Guide to Footnoting and Formatting Your LAW 121 Essay

When to Footnote

It is very important that you do not plagiarise the work of others when writing an essay. In order
to avoid plagiarism you need to provide a footnote for every point you make where you have
drawn on material that appears in another source.

This means you have to provide a footnote not only when you quote from another source but
also when you write about a point, which appears in another source, in your own words. Law
essays typically have a very large number of footnotes. If in doubt – put in a footnote.

How to Footnote

In the Law School, we use the NZ Law Style Guide. The NZ Law Style Guide is available online:
https://www.lawfoundation.org.nz/style-guide2019/index.html. It has all of the different rules
you could need for the sources in your essay.

Some of the key rules that you will need for your essay are:

Rule 6.4: Rule for how to footnote a point from a journal article

The rule for how to footnote a journal article is set out in detail at rule 6.4. Please make sure you
read all of the information that is provided. The brief summary of what rule 6.4 says is:

Page on
Volume Journal which Pinpoint
Element Author Article title Year
number abbreviation article citation
begins
Peter “Birks’ Unjust
Example (2005) 121 LQR 163 at 165
Watts Enrichment”
Rule 6.4.2 6.4.3 6.4.4 6.4.5 6.4.6 6.4.7 6.4.8

So the footnote would look like this: Peter Watts “Birks’ Unjust Enrichment” (2005) 121 LQR
163 at 165

Rule 6.1: Rule for how to footnote a book

The rule for how to footnote a book is set out in detail at rule 6.1. Please make sure you read all
of the information that is provided. The brief summary of what rule 6.1 says is:

Place of Year of Pinpoint

Element Author Title Edition Publisher
publication publication citation
Burrows and Carter
Ross
Example Statute Law in (5th ed, LexisNexis, Wellington, 2015) at 311
Carter
New Zealand<
Rule 6.1.2 6.1.3 6.1.4 6.1.5 6.1.6 6.1.7 6.1.8
So the footnote would look like this: Ross Carter Burrows and Carter Statute Law in
New Zealand (5th ed, LexisNexis, Wellington, 2015) at 311.

Rule 6.2: Rule for how to footnote a book chapter

The rule for how to footnote a book chapter is set out in detail at rule 6.2. Please make sure you
read all of the information that is provided. The brief summary of what rule 6.2 says is:

Page on which
Title of essay
Author Citation of text the essay Pinpoint
Element followed by “in”
begins
PD Finn (ed) Essays on
Robin “Tort and
Example Contract (Law Book Company, 222 at 229
Cooke Contract” in
Sydney, 1987)
Rule 6.2.2 6.2.3 6.2.4 6.2.5 6.2.6

So the footnote would look like this: Robin Cooke “Tort and Contract” in PD Finn (ed) Essays
on Contract (Law Book Company, Sydney, 1987) 222 at 229.

Rule for how to footnote a case

For the purposes of this essay, we are happy for you to provide a very basic case citation for any
case you refer to – you don’t have to follow the rules in the NZ Law Style Guide. You just need
to put:
 The parties names in italics eg Fitzgerald v Muldoon
 The abbreviation of the court eg HC, NZCA or NZSC
 The year it was decided in brackets eg (1980) or (2011)

So the citation for Fitzgerald v Muldoon would be:

 Fitzgerald v Muldoon HC (1976)

Rule 7.2 Rule for how to footnote a newspaper article

The rule for how to footnote a newspaper article is set out in detail at rule 7.2. Please make sure
you read all of the information that is provided. The brief summary of what rule 7.2 says is:

Newspaper Place of Pinpoint

Element Author Article title Date
title publication reference
“Messy Allowance
Rob The National (New 17 July
Law Finally Gets at 2
Hosking Business Review Zealand, 2009)
Examples Clarity”
Audrey “Entire NZ China The New (online ed, 24 June
Young trade board resigns” Zealand Herald Auckland, 2011)
Rule 7.2.2 7.2.3 7.2.4 7.2.5 7.2.6 7.2.7

So the footnotes would look like this:

  Rob Hosking “Messy Allowance Law Finally Gets Clarity” The National Business
Review (New Zealand, 17 July 2009) at 2.
 Audrey Young “Entire NZ China trade board resigns” The New Zealand Herald (online ed,
Auckland, 24 June 2011).

Rule 7.5: Rule for footnoting lectures/speeches

The rule for how to footnote a lecture is set out in detail at rule 7.5 on speeches. Please make
sure you read all of the information that is provided. The brief summary of what rule 7.5 says is:

Element Speaker Title Location Date

Sian Elias, Chief “First Peoples and (Ramo Lecture 2008, 23
Example Justice of Human Rights, a New Mexico School of October
New Zealand South Seas Perspective” Law, Albuquerque, 2008)
Rule 7.5.2 7.5.3 7.5.4 7.5.5

So the footnote would look like this: Sian Elias, Chief Justice of New Zealand “First Peoples and
Human Rights, a South Seas Perspective” (Ramo Lecture 2008, New Mexico School of Law,
Albuquerque, 23 October 2008).

Rule for citing the Treaty

You can cite the two versions of the treaty in the following way:
 Treaty of Waitangi (1840)
 Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840)

How to Format Your Essay

The rules for formatting essays are set out in Appendix 7 of the NZ Law Style Guide. The key
rules are:

Times New Roman font (or its equivalent) should be used.

The following font sizes should be used:
 major headings 14 point;
 all other headings 12 point;
 main text 12 point;
 footnotes 10 point;
 long (indented) quotations 11 point;
 abstracts 10 point;
 page numbers 8 point; and
 running header 8 point.

Spacing between lines should be 1.5.

Please make sure you have a look at Appendix 7 though to clarify what you need to do.