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Australian Guide to Legal Citation 4th Edition

Guidance on using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation referencing style

Books

Books (print & eBooks)

See AGLC Part III — Secondary Sources > 6 Books

 

Unlike other referencing styles, the place of publication is not included for a book citation in Australian Guide to Legal Citation ('AGLC') style. Cite electronic books (eBooks) in the same format as print books.
 

Elements

Author/s, Title (Publisher, Edition, Year) Pinpoint
DJ Gifford and Kenneth H Gifford, How to Understand an Act of Parliament (Lawbook, 8th ed, 1994) 45.
  • Author/s — as shown on the title page of the book, subject to rule 4.1
  • Title — Italicised. Capitalise the starting letter of words in the title except for articles, conjunctions and prepositions (rule 6.2 and 4.2)
  • These publication details appear within round brackets (parentheses) with elements separated by a comma:
    • simplified publisher’s name, eg Thomson Reuters or LexisNexis Butterworths (rule 6.3.1)
    • edition number, unless it is the first/only edition, eg 2nd ed (rule 6.3.2). See rule 6.3.3 for 'revised' editions
    • year of publication (of that edition)
  • Pinpoint references — usually page numbers but can also include paragraph numbers in certain circumstances (rule 6.4).

 

Examples

1 David Hamer et al, Laying Down the Law (LexisNexis, 12th ed, 2024) 10.

2 Pam Stewart and Anita Stuhmcke, Australian Principles of Tort Law (Federation Press, 5th ed, 2022) 35. 
 

These rules may need to be adapted for some eBooks, such as those without page numbers or with unusual formatting/publication details, eg eBooks on websites like Project Gutenberg. There may be more than one way to reference these types of eBooks; be clear and consistent in your approach.

Chapters in edited books

Chapters in edited books

See AGLC Part III — Secondary Sources > rule 6.6.1

 

Elements

Chapter Author/s, 'Chapter Title' in Book Editor/s (ed/s), Book Title (Publisher, Edition, Year) Starting Page Pinpoint
Terri Janke, 'Indigenous Cultural Expression and Intellectual Property' in Elliott Johnston, Martin Hinton and Daryle Rigney (eds), Indigenous Australians and the Law (Routledge-Cavendish, 2nd ed, 2008) 61 , 64.

Elements are largely the same as for books, with the following additions:

  • Author/s of the individual chapter
  • Chapter title — enclosed within single quotation marks, no italics. Followed by 'in'
  • Book editor/s — name/s followed by (ed) for single editor or (eds) for multiple editors
  • Starting page — page number on which the relevant chapter begins.

 

Example

3 Nancy E Wright, '"The Lady Vanishes": Women and Property Rights in Nineteenth-Century New South Wales' in John McLaren, AR Buck and Nancy E Wright (eds), Despotic Dominion: Property Rights in British Settler Societies (UBC Press, 2005) 190, 193.

Books with an author and editor

Books with an author and editor

See AGLC Part III — Secondary Sources > rule 6.6.2

 

Elements

Author/s, Title, ed Editor (Publisher, Edition, Year) Pinpoint
JS Mill, Utilitarianism, ed Roger Crisp (Oxford University Press, 1998) 14.

Other book citation rules

Other book citation rules

The AGLC contains additional rules for citing other types of books:

  • multi-volume books (rule 6.5)
  • translated books (rule rule 6.7)
  • forthcoming books (rule 6.8)
  • audiobooks (rule 6.9).
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