Contributors Guide
GUIDELINES TO CONTRIBUTORS
The journal provides a forum for scholarly and professional discourse and exchange on a wide range of legal subjects. Original contributions are invited from academics and practitioners on all aspects of law. The Editorial Board will consider articles, commentaries, case reviews, book reviews and statute reviews. Manuscripts and revisions are to be submitted in electronic form to the Editor at editor@nglawdigest.com
We welcome contributions from Legal Practitioners, Solicitors, Barristers, Attorneys, Accountants, Business Consultants, academicians (including post-graduate students) and other professionals. Being a legal journal, all articles must primarily focus on legal aspects or issues with the goal of adding to our understanding of the law and how it can be best used or reformed; thereby highlighting and/or developing African legal jurisprudence. All articles must further be of relevance or interest to an African country or African countries notwithstanding that they may relate to a non-African case/matter/issue.
PRESENTATION
Articles are to be submitted in Microsoft word (2007 or later editions) double line spacing including (notes and references). The pages should be numbered consecutively. The first page should bear the title, abstract, name(s) of author(s), their title position, qualifications, organisation and a full address for correspondence including email and telephone numbers. The abstract should not be more than 100 words. Articles are to be written in British English (spelling and terminology); Full citation must be included (footnotes and endnotes may be used). Direct quotations should be identified by double quotation marks while quotes should have single quotation marks. Full articles should be at least 2000 words, but must not exceed 4000, unless with prior agreement with the Editor. Further details on presentation are included here below.
Footnotes or endnotes may be used and should be marked clearly in the text in numeric order after a point of punctuation (…possible to resist..1), and listed at the bottom/end of the relevant page/document.
CONFIRMATION OF ORIGINALITY
Plagiarism is globally recognised as a serious academic and professional offence. All intending contributors must provide written confirmation that article they have submitted for publication-:
1.Is the original article of the contributor submitting it ;
2.Has not been published elsewhere.
*******************
Detailed Presentation Guidelines
The details provided hereunder are those generally used/followed by the Editorial team of Law Digest and as such, submitted articled may be amended in line with these presentation guidelines in an effort to achieve consistency in the presentation of articles in the journal. These guidelines are substantially adopted from and consistent with the University of Oxford presentation guidelines for legal journals. They may be used as a further guide by authors in the presentation of their articles
General Style
The editorial team will seek to ensure consistency in style and presentation of all articles and reserves the right to make any amendments to articles as may be deemed necessary to achieve such consistency.
The following are examples of the style that the editorial team will accept.
Case References
For example:
Pepper v Hart [1993] AC 593 (HL)
Or, if specific pages are referred to:
Ridge v Baldwin [1964] AC 40, 78.
Page ranges do not need to be given, only the first page.
American case citations may follow the American practice:
Brown v Board of Education, 347 US 483, 98 L Ed 873 (1954).
Note the punctuation, and that there are no full points between letters: thus the references are:
All ER WLR QB and so on.
European case references should follow the practice of the relevant jurisdiction.
If a case is referred to several times in the article, the author may introduce an abridged version of the case name eg. Three Rivers District Council and others (Respondents) v Governor and Company of the Bank of England [2004] UKHL 48) (“Three Rivers”). The author can then refer to the case as simply the Three Rivers in the rest of the article.
Articles
These should take the following form, using standard abbreviations for commonly known journals:
D Beatty, ‘The Canadian Charter of Rights: Lessons and Laments’ (1997) 60 MLR 481.
American references may follow American practice:
F Schauer, ‘Precedent’, 39 Stanford L Rev 571, 576 (1987).
Common acronyms for established journals will be accepted.
Books
References should adopt the following form:
JH Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (4th edn Butterworths 2002) 419
ACL Davies, Perspectives on Labour Law (Law in Context Series, CUP 2004)
An initial or initials may be supplied for an author instead of a first name.
Contributions to books
These should be cited to thus:
I Brownlie, ‘The Relation of Law and Power’ in Bin Cheng and ED Brown (eds), Contemporary Problems in International Law: Essays in Honour of Georg Schwarzenberger on his Eightieth Birthday (Stevens and Sons 1988)
Statutes
Statutes are to be cited in simple form or in line with the description/title given in the actual statute. Where the author cites different sections of (a) statute(s), there must be consistency eg. Section 4(1) – the author should not then cite another section as: s 5(2) but as Section 5(2).
Official Publications
These should be cited as provided in the publication concerned, or as that publication is normally cited, or as identical as possible to the title of the publication concerned.
Again it may be useful to use an shortened title eg. the “Pearson Report” in which case no further cross-reference is required.
Cross-references and cross-citations
These should normally take the following form both for books, articles and contributions to books:
See Dewar (n 32) 23.
If Dewar is referred to in the text after the first citation, the cross-reference will be:
Above (n 32) 23.
It is normally unnecessary to use op cit or loc cit. If the cross-reference is to the immediately preceding note, the reference will be:
Ibid 23.
Sub-divisions
The main headings should be centred and numbered 1, 2 and so on; first letters of main words should be in upper case.
The next level headings should be aligned on the left and be lettered A, B, C and so on; first letters of main words should be in upper case.
The next level should be aligned on the left and be numbered (i), (ii), (iii) and so on. Only the first letter of the heading should be in upper case.
Spelling
Spelling should conform to UK English (UK) in most cases with an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’.
Quotations
Quotations within the text are to be italicised and enclosed within single quotation marks, and quotations within quotations are given double quotation marks. If quotations are three lines or more, they should be separated from the rest of the text, italicised and enclosed within double quotation marks.
Sections of statutes, where reproduced in the article should be separated from the rest of the text but need not be enclosed in any quotation marks nor italicised.
Language Editing
Particularly if English is not your first language, before submitting your manuscript you may wish to have it edited for language. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. While our editorial team may be able to provide language editing services upon request, given our usual article load and time limitations, this may not always be possible. You may use specialist language editing companies. However, authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.
Colour
Any figures submitted to the journal in colour can be published in colour at no additional cost. Unless specifically requested by the author, figures/diagrams submitted in colour may be converted from colour to black and white. Authors should ensure that all photos, figures, tables and diagrams are submitted in high definition, and must have a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch at their final size. Figure captions must be suitably worded to apply to both the print and online versions of the article. If applicable, you will be notified of any additional costs and issued an invoice at the time of publication.
Note: Orders from the UK will be subject to the current UK VAT charge. For orders from elsewhere in the EU you or your institution should account for VAT by way of a reverse charge. Please provide us with your or your institution’s VAT number.
GUIDE FOR AUTHORS PREPARING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
DO
Enter text in the style and order of the journal.
Insert figure captions and tables at the end of the file.
Save any tables, diagrams, figures, graphs or illustrations electronically generated as separate files and not embedded into the text file.
Type references in the correct order and style of the journal.
Type unjustified, without hyphenation, except for compound words.
Type headings in the style of the journal.
Use the TAB key once for paragraph indents.
Where possible use Times for the text font and Symbol for the Greek and special characters.
Use the word processing formatting features to indicate Italic, Greek, Maths, Superscript and Subscriptcharacters.
Check the final copy of your paper carefully, as any spelling mistakes and errors will be faithfully translated into the typeset version.
DO NOT
Enter carriage returns to obtain spacing between lines, paragraphs, references etc. The space required is generated automatically by the typesetters.
Use double spaces after each sentence within a paragraph.
Terms and conditions
1.Publication rights
1.1 By submitting your article to Law Digest and accepting these Terms & Conditions, you grant to Law Digest the exclusive right and licence to produce/publish your article in the Law Digest. In addition, you grant to Law Digest the exclusive right to publish the article in print and/or online and to promote, market and sell globally your article in any form in English or any other language for a period of ten (10) years. After ten years, this Agreement will continue to roll until you notify the Law Digest of the termination of this agreement.
1.2Once you have submitted your article to Law Digest for publishing, Law Digest will review your article and use reasonable endeavours to let you know within 60 days whether or not Law Digest wishes to publish your article in an issue of the Law Digest. You agree further that the Law Digest reserves the right to exercise its discretion to publish your article, once submitted and accepted for publication, either in the immediate or forthcoming/subsequent issues of the Law Digest.
1.3 You agree that Law Digest shall also be entitled to license retailers, distributors, agents, licensees, sub-contractors and other third parties to exercise the rights you have granted to Law Digest under this agreement.
1.4 The rights you grant to Law Digest include, without limitation, the right to: (i) store, cache, retrieve and reproduce your article; (ii) reformat, convert and encode your article; (iii) entitle customers to download, access, copy and paste, print, annotate and/or view your article online and offline; (iv) permit customers to store your article that they have purchased from Law Digest and to access and re-download your article from time to time; (v) display, make available and distribute extracts of your article for the purposes of marketing, promoting and selling the journal, the Law Digest websites, the seminars, workshops and/or other Law Digest products; and (vi) use, reproduce, adapt, edit, license and distribute any metadata that you provide in connection with your article.
1.5 You will retain all other rights in your article. You agree not to exercise or permit any party to exploit any rights in your article in a way that will impair the value of any of the rights granted to Law Digest pursuant to this Agreement.
- Law Digest’s Right of Refusal, Amendments and Reformatting
2.1 You need to submit your article to Law Digest in accordance with the instructions provided and free of all viruses, worms and other potentially harmful or disruptive code.
2.2 Law Digest is entitled to decide what it accepts and what it rejects in its absolute discretion. Please be aware that, notwithstanding paragraph 1.2 above and paragraph 4 below, Law Digest may decide at any time not to publish your Article.
2.3 If Law Digest notifies you that it has decided not to publish your article, the right which you granted to Law Digest under this Agreement shall immediately and automatically terminate and you will be free to grant such rights to a third party.
2.4 Law Digest, its licensees and/or its retailers and/or its distributors may convert and/or reformat your article at their discretion. File conversion and/or reformatting may cause unintentional errors and/or changes to the design and/or formatting of your article. You acknowledge and agree that this is acceptable to you and that Law Digest, its licensees and/or its retailers and/or its distributors shall have no liability to you whatsoever for any such unintentional errors and/or changes.
2.5 You acknowledge that Law Digest make no warranties or representations as to the efficacy of any Digital Rights Management (“DRM”) which you may opt to apply to your article at any stage and Law Digest will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to you (in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise) for any failure of the DRM.
3.Warranties and Indemnities
3.1 By submitting your article to Law Digest, you warrant and represent to Law Digest (and its licensees and distributors) that:
(a) you are at least 18 years old and have full power, rights and authority to accept these Terms & Conditions and enter into the Agreement;
(b) you are: (i) the sole Author of your Article; and (ii) subject to paragraph 5 below, the sole owner of all of the rights granted to Law Digest under this Agreement;
(c) your article is original to you;
(d) your article has not previously been published in any form anywhere in the world;
(e) your article does not violate or infringe any existing copyright or licence, trademarks, other intellectual property right, moral right, duty of confidentiality, duty to respect privacy, or any other right of any person or party whatsoever;
(f) your article does not contain anything libellous, all statements contained therein purporting to be facts are true;
(g) your article contains no obscene or improper or blasphemous material nor is it in breach of the Official Secrets Acts nor is it in any other way unlawful or liable to give rise to liability against Law Digest or its licensees or distributors;
(j) your article contains no SEO keyword spam, either in your manuscript or your metadata tags;
(k) your article does not contain advertisements for services, or contain partial books for the purpose of promoting the purchase of the same book on a different service; and
(l) your article is not either in part or in its entirety, sourced from “Private Label” rights, articles, eBooks or information sources which license the same content to other people.
3.2 You shall indemnify and keep Law Digest indemnified against all actions, suits, proceedings, claims, demands and costs (including any legal costs or expenses properly incurred and any compensation costs and disbursements paid by Law Digest on the advice of their legal advisers to compromise or settle any claim) suffered or incurred by Law Digest (or its directors, officers, employees, licensees, agents and/or distributors) arising from any breach of your warranties in paragraph 3.1 above, or arising out of any claim alleging that your Article constitutes in any way a breach of such warranties.
3.3 All warranties and indemnities contained in these Terms & Conditions shall survive the termination of the Agreement between you and Law Digest.
3.4 If either party receives any claim alleging breach of the warranties given to Law Digest in these Terms & Conditions, that party shall notify the other without delay.
- Law Digest’s Responsibility to Publish
Once Law Digest has confirmed to you that it wishes to publish your article, Law Digest shall, unless otherwise mutually agreed or unless prevented by circumstances beyond its control, produce and publish your article in the journal within ten (10) months of such confirmation. After 10 months, if Law Digest has failed to publish your article, all rights granted to Law Digest revert back to you.
- Third Party Content
If your article contains any third party content (such as, but not limited to, text, illustrations, photos or diagrams), you shall at your own expense obtain all necessary rights, permissions and clearances to enable Law Digest to exercise the rights granted pursuant to this Agreement without further payment, liability or obligation to any third party. Any such clearances, rights and permissions shall be forwarded to Law Digest on request.
- Production and Promotion Responsibility
6.1 All matters relating to the publication your article, including the conversion, formatting and design within the Law Digest , including those relating to abstracts of your Article circulated for the purposes of promotion and advertising of the journal, shall be under the sole discretion of Law Digest.
6.2 Law Digest undertakes to set your name with due prominence on every copy of your article published by Law Digest.
- General
7.1 In the case of joint authors, references in this agreement to “you” shall be deemed to include all authors, who shall be jointly and severally liable under this agreement.
7.2 Law Digest will not be liable to you for any failure or delay in the performance of its obligations hereunder caused by any event or circumstance beyond its control, including, but not limited to, fires, flood, storm, explosions, acts of God, war, terrorism, strikes or denial-of-service attacks.
7.3 The agreement between you and Law Digest as set out in these Terms & Conditions is personal to you and Law Digest. Consequently neither you nor Law Digest may assign any of their respective rights or obligations under these Terms & Conditions without the prior written consent of the other, except that you acknowledge and agree that Law Digest may, without obtaining prior written consent from you, assign any of its rights and obligations under these Terms & Conditions: (i) to any assignee of the Law Digest business upon any restructuring or re-organisation of the Law Digest business; or (ii) in connection with the sale or disposal of all or substantially all of Law Digest’s assets. Subject to the foregoing limitation, these Terms & Conditions will be binding upon, ensure to the benefit of, and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns.
7.4 This agreement constitutes the entire agreement, and supersedes any previous agreement, arrangement or understanding (whether oral or written), between you and Law Digest relating to its subject matter. Nothing in this paragraph shall exclude or restrict the liability of either you or Law Digest arising out of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
7.5 A variation of this agreement is valid only if it is in writing and signed by or on behalf of each of you and Law Digest.
7.6 A failure to exercise or delay in exercising any right, remedy or power provided under these Terms & Conditions or by law does not constitute a waiver of the right, remedy or power or a waiver of any other right, remedy or power. No single or partial exercise of any right, remedy or power prevents any further exercise of it or the exercise of any other right, remedy or power.
7.7 Except where these Terms & Conditions provide otherwise, the rights, remedies and powers provided by these Terms & Conditions are cumulative and not exclusive of any rights, remedies or powers provided by law.
7.8 Any waiver of a breach of any of the provisions of these Terms & Conditions or of any default under these Terms & Conditions shall not be deemed a waiver of any other breach or default and shall not affect the other provisions of these Terms & Conditions.
7.9 If any provision of these Terms & Conditions is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any respect under the law of any jurisdiction:
(a) the legality, validity and enforceability in that jurisdiction of the remaining provisions shall be unaffected; and
(b) the legality, validity and enforceability in any other jurisdiction of that or any other provision shall be unaffected.
7.10 Any notice given pursuant to this agreement shall be in writing unless otherwise agreed between you and Law Digest and may be served by sending it by electronic mail to the party due to receive the notice, using the email address set out below unless otherwise stated in these Terms & Conditions:
Law Digest: editor@nglawdigest.com
You: the email address you provide when submitting the article or any subsequent email address notified to Law Digest in writing for receipt of notices.
7.11 This agreement (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any suit, action, proceedings or dispute (including non-contractual disputes or claims) arising out of or in connection with this agreement.
