Book Review: OSCOLA: The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, 4th ed, by Donal Nolan and Sandra Meredith, eds, Oxford: Hart, 2012, 60 Pages

Abstract

This article reviews the 4th edition of OSCOLA, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, suggesting that it poses a four-pronged challenge to other contenders in the world of legal citation. The first aims at the "hegemony of uniformity." The second, at a tendency to what Posner has declaimed as "hypertrophy" in the size of legal citation manuals. The third, at barriers to accessing such manuals. And the fourth prong, gentler and more tentative than the others, aims at the notion that footnoting and referencing legal materials is purely a question of function, with little role for beauty, elegance, or style.

Keywords: legal citation, legal education