Quotations

Use of quotation marks

The AGLC3 recommends the use of singe quotation marks for all quotes incorporated in the body of your text that are shorter than 3 lines. For instance:

There is no such thing as a single 'legal style'.

Double quotation marks are then used for a quotation within a quotation.

Isaacs J pointed out that 'the oath of a Justice of the High Court is "to do right to all manner of people" according to the law'.

Longer quotations, that are more than 3 lines, should appear set apart from the rest of the paragraph by indenting it as a block quote with single spacing and without quotation marks. Single quotation marks should then be used for a citation within an indented block quote.

Position of quotation marks

If a punctuation mark is part of the quotation, it should be kept within the quotation marks. For instance:

Brindle-Jones asks 'What is meant by ethical research practice?'

Students soon realise that studying law, 'like any new discipline, requires an understanding of history, basic concepts, and jargon'.

Editing or adapting quotations

As a general rule, you should not change any of the words of your selected quote. This means that you must preserve the original spelling and capitalisation. However, sometimes you might need to alter some part of the quotation by either adding or taking something away. For instance, if a name is omitted in the original but you need to include it to make sense of the quote, or if there are some superfluous words you would prefer to cut out. These most common adaptations of original quotations involve the use of interpolations (where words are changed or added) and ellipses (where words are taken out).

Square brackets are used when you need to interpolate or add to a quotation with an editorial addition or word substitution. For example:

White [the plaintiff] had no cause of action.

You will also see the use of square brackets at the beginning of a quote if the letter that was capitalised in the original has been changed to lower case. For instance:

Ralston directs students to '[m]ake no mistake, the study of law is a demanding task'.

Ellipses, or three dots, are used when you want to take something away from a quotation. Don't use ellipses at the beginning or end of a quotation, only in the middle. For example:

In conclusion, the defendant claimed that 'the report of the incident... is inconclusive'.

Do not italicise an entire quotation. However, you might choose to use italics for words or phrases within your own text to make an impact, but if you italicise words in a quote you must add a comment '(emphasis added)'. Note that your must italicise all case names and statutes, even if they are not in the original source of the quotation. It is also acceptable to italicise non-English words or phrases.

For more information and examples about quotations, refer to AGLC3 12-18 [1.5]

Using quotations strategically