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APA 7th Style:  Legal references

UON Library guide for the APA 7th referencing style

Legal references

 

General Notes:

  • The APA Publication Manual only includes legal sources from the U.S. and the United Nations. For more information APA suggests following The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (2015) for other jurisdictions. You can also consult the AGLC Guide for Australian legal resources.

  • Treat references to legal materials like references to works with no author; that is, cite cases and legislation in-text by the case name or short title of the legislation.

  • APA suggests adding URLs where it will aid retrieval (p. 358).  This will be helpful for legislation, Hansard, and patents.

  • Legal sources do not require the words 'Retrieved from' before an access link.  This is a major revision for APA 7. 

  • Do not include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.

Legislation

 

General Notes:
  • Legislation includes Acts, Bills, Regulations, and Rules.
     

  • Treat references to legislation as references to works with no author; that is, in the text, cite by the short title of the legislation, including the year and jurisdiction.

  • Titles should have all major words capitalised.
  • Note the differing italicisation between Acts and Bills.
  • The section number is optional. If you are referring to the Act as a whole, omit the section number. If you are referring to particular sections, include the section number(s).
  • If you have already cited an Act, the next time you refer to that Act you can omit the year and jurisdiction.

  • Although URLS are not required under Bluebook guidelines, APA suggests adding URLs where it will aid retrieval (p. 358).

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.
Act (whole)

Title of the Act Year (Jurisdiction abbreviation) (Country abbreviation if not evident from context.). https://www...

Title and year are both italicised.
Act (section)

Title of the Act Year (Jurisdiction abbreviation) s Section number (Country abbreviation if not evident from context.). https://www...

Title and year are both italicised.
Bill

Bill Name Year (Jurisdiction abbreviation) (Country abbreviation if not evident from context.). https://www...

No italics for the name or year.

 

Reference list examples:

 

Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1983-042

Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) s 8. https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1977-048#sec.8

Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Reform (Closing the Hole in the Ozone Layer) Bill 2022 (Cth)  https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6918

In-text

Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
 

Example, first usage:

The act defines what constitutes discrimination on the ground of race (Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) s.7).

…means a disc, tape, paper or other device in which sounds are embodied. s 54 (1a) of The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) states ...

Subsequent usage:

... ​​also constitutes discrimination on the ground of race (Anti-Discrimination Act).

 The Copyright Act also sets out …

 

Direct Quotations

According to s 8.1 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), "it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person on the ground of race".

Here the section of the Act (s 8.1) is specific enough that it takes the place of the usual page requirement for a direct quote.

Cases

 

General Notes:
  • If you are referring to a particular page of the judgement, include a ‘pinpoint reference’ to the actual page.

  • If you haven’t mentioned the case name in the sentence, include it in your in-text citation.

  • The name of the case is usually:  Party Name v Party Name.

  • Ensure that the brackets used in your citation match the type of brackets used in your source.  Square brackets are used when the year is essential to find the case, round brackets are used the when year is not essential to finding the case.  See our Case Law guide for more information.
Cases

Case Name Year in brackets Volume number Law Report Abbreviation Start page (Country abbreviation if not evident from context.).

Case name is italicised, but not the Year.

The Year will need to be enclosed in brackets, but these may be either round or square - see the General Notes section above.

 

Reference list examples:

 

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) v Chresta (2005) 62 NSWLR 604 (Austl.).

Goode v Goode (2006) 206 FLR 212 (Austl.).

 

In-text

Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
 

Example:

In Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) v Chresta (2005), it was noted that although the magistrate erred in law, the matter should not be remitted for re-hearing.

OR

It was noted that although the magistrate erred in law, the matter should not be remitted for re-hearing (Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) v Chresta, 2005).

Parliamentary debates (Hansard)

 

General Notes:
  • The title of all Hansard documents should be written as Parliamentary Debates (in italics).
  • The page(s) section is optional, but will be helpful for the reader to locate the specific discussion within the Hansard.
  • The formatting of the date is in Australian style, and different to the standard APA format.

  • Although URLS are not required under Bluebook guidelines, APA suggests adding URLs where it will aid retrieval (p. 358).

  • APA allows for links to be either plain text or 'active'. See the official APA Style Blog for more information.
Parliamentary debates (Hansard)

Jurisdiction, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Chamber, Day Month Year, Page(s). (Name of Speaker and Position) (Country abbreviation if not evident from context.). https://www…

 

Reference list examples:

Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, Senate, 12 November 2019, 3661. (Senator McCarthy, Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (Austl.). https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/ download/chamber/hansards/9a4abe02-6be0-4a2a-aa97-605357a73424/toc_pdf/Senate_2019_11_12_7343_Official.pdf

Queensland Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 6 August 2002, 2601-2602. (J. C. Spence, Minister for Families; Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy; Minister for Disability Services; Minister for Seniors) (Austl.). https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/hansard/2002/020806HA.PDF

 

In-text

Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.

Follow the general pattern for the number or type of authors.  For the examples shown shown above, we would use the 'corporate authors' rule:

(Commonwealth, 2019)

(Queensland Parliament, 2002)

Hansard documents include page references, so these can be used to highlight particular sections being discussed.

Subjects: Referencing