Skip to Content

  • Home
    • For international students
    • For Māori students
    • For postgraduate students
    • For prospective students
  • About Massey
    • University Management
      • Council
      • Vice-Chancellor
      • Strategic plans and reports
      • more...
    • Subsidiaries and commercial ventures
      • Massey University Foundation
      • e-Centre
      • Wharerata
      • more...
    • Alumni
      • Merchandise
      • Chapters
      • Benefits
      • more...
    • News
      • Latest releases
      • Research news
      • University news
      • more...
    • Events and key dates
      • Albany campus
      • Manawatu campus
      • Wellington campus
      • more...
    • Jobs
      • Academic
      • General
      • Staff benefits
      • more...
    • History of the University
      • 1879 - 1926
      • 1927 - 1945
      • 1946 - 1963
      • more...
    • Calendar
      • 2010
      • 2009
      • 2008
      • 2007
      • more...
  • Learning
    • Courses
      • Programme search
      • Paper search
      • Course advice
      • more...
    • Distance Learning (Extramural)
      • Contact courses
      • Study information
      • Getting in contact
      • more...
    • Colleges
      • Business
      • Creative Arts
      • Education
      • Humanities and Social Sciences
      • Sciences
    • Departments
      • Aviation
      • Psychology
      • Food, Nutrition and Human Health
      • more...
    • Academic teaching timetables
      • 2010
      • 2009
      • Timetable planner
      • Building codes
      • more...
    • Examinations
      • Exam timetable
      • Exam venues
      • Key exam dates
      • more...
    • Online learning
      • Stream
    • Learning resources
      • Online Writing and Learning Link
      • MathsFirst
      • more...
  • Research
    • Library
      • Find information
      • Library services
      • Help and instruction
      • more...
    • PhD and doctoral degree administration
      • Doctoral handbook
      • Administration forms
      • Citations
      • more...
    • Centres of research
      • Allan Wilson Centre
      • Riddet Institute
      • NZ Centre for Ecological Economics
      • more...
    • Research Ethics
      • Human Ethics
      • Animal Ethics
      • Genetic Technology
    • Conferences
      • DevNet 2010
      • 19th NZASIA
      • 14th International Mobility Conference
      • more...
    • Journals
      • Marketing Bulletin
      • International Journal on Smart Sensing and Intelligent Systems
      • more...
    • Research projects
      • Automated Recognition of Pollen
      • Tools for Delivering Scenario-based E-learning
      • more...
    • Support for researchers
      • Funding opportunities
      • Guide to managing research
      • Resources
      • more...
  • Admission
    • Enrolment
      • Online enrolment
      • Enrolment forms
      • International students
      • more...
    • Entry requirements
      • New Zealand citizens
      • Australian students
      • International students
      • more...
    • Fees
      • Calculator
      • Programme fees
      • International student fees
      • more...
    • Scholarships and awards
      • Undergraduate
      • Postgraduate
      • High Achiever
      • more...
    • Accommodation
      • Applications
      • Albany
      • Manawatu
      • Wellington
  • Student life
    • Albany campus
      • Accommodation
      • Student services
      • Maps and transport
      • more...
    • Manawatu campus
      • Accommodation
      • Student services
      • Maps and transport
      • more...
    • Wellington campus
      • Accommodation
      • Student services
      • Maps and transport
      • more...
    • Services for students
      • Accommodation services
      • Recreation centres
      • Career Services
      • more...
    • Student Exchange Programme
      • Locations
      • Costs
      • Application process
      • more...
    • Graduation
      • Applying to graduate
      • Auckland
      • Palmerston North
      • Wellington
      • more...
    • Student associatons and societies
      • EXMSS
      • MUSA
      • ASA
      • MAWSA
      • more...
    • Sport
      • Academy of Sport
      • Recreation and training
      • more...
  • Contact Massey
    • Contact Centre
    • Albany campus
    • Manawatu campus
    • Wellington campus
    • Student liaison advisors
    • International enquiries
    • Media enquiries
    • Alumni
    • Human Resources
    • Justice of the Peace
    • Accidents and emergencies
    • Staff directory
Go to the Massey University home page

Massey University

Library | Alumni Portal | Staffroom | MyMassey
Massey University > OWLL > Referencing > Other referencing styles > Legal citations

OWLL

  • About OWLL
    • FAQ
    • Search OWLL
    • Contact us
    • Handouts (Printable)
    • Pre-reading Service
    • Workshops
      • StudyUp
      • StudyUp Recordings
      • StudyUp Postgraduate
    • Videos
    • Site map
  • Academic writing
    • Intro to academic writing
      • What is academic writing?
      • Writing objectively
      • Writing concisely
      • 1st vs. 3rd person
      • Inclusive language
      • Te Reo Māori
    • Assignment planning
      • Assignment planning calculator
      • Interpreting the assignment question
      • Command words
      • Organising points
    • Researching
      • Identifying academic sources
      • Evaluating source quality
    • Editing & proofreading
      • Apostrophes
      • Commas
      • Other punctuation
      • Active voice
      • American vs. British spelling
      • Articles
      • Conditionals
      • Prepositions
      • Pronoun Reference
      • Sentence fragments
      • Sentence Structure
      • Subject-verb agreement
      • Verb tense
      • Formatting and layout
      • Word limits and assignment length
      • Commonly confused words
    • How assignments are marked
      • Marking guides
      • Getting an A
      • Levels of assessment
      • Using feedback
    • Professional emails
  • Assignment types
    • Essay
      • What is an essay?
      • Essay planning and structure
      • Introduction
      • Thesis statement
      • Body paragraphs
      • Essay flow
      • Conclusion
      • Essay revision
      • Essay writing resources
    • Report
      • What is a report?
      • Report structure
      • Analysing issues for a report
    • Business report
      • What is a business report?
      • Business report structure
      • Inductive vs. deductive reports
      • Other kinds of business communication
      • Business report writing resources
      • Business report format and layout
    • Lab report
      • What is a lab report?
      • Lab report structure
      • Science lab report writing resources
      • Psychology lab report writing resources
      • Lab report body paragraphs
    • Literature review
      • What is a literature review?
      • Writing a literature review
      • Literature review structure
      • Literature review writing resources
    • Research proposal
      • Writing a research proposal
      • Research proposal structure
    • Other types
      • Article critique
      • Book review
      • Annotated bibliography
      • Reflective writing
      • Oral presentation
      • Abstract
      • Thesis / dissertation
      • Article / conference paper
      • Shorter responses
      • Group work
  • Computer skills
    • Microsoft Word
      • Basic formatting
      • Images, tables, & figures
      • Long documents
    • Microsoft Excel
      • Basic spreadsheets
      • Navigating & printing spreadsheets
      • Charts / graphs & formulas
    • Microsoft PowerPoint
      • Basic skills
      • Advanced skills
    • Stream
  • Distance study
    • Getting started
    • How to study
    • Online study techniques
    • Distance support
  • ESOL study
    • Reading & writing
      • Reading strategies
      • Writing strategies
      • Grammar resources
    • Listening & speaking
      • Listening strategies
      • Speaking strategies
  • Maths & statistics
    • Arithmetic
    • Algebra
    • Calculus
    • Trigonometry
    • Statistics
    • Finance formulas
  • Postgraduate study
    • Intro to postgrad study
      • Planning postgrad study
      • Postgrad resources
    • Postgrad assignment types
  • Referencing
    • Intro to referencing
      • What is referencing?
      • Why reference?
      • Plagiarism
      • Turnitin
      • Common knowledge
      • Referencing styles
      • What type of source is this?
      • Reference list vs. bibliography
      • Referencing software
    • Quoting & paraphrasing
      • Quoting
      • Paraphrasing & summarising
      • Paraphrasing techniques
    • APA style
      • APA Interactive
      • In-text citation
      • Reference list
      • Books
      • Journals
      • Online material
      • Other material
      • Headings in APA
      • Tables and Figures
      • Referencing elements
      • 5th vs. 6th edition
      • 6th vs. 7th edition
    • Chicago style
      • Chicago Interactive
      • About notes system
      • Books
      • Journals
      • Online material
      • Other material
      • Notes referencing elements
      • Quoting and paraphrasing
      • Author-date system
    • MLA style
      • MLA Interactive
      • Abbreviations
      • In-text citation
      • List of works cited
      • Books
      • Journals
      • Online material
      • Other material
      • Referencing elements
      • Captions for images
    • Footnotes
      • Oxford style
      • Chicago style
    • Other styles
      • Harvard style
      • Vancouver style
      • Legal citations
      • Visual material
      • NZVJ style
  • Sample assignments
    • Sample essay 1
    • Sample essay 2
    • Sample annotated bibliography
    • Sample book review
  • Study skills
    • Time management
      • Intro to time management
      • Procrastination & perfectionism
      • Goals & motivation
      • Time management for internal students
      • Time management for distance students
    • Memory skills
      • Principles of good memory
      • Memory strategies
    • Note-taking
      • Note-taking methods
      • Mind maps
      • Note-taking in lectures
      • Note-taking while reading
      • Digital note-taking
    • Reading
      • Reading styles
      • Skimming
      • Scanning
      • In-depth reading
      • Reading comprehension
      • Reading academic material
      • Reading a journal article
      • Reading an academic book
    • Critical thinking
      • What is critical thinking?
      • Constructing an argument
      • Critical reading
      • Logical fallacies
  • Tests & exams
    • Exam & test study
      • Planning exam study
      • Gathering & sorting information
      • Reviewing past exams
      • Phases of revision
      • Last-minute study strategies
    • Question types
      • Essay
      • Short answer
      • Multi-choice
      • Problem / computational
      • Case-study / scenario
      • Oral
      • Open book exam
      • Open web exam or test
      • Take home test
    • In the exam
      • Online exam
      • Physical exam

Legal citations

Law and legal courses at Massey University may require you to follow guidelines specific to legal references.

Two common style guides for legal references are the New Zealand Law Style Guide and the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC). The full style guides are available online, via the following pages:

  • New Zealand Law Style Guide
  • Australian Guide to Legal Citation

This page outlines the basics of legal citation according to the New Zealand Law Style Guide. The full style guide puts these citations in footnotes. If your course is using APA style or MLA style you can put the citations within the text of your assignment instead. See Acts of Parliament in APA style and Acts of Parliament in MLA style.

Legislation

In APA style in-text, acts of parliament are referred to by name and year:

Minimum Wage Act 1983

If you refer to the act again the year does not need to be repeated:

Minimum Wage Act

Acts of parliament are divided into sections, subsections, paragraphs, and subparagraphs. ‘s’ comes before the section number (‘ss’ if you are referring to several sections); all the other divisions go in brackets:

Minimum Wage Act 1983, s 4(1)(b)(ii)

In MLA style in-text, acts of parliament are referred to by name. The act number or year is not included but the page, paragraph or section number being referred to is:

The Resource Management Act (sec. 3) prohibits…

Cases

When citing cases that are well-known or very old, the name of the parties involved is enough:

Westco Lagan Ltd v Attorney-General

Other cases may require a full citation, which includes the year, the volume number of the source, the standard abbreviation for the source (for example, New Zealand Law Reports), the page number and may also include court identifiers (e.g. HC for High Court or CA for Court of Appeal; see section 3.2 of the New Zealand Law Style Guide):

Westco Lagan Ltd v Attorney-General [2001] 1 NZLR 40

Legal journals

Legal journals follow a similar pattern to cases: the year is included first (in round brackets if the journal is sorted by volume, in square brackets otherwise), then the standard abbreviation for the journal, then the page number:

(1998) 18 NZULR 77

The journal should give additional information on citing for that journal.

Parliamentary debates / Hansard

The Hansard record of parliamentary debates includes the following information: debate date, volume number, ‘NZPD’ (which stands for New Zealand Parliamentary Debates), and the page number.

(16 May 2007) 639 NZPD 9284

Have a study or assignment writing question? Ask an expert at Academic Q+A forum

Get feedback on your draft assignment at Academic Writing and Learning Support

Need help with your assignment or referencing? Contact a consultant and receive online and/or face-to-face support

Page authorised by Director, CTL
Last updated on 18 December, 2019

Academic Q+A

Have a study or assignment writing question? Ask an expert at Academic Q+A

Live online workshops

  • StudyUp (undergraduate)
  • StudyUp Postgraduate
  • Library

Campus workshops

  • Campus workshops
  • 0800 MASSEY | (+64 6 350 5701)
  • TXT 5222
  • contact@massey.ac.nz
  • Web chat
  • Online form
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North
4442
New Zealand
Site map | A-Z index | Disclaimer | Privacy
Copyright © 1998 - 2010 Massey University. All rights reserved.