ANNEXURE B

SPECULUM JURIS STYLE GUIDE

REFERENCING
Citing Case Law
South African Case Law
The first time a case is referred to, its full title and citation should be given.

Case titles should be italicised: James v John.

The words “and another” or “and others” are to be omitted. Only the case name is provided in the
text. The citation is provided in the footnote. For example:

“The court stated in S v Makwanyane …” [insert footnote number].

The format for case citations is as follows: 1967 2 SA 456 (N) or 1996 3 All SA 345 (T) or 1999
11 BCLR 777 (D). There should be NO brackets around the volume number, where such exists.

Specific page references should not be preceded by an “at”. So: 1978 3 SA 234 (A) 237D-G.

If paragraphs are referred to, simply say “para 34”. For example: 1999 2 SA 199 (CC) para 34.

After the first mention of a case, an abbreviated title may be used: Soobramoney’s case or
Soobramoney.

Where a case is referred to for a second or subsequent time, two options can be followed. Either
give the full case citation each time you refer to the case, or simply give the title or abbreviated
title, then the page reference: James v John 56G. The second option will most likely be
preferable for authors, and they are encouraged to adopt this.

If the case is not reported in a published set of law reports (either at all, or has not as yet been
published in this manner due to the decision being very recent) the author should provide some
form of citation for the purposes of reference. This could be a JOL or JDR citation, or a neutral
citation used by the courts and SAFLII.

Unreported cases are referenced in the following manner: Friend v Sendal (unreported case no
24425/2009 (GNP) 3 August 2012); Standard Bank of SA Ltd v GH Loubser Boerdery CC
(1062/2012) [2012] ZAFSHCA 182 (10 August 2012) SAFLII, available at
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAFSHC/2012/182.html.

International Case Law

International Court of Justice

Cases of the International Court of Justice are cited as follows in a footnote: Case name in italics,
stage (if applicable) in brackets; year, ICJ Reports, first page of case report, paragraph
referenced. For example:

Case of Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United
States) (Jurisdiction and Admissibility) 1984 ICJ Reports 392 para 30.

Case of Certain Norwegian Loans (France v Norway) (Preliminary Objections) 1957 ICJ
Reports 9 para 25. In subsequent references an abbreviated case name is used. For example:
Nicaragua case (no hyphen is used)

International Criminal Court

Judgment Pursuant to Article 74 of the Statute, Prosecutor v Jean Pierre Bemba Gombo,
ICC/01/05-01/08/2008-3343 (21 March 2016)

Other Courts and Tribunals

The official citation as reported should be provided. Examples:

European Court

Ireland v UK Series A, No 25, 18.1.78 (1979-80) 2 EHRR 25

Or:

Jones and Others v UK, Application Nos 34356/06 and 40528/06, Judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights, 2 June 2014

African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Michelot Yogogombaye v the Republic of Senegal, Application No 001/2008 (Date of Decision)

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Garreth Anver Prince v South Africa (2004) AHRLR 105 (ACHPR 2004)
Or:

Free Legal Assistance Group Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, Union Interafricaine des
droits de l’Homme, Les Temoins de Jehova v Zaire, Application Nos 25/89; 47/90;56/91; 100/93
(October 1995)

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No ICTR-96-4.

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Prosecutor v Charles Ghankay Taylor, Case No SCSL-03-01-T.

Citing Legislation
The title and number of the Act are not to be italicised (e.g. Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995).

The first time an Act is referred to, the title should be given in full in the text, and a reference to
the number and year should appear in the footnote.

Subsequently, the title or abbreviated title of the Act may be used, but there is no need to refer to
the number and year again. References can be confined to the relevant section (s) or sub-section
(subsec) under discussion. References to legislation in the text may also be informal (as soon as
it is clear to the reader which Act is referred to): the 1926 Act for the Companies Act of 1926.

The Constitution is referred to as follows:

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Not Act 108 of 1996 according to the
Citation of Constitutional Laws Act 5 of 2005)

Citing Treaties
When referring to a treaty the first time in the text, the year of adoption, full name and
abbreviated name in brackets must be provided. For example:

“The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”

Thereafter the abbreviated name (UNFCCC) is used. For United Nations documents,
resolutions, protocols and declarations, the official citation, as given on the document, should be
provided in the footnote. For example:
“The 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”
[text]

“Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (GA Res 1514
(XV) 1960)” [footnote]

“The 1962 Resolution on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources” [text]

Citing Books
The first time a textbook is referred to, a full reference should be given. A full reference will
look as follows: Brownsword Contract: Themes for the Twenty-First Century (2000) 34. It is
unnecessary to supply the first name or initials of the author, unless it is necessary to prevent
confusion. Book titles should be italicised. An edition should be provided wherever the book in
question is not a first edition. For example: Kerr The Principles of the Law of Contract 6 ed
(2002) 123. The year of publication should appear in round brackets. When the book is referred
to for a subsequent time, you can either use the author’s surname and the page where you found
your authority (Kerr 646) or use the author’s surname, an abbreviated title, and the page where
you found your authority (Kerr Contract 646).

If the cited book is an edition, the edition number appears without its ordinal indicator (“2” and
not “2nd” or “2nd”; “3” and not “3rd” or “3rd”; “4” and not “4th” ).

The abbreviation “ed” is used for “edition”.

For multi-authored books, the first author’s surname is stated, followed by “et al”. For example,
“Sharrock, Van der Linde and Smith, Hockly’s Insolvency Law 8 ed (2006)” would be referred to
in the journal as “Sharrock et al, Hockly’s Insolvency Law 8 ed (2006)”.

Speculum Juris does not use “at” when referencing page numbers in books.

Citing Theses/Dissertations
Please give the author’s surname, the title of the thesis, and then in brackets, the type of thesis,
the institution, and the year. Thereafter give the page from whence the information came. So
Jansen The Undisclosed Principal (LLD-thesis, RAU, 1997) 34.

Chapters in Books / Essays in Collections

Titles of chapters should be in quotation marks. For example:
McQuoid-Mason “The role of human rights institutions in South Africa” in Hossain, Besselink,
Selassie and Völker (eds) Human Rights Commissions and Ombudsman Offices (2000) 618.

Only the surname of individual authors is required. No initials or names are required.

The title appears inside double quotation marks, uses sentence case, and is in roman.

The surnames of the editors follow (preceded by the word “in”).

The book title is in title case and italicised.

The year of publication appears in brackets after the title.

The precise page number where the authority was found follows the publication details.

Journal Articles
The first time a journal article is referred to, a full reference should be given: Neethling
“Defamation in South Africa” 1995 THRHR 378. Please note that the year is NOT placed in
brackets, and the volume number is OMITTED . No first names or initials should be given, as is,
unless it is necessary to prevent confusion. Titles of journals should be italicised, and standard
abbreviations for journal titles should be used. If you wish to refer to a specific page, do so
immediately after the commencement page, without using “at”: 1978 CILSA 347 350. When the
article is referred to for a second or subsequent time, use an abbreviated reference: Neethling
1995 THRHR 390. Only the page from whence the information was acquired should be reflected.
Ibid may be used if the reference is exactly the same as the preceding one.

NB: Please note that as far as possible Speculum Juris prefers that authors avoid the use of cross
references back to the first reference of a book/journal/case. In particular, the journal does not
use referencing techniques like op cit, loc cit and supra. This is intended to help streamline the
referencing system and prevent cross-referencing errors.

Newspapers and News Reports

In a footnote, provide the title of the article in double quotations and sentence case, the name of
the newspaper or news agency in italics, the date in brackets and the page reference. For
example:

“The plight of street children in Johannesburg” Sunday Times (3 October 2016) 4.

Reports / Discussion Papers
Similar to books, the title of a report / discussion paper is in italics and title case. For example:

Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its 68th Session (2 May – 10 June
and 4 July – 12 August 2016), General Assembly Records Supplement No 10 (A/70/10).

Fifth Report of the Special Rapporteur, Concepción Escobar Hernández, on the Immunity of
State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction (A/CN.4/701).

Government Gazette
The Government Gazette is referenced as follows:

Proclamation R138 Government Gazette 8331 (6 August 1982).

Internet Sources
Citations should include the date when the source was last visited – for example:

Garrett “Consumer Protection” http://law.computers.edu/garrett.html (accessed 24-02-2004).

Note: The URL is not italicised or underlined.