17th edition

Government documents: General rules

 

The following information is for the reference list entries. See also:

General Notes:

  • Cite government documents or reports under the departments, units or agencies (i.e. 'corporate authors'), followed by the year of the document/report. 

  • If there are personal contributors e.g. prepared by John Smith, list them after the title, followed by the document/report number.

  • The publisher and author should be recorded as they appeared when the document was originally published,  do not amend the name to their current title if the names have changed.

  • Government document titles appear in italics.

  • Include report or paper numbers (if available).

  • Include the publisher if it is different from the author.

  • Include only the first place of publication if more than one is listed.

  • Some government documents may be assigned a DOI or "digital object identifier". If this is the case the DOI must be added to the reference. If no DOI is found, then the URL of the online publication site is included. Check the What are DOIs? page for more information.

Government documents and reports

 

The following is the general format of a reference to a government document or reports. 

Add DOI or URL to the end of citation for documents located online.

See the general rules for government documents for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Name of Government Agency Year of Publication) ...

... (Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence 2017) ...

... (U.S. Government Accountability Office 2018) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Name of Government Agency. Year. Document Title: Subtitle. Personal contributor's First name Last name. Document No. Place of Publication: Publisher. DOI or URL.

Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence. 2017. NSW Mothers and Babies Report 2016. Sydney: NSW Health. http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/hsnsw/Publications/mothers-and-babies-2016.pdf.

U.S. Government Accountability Office. 2018. Air Force Readiness: Actions Needed to Rebuild Readiness and Prepare for the Future. GAO-19-120T. Washington, DC. https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-120T.

Legal references

 

Legal references are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not in the reference list. Any work using the author-date style that needs to do more than mention the occasional source in the text should therefore use supplementary footnotes.

Chicago recommends using The Bluebook and the ALWD Guide for citing legal documents.  For citing the Australian cases, legislation and other legal materials, students may follow the Australian guide to legal citation (AGLC).. Please note that both the Bluebook and the AGLC use footnotes instead of parenthetical in-text citations. 

The following citation formats and examples for LegislationCases, and Parliamentary Debates, are mainly based on the AGLC 4th ed.

  • Legal sources are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not listed in the reference list unless required otherwise.
  • If the item cited is consulted online from an official source, add the URL to the end of the citation.

 

Legislation

  • Legislation includes Acts, Bills, Regulations, Rules and other forms of legislation. Acts are the most commonly cited form of legislation.
  • The pinpoint section number is optional. If you are referring to the Act as a whole, omit the section number. If you are referring to or quoting particular sections, include the section number(s), e.g., s 8.1 - point 1 within section 8.
  • If you have already cited an Act, the next time you refer to that Act you can omit the year and jurisdiction.
  • Bills should be cited the same way as Acts, except the title and year should not be italicised. 'Clause' and sub-clause' are usually the appropriate pinpoint designations. 

 

Footnote: Format and example

Note Number. Short Title of Act Year of Act (Jurisdiction) pinpoint.

1. Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) ss 5-6.

2. Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) ss 47, https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1995/25/chap2/part2.2/sec47.

3. Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 (Cth) cl 83.

4. Habeas Corpus Act 2001 (NZ) s 3.

 

Shortened / Subsequent Footnote

Note Number. Short Title of Act pinpoint.

5. Evidence Act  s 3.

 

Reference list

Legal references are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not in the reference list. If a reference list entry is needed, cite the act/bill with or without the sections as needed.

Short Title of Act Year of Act (Jurisdiction). 

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 (Cth).

Evidence Act 1995 (NSW). https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1995/25/. 

Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

Habeas Corpus Act 2001 (NZ).

 

Cases

 

A citation of an Australian case should include the parties' names in italics, followed by the year of the report, volume number of the law report series, the abbreviation of the law report series, the starting page of the case, and the pinpoint page number/s if needed. 

Volumes of law report series are organised either by year or by volume number. Use square brackets when a law report series are organised by year and the year is essential to finding the case, e.g. Rowe v McCartney [1976] 2 NSWLR 72; use round brackets when a law report series are organised by volume number and the year is not essential to finding the case.

Subsequent references usually use full case citations. 

The case name should be omitted in a footnote citation if the case name appears in full in the sentence accompanying the footnotes.

 

Footnote: Format and example

Note Number. Case Name (Year) Volume No Law Report Series Starting page, pinpoint page.

1. Alati v Kruger (1955) 94 CLR 216, 218. 

2. Kemp v The King (1951) 83 CLR 341, 342.

3. Wentworth v Rogers [No 5] (1986) 6 NSWLR 534.

4. Rowe v McCartney [1976] 2 NSWLR 72.

 

Reference list

Legal references are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not in the reference list. If a reference list entry is needed, cite the case with or without the pinpoint pages as needed.

Case Name (Year) Volume No Law Report Series Starting page

Alati v Kruger (1955) 94 CLR 216.

Kemp v The King (1951) 83 CLR 341.

Wentworth v Rogers [No 5] (1986) NSWLR 534.

Rowe v McCartney [1976] 2 NSWLR 72.

 

 

Parliamentary debates (Hansard)

 

A citation of Parliamentary debates (or Hansard) should include the Jurisdiction, followed by Parliamentary Debates, then Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint, and Name of Speaker. 

 

Footnote: Format and example

Note Number. Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker).

1. Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, Senate, 18 June 2008, 2642-4 (Bob Brown).

2. New South Wales, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 8 August 2018, 18 (Melinda Pavey, Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight).

 

Reference list

Legal references are usually cited in the text or in footnotes, not in the reference list. If a reference list entry is needed, cite the Hansard with or without the pinpoint pages as needed.

Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Chamber, Full Date of Debate, Pinpoint (Name of Speaker). 

Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, Senate, 18 June 2008, 2642-4 (Bob Brown).

New South Wales, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 8 August 2018, 18 (Melinda Pavey, Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight).