Author Guidelines
Focus and Scope
The Turf Law Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed journal published by the School of Law, University of Limpopo. The purpose of the journal is to provide a platform for high quality research on transformative perspectives about law in South Africa. While the journal is mainly seeking to respond to legal questions in South Africa, comparative perspectives from Africa and beyond are most welcome. The journal further welcomes contributions that take multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives to law. In particular, the journal is targeting high quality research from emerging scholars and non-conventional perspectives from established researchers.
Content Format
The journal publishes articles, book reviews, notes, case notes and comments. The journal welcomes articles of between 7000-12000 words, inclusive of references. Book reviews, notes, case notes, and comments must be between 3000-5500 words, inclusive of references.
Review of Articles
All contributions to the Turf Law Journal will be subjected to a compulsory double-blind review.
Stylistic and Technical Guidelines
There are no full stops between or after abbreviations (for example, use UN instead of U.N.) or after the v (for versus) between the party names of a case.
The name(s) of the author(s) must appear below the title of the contribution (article, note, case note, comment or book review), right-aligned and in bold. Authors must provide their academic and professional credentials, ORCiD, current affiliations and acknowledgments (if needed) in a footnote to their names.
Italics for all words in a language other than English. For example: morena, thobela, mutatis muntandis.
The journal uses footnotes and not endnotes or in-text referencing. There is no list of references or bibliography at the end of the article. A footnote starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
At least four (4) keywords must be provided below the abstract.
An article must have an abstract of no more than 250 words. Book reviews, case notes, notes and comments do not need an abstract.
Layout
Paper Size: A4
Margins: left (3,5 cm), top (3 cm), right (3,5 cm), bottom (3,5 cm).
Font: Use font type Arial, 12pt (main text, 1.5 spacing); Arial, 10pt (footnotes); Arial, 10pt (indented quotations, longer than one line).
Justification: Justify text with single line spacing for the main text. Single spacing for footnotes and quotations longer than one typed line.
All headings must be placed against the left margin.
Footnotes must be justified at the bottom of each page of the text.
Footnotes margin: Footnote text must start 1 cm from the left margin – therefore a hanging indent of 1 cm is used. No lines should be left open between footnotes.
In the main text, the footnote marker should always be inserted after the punctuation mark like a full stop or comma.
For cross-reference in footnotes, in a subsequent citation of a source, briefly identify the source and provide a cross-citation in brackets to the footnote in which the full citation can be found. If the subsequent citation is in the footnote immediately following the full citation, you can generally use ‘ibid’ and the page number.
In a footnote, a semi-colon is used to separate sources from each other.
When referring to two or more pages from the same source in a footnote, only a comma is used.
Place a full stop after each footnote regardless of the type of footnote.
References to page numbers must always be provided in the following format: 222-224 and not 222-4 or 222-24. Do not use "p", "pp" or "page".
Headings and Numbering of Headings
Title of the contribution: CAPITALS (BOLD AND CENTERED)
1. Introduction (bold)
1.1 The Limpopo legislature (Bold and italicised)
1.1.1 The position in Mankweng (italicised)
NB: No punctuation marks or full stops after the last number of a heading number.
Quotations
Quotations longer than one typed line are indented (1 cm on both sides) and are typed in size 10pt and single spaced lines, and justified.
Incorporate quotations within single quotation marks. Quotations within short quotations take double quotation marks.
A direct quotation from another source which is no longer than one typed line, must be quoted in the same sentence, for example:
University of Limpopo is often viewed as ‘one of the most progressive universities in South Africa’.
Referencing to Sources
Cases
For cases, use the standard format used to cite the case in its jurisdiction of origin. The law reports of that jurisdiction often provide a guide on how the case is cited. For example, in South Africa a case will be cited like:
S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC)
The names of cases are italicised. Even when a case is used in the text, it must be italicised.
The names and citations of cases are not used in both the text and footnote. It is preferable to have the case name in the text and the citation in the footnote.
If the case is unreported, indicate that it is unreported and provide the best possible citation including internet link.
Legislative Sources
When the name of the legislation has been provided in the text, provide the citation in the footnote as follows:
Act 13 of 1992 (not No), thereafter ‘the Act’
If a statute is mentioned for the first time in the footnote it should be mentioned like:
Industrial Relations Act 8 of 2000
Books and Book Chapters
Provide the author’s surname, followed by, initials and full stop.
The title of the book must be in italic and in ‘capitalise each word’ case.
Then give relevant information about editions, translators and so forth before the publisher and the year of publication, and give page numbers at the end of the citation, after the brackets.
Hobbes, T Leviathan (1st Ed., Penguin 1985) 268.
For a book chapter, provide the name(s) of the chapter author in full followed by a comma, the title of the chapter in single quotation marks and the name(s) of the editor(s) indicating that by putting (eds) in bracket. The book title must be in italic and in ‘capitalise each word’ case. The publisher and the year of publication in the bracket. The page outside the bracket. For example:
Rose, F ‘The Evolution of the Species’ in Burrows, A & Rodger, A (eds), Mapping the Law: Essays in Memory of Peter Birks (OUP 2006) 120.
Journal Articles
Provide the full names of the author(s), followed by a comma. The title of the article must be in single straight quotation marks and in ‘capitalise each word’ case.
Odeku, K ‘On Decarbonising Tourism: The Need to Switch to Renewable Energy’ (2013) 44(1) Journal of Human Ecology 231.
When pinpointing, put a comma between the first page of the article and the page that is pinpointed.
Nyane, H ‘Bicameralism in Lesotho: A Review of the Powers and Composition of the Second Chamber’ (2019) 23 Law, Democracy and Development 18, 30.
For online journals:
Greenleaf, G ‘The Global Development of Free Access to Legal Information’ (2010) 1(1) EJLT < http://ejlt.org//article/view/17 > accessed 27 July 2010.
Other online sources
For other online sources, provide the surname and initials of the author(s), the title of the article and the URL link, with the date accessed.
United Nations General Assembly, ‘The Role of Diamonds in Fuelling Conflict’ (03 March 2020) < https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/74/268 > accessed 10 March 2020.
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