UKZN School of Law:

Guide to Editorial Style

(Extract from Guidelines for Masters Dissertations)

1. Divisions / sections / subsections

Your Research Paper, dissertation or publishable articles should be divided up into

sequential sections and subsections in the following manner:

THIS IS THE TITLE OF THE DISSERTATION OR ARTICLE

I THIS IS A LEVEL ONE HEADING (I, II, III etc)

a) This is a level two heading
i) This is a level three heading (i, ii, iii etc)
(aa) This is a level four heading (aa, bb, cc etc)

2. Quotations

Quotations should be clearly indicated by single quotation marks, with double

quotation marks used only for quotes within quotes. Where a quotation is more than
about five lines long, it should be indented as a separate paragraph, with a line space
above and below, and with no quotation marks or leader dots.

3. Latin terminology

English terms above/below to be used rather than Latin supra/infra, ante/post.

Exception: ibid when used in footnotes.

Where Latin phrases and non-English expressions are used, they should not be
italicised or underlined.

4. Italics

Italics should be used only for case names (passing right through the ‘v’), titles of books
and journals and for emphasis.

5. Abbreviations

Abbreviations may be used provided that the name is set out in full, followed by the
abbreviation in brackets, at the first usage, eg
Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
The abbreviation can then be used throughout. Latin abbreviations as follows: eg ie cf
-- roman, no full stops

Use no full stops in acronyms, thus:

SAJHR USA CCMA

Abbreviated plurals do not have an apostrophe before the s. Thus 1970s not 1970's,
MPs not MP's.
6. Dates and Numbers

Dates: 1 January 1999, 1995-96 (not 1995-6 or 1995-1996), the 1980s and 1990s (not
1990’s).
Numbers from one to nine are spelt out in words unless they refer to section or
schedule numbers in statutes. Use percent not % (eg eight percent or 38 percent).

7. Case names and citations

Case names must be in italics, v in roman type without full point - eg Brown v White.
Usually reference to only one official Law Report is necessary. For South African cases
this should wherever possible be the South African Law Reports. Avoid use of ‘at’. A
reference to a specific page should be made as follows, with the first page of the report
always referred to first:
Smith v Jones 1989 (4) SA 123 (D) 134 (avoid use of ‘at’)

Subsequent references to the same case should be:

In footnotes:
1
Ibid 134 (where the case is cited in the immediately preceding footnote),
2
Note 8 above, 134 or Smith v Jones (note 8 above) 134 or Smith (note 8 above) 134.
Paragraph numbers rather than page number references should be used wherever
available. This is the case for most South African Constitutional Court decisions and
for increasing numbers of Supreme Court of Appeal and Land Claims Court decisions.
The same rules apply to foreign cases.
Eldridge v British Columbia (1997) 151 DLR (4th) 577, 631
Romer v Evans 116 S Ct 1620, 1627 (1996)
Brandenburg v Ohio 395 US 444, 451 (1969)
Avoid using abbreviated names of litigants: thus Regents of the University of California
not Regents of the Univ. of Cal.
The use of brief parenthetical explanations of case holdings and other
references is encouraged. Examples:
1
S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC) (death penalty a violation of rights to
life and human dignity).
2
Wisconsin v Yoder 406 US 205 (1972) (compulsory school attendance for
children of Amish religious community a violation of free exercise right).
3
E Mureinik 'A Bridge to Where? Introducing the Interim Bill of Rights' (1994)
10 SAJHR 31(Bill of Rights seeks to create a culture of government based no
longer on authority and coercion but on justification and persuasion).

8. Citation of books and chapters in books

When citing books, give author’s initial and name, full title (italicised), edition,
year, page reference. There is no need to give place of publication and
publisher. Page numbers should not be preceded by 'p' or 'pp'. Co-authors must
be joined by an ampersand (&) rather than ‘and’. Thus:

1
LH Hoffmann & DT Zeffertt The South African Law of Evidence 4 ed (1988)
121.
 For subsequent references to this work in a footnote use:
2
Hoffmann & Zeffertt (note 8 above) 125.

Translations should be indicated thus:

1
K Marx Capital Vol 1 (1867) (trans J Mander, 1976) 121.

Chapters in books: author’s initial and name, full title in quotation marks, initial
and name of editor, full title (italicised), year, first page of article, page referred to.
Avoid use of ‘at’.
1
C Cohen ‘Drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:
Challenges and Achievements’ in E Verhellen (ed) Understanding Children’s
Rights (1996) 329, 330.
2
C Loots & G Marcus ‘Jurisdiction, Powers and Procedures of the Courts’ in M
Chaskalson et al (eds) Constitutional Law of South Africa (1996, 3 rev 1999)
6.i, 6-9.

Subsequent references:
3
Ibid 6-10.
4
Cohen (note 1 above) 335.
5
Loots & Marcus (note 2 above) 6-11.

9. Citation of Journal articles

Author’s initial and name, full title in quotation marks, year in parenthesis,
volume number, abbreviated name of journal (italicised), first page of article,
page referred to. Avoid use of ‘at’. Where there is no volume number and the
edition is known by the year of publication, the parenthesis may be omitted.
1
H Corder ‘Administrative Justice: A Cornerstone of South Africa’s Democracy’
(1998) 14 SAJHR 38, 41.
2
C Albertyn ‘Women and the Transition to Democracy in South Africa’ 1994
Acta Juridica 39, 45.
3
C Sunstein ‘Rights and Their Critics’ (1995) 70 Notre Dame LR 727.
Use LR (Law Review), LQ (Law Quarterly), LJ (Law Journal), J (Journal), Univ
(University), Int (International), SA (South African). Thus: Univ of Chicago LR;
Oxford J of Legal Studies, Modern LR, Int & Comparative LQ, SA Medical J.
For South African Journals use SALJ, SAJHR, THRHR, TSAR, Stellenbosch
LR, Comparative & Int LJ of SA, Annual Survey, Acta Juridica.
In footnotes subsequent references to the same book, chapter or article should be
Ibid 290 (where the article is cited in the immediately preceding footnote),
otherwise:
1
Albertyn (note 10 above) 290.
2
Note 10 above, 290.

10. Citing the Constitution

The first reference to the Constitution should be (in footnote or parenthetical
reference): Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 (1996
 Constitution)
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 200 of 1993 (interim
Constitution)
Thereafter, ‘1996 Constitution’ and ‘interim Constitution’ may be used in the
text and notes.

11. Law Commission papers

SA Law Commission Issue Paper 3 Customary Marriages (August 1996) 34
SA Law Commission Discussion Paper 76 Conflicts of Law (April 1998)

12. Statutes
When referring to a statute (including an amending statute) for the first time,
give its full name, number and year (eg ‘the Mental Health Act 18 of 1973 was
amended by the Mental Health Amendment Act 16 of 1985’). Subsequent
references are to ‘the Mental Health Act’, or ‘the Act’ or ‘the 1973 Act’ or ‘the
1985 Amendment’.
When referring simultaneously to a number of different statutes, it is acceptable
to use abbreviations to distinguish one Act from another (but see point 5
above), eg ‘the Mental Health Act 18 of 1973 (‘the MHA’) and the Criminal
Procedure Act 51 of 1977 (‘the CPA).’

13. Hansard
Parliamentary debates should be cited as follows:
NA Debates col 1472 (29 July 1998).
NCOP Debates col 125 (24 February 1999)

14. Treaties
Give ILM reference where available, failing which give UNTS reference or full
UN Doc or OAU Doc reference. Examples:
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 (1969) 8 ILM 679
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 596 UNTS 261.
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 OAU Doc
CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990).