This page will guide you on the basics of how to find legal resources in relation to food and food safety.
Legislation refers to a law or a set of laws.
Examples of food related legislation can be found below. These include Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments (rules and regulations), and EU Law.
Act of Parliament example
Food Safety Act 1990
Statutory Instrument example
Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013/2996
EU regulation example
Regulation (EC) 178/2002
The best place to find legislation and cases is on a legal database like Westlaw (linked above).
Watch the videos below for a demonstration of finding this information. More guidance on using Westlaw can be found on the Law subject guide.
Court cases in English law are published in law reports.
You can find the judgments from these cases on a legal database like Westlaw.
Law report example
R (on the application of Tesco Stores Ltd) v Birmingham Magistrates Court [2020] EWHC 799 (Admin)
The APA manual only provides examples for American legal documents. The guidance on these pages has been put together in consultation with the Law Librarian, but if you search for advice on other websites you might find slightly different formats.
You must choose one consistent way to reference legal documents throughout your assignment, sticking as close to APA format as you can.
For Law courses, you may be required to use another referencing system (e.g. OSCOLA). Please ask your lecturer for further guidance.
Copy the style of brackets from the source.
When referring to a case for the first time, include:
If you refer to the same case again, just include:
Copy the style of brackets from the source.
Douglas v Hello! Magazine [2001] 2 WLR 992
It is best practice to use a narrative citation for Acts of Parliament: you should include the title and year of the Act within the structure of your sentence, and usually the section number. Avoid putting Acts of Parliament in brackets whenever possible.
In your list of references, just give the title and year of the Act of Parliament. You do not need any further information.
It is best practice to use a narrative citation for Statutory Instruments: you should include the title and year/SI number within the structure of your sentence, and usually the regulation number. Avoid putting Statutory Instruments in brackets whenever possible.
In your list of references, just give the title of the Statutory Instrument and the year followed SI number. You do not need any further information.
legislation type | number
It is best practice to use a narrative citation for legislation: you should include the type of legislation (Directives or Regulations) and legislation number and the Article number within the structure of your sentence. Avoid putting legislation in brackets whenever possible.
legislation type | number | title
In your list of references, just give the legislation type and the number of the legislation and the title of the legislation. You do not need any further information.