We have already looked at how to reference legislation from the UK using OSCOLA, now we will look at legislation from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These pieces of legislation may be especially useful if you intend to do a comparative law study looking at legislation from different governments, for example. This blog will look at each of these and give the correct way to reference them using OSCOLA system.
Wales
Legislation in Wales comes from both UK legislation (referencing summary) and Welsh measures. UK legislation comes from the UK Parliament and is made by UK ministers. It can apply to all of the UK or just specific parts, such as England and Wales or just England. It is possible for a piece of UK legislation to apply to just Wales, but due to increased devolved powers to the National Assembly, this is unlikely. For example, the Wales Act 2014 that only applied to Wales was specifically about governance in Wales.
The other source of law in Wales is Welsh measures, which come from the National Assembly for Wales. This was created following the Wales Act 1998. These measures are not laws in the same way an Act of Parliament is, as the Welsh Assembly does not have that power. They are cited in a similar way to Acts of the UK Parliament:
Short title | Year | (National Assembly for Wales Measure number)
Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 (nawm 2).
Looking at each part, the short title uses the same principle as the short title of a UK Act; whatever short title that measure is commonly referred to as.
The year is simply the year the measure was passed.
The National Assembly for Wales Measure number should be placed in brackets after the year. It can be preceded by either “nawm” if the reference is given in English or “mccc” if the reference is given in Welsh.
Mesur Teithio gan Ddysgwyr (Cymru) 2008 (mccc 2).
Remember that footnotes should be followed by a full point, whereas references in bibliography do not need this.
Any parts or schedules of the measure should be referenced in the same way as for UK legislation, which can also be found in my referencing summary for UK legislation.
Scotland
Law in Scotland also comes from both UK legislation and from Scottish legislation, with UK legislation originating from UK Parliament in a similar way to how it does in Wales. Again, UK Parliament may make laws that affect all of the UK, just England or even some that specifically apply to Scotland.
However, Scottish Parliament can also make legislation in the form of Acts of the Scottish Parliament. Unlike the Welsh Assembly, these are actual laws made in Scottish Parliament, as more power has been devolved to it, but there are still limited areas on which it can make legislation. For example, it can make law on housing issues, but not housing benefit, as this is a social security matter which remains under the control of the UK Parliament.
Also, as the Scottish Parliament technically only exists due to an Act of UK Parliament (Scotland Act 1998), it could theoretically be dismantled by another UK Act, but this is highly unlikely at the present.
We will now look at how to reference an Act of Scottish Parliament. The basic format is:
Short title | Year | (Act of Scottish Parliament number)
An example of this is:
Crofting Reform etc Act 2007 (asp 7).
Again, the short title of the Act is simply whatever abbreviated version of its full title it is commonly referred to as.
The year is again just the year of the Act.
Each Act of Scottish Parliament is given an “asp” number which is the abbreviation of Act of Scottish Parliament to “asp”, followed by a running number in the year. This should be given in brackets after the year of the Act. It should then be followed by a full point if it is in a footnote, or nothing if it is a reference in the bibliography.
Again, parts, schedules and sections of an Act of Scottish Parliament should be cited in the same way as for UK legislation.
Northern Ireland
Like Wales and Scotland, Northern Ireland has legislation from both the UK and from its own legislative body, called the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was created by the Northern Ireland Act 1998. UK legislation may apply to all of the UK, just England or specific parts such as Northern Ireland, although as with Wales, this seems unlikely at the current time.
Legislation created by the Northern Ireland Assembly is called an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly and applies only to Northern Ireland. It is important to remember that Northern Ireland had a Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972, so Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland must be cited slightly differently.
Following the abolishment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1973, a Northern Ireland Assembly was briefly formed until 1974. This Assembly could make primary legislation known as measures. After this, a second assembly was formed from 1982 to 1986, but this had no law-making powers.
An Act of the former Parliament of Northern Ireland should be cited as:
Short title | (NI) | Year
For example:
Poultry Improvement Act (NI) 1968.
So, again, we use the short title of the Act as a reference. This is then followed by “NI” in brackets to indicate that this legislation is from the old Parliament of Northern Ireland. Finally, write the year at the end of the reference and finish it with a full point if it is in a footnote or nothing if it is in the bibliography.
An Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly is cited as:
Short title | (Northern Ireland) | Year
For example:
Presumption of Death Act (Northern Ireland) 2009.
Short title and year follow the same principles as before. The words “Northern Ireland” in brackets should come between the two, where it is an Act of the current Northern Ireland Assembly. Note that neither of these types of reference needs a number like the National Assembly for Wales or Scottish Parliament ones do.
European Union
Of course, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have one more source of law: the European Union. This is still currently valid as all of these are part of the UK and the UK is still part of the European Union. There will be another blog soon covering how to reference legislation from the European Union.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the legal structure of these three countries and how to reference legislation from them using the OSCOLA system. They are all fairly similar to UK legislation for referencing purposes, but it helps to have an idea of the underlying structure and principles of the power devolved to them. Happy referencing!
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