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Referencing - UK & EU Law: Command Paper

How do I reference a Command Paper?

This guidance applies whether you found the document in print or online.

department, | title | (command paper number, | year)

Footnote and bibliography:
e.g. Department for Children, Schools and Families, Autumn Performance Report 2008 (Cm 7507, 2008)

To pinpoint, follow the citation with either the page number OR ‘para’ and the paragraph number. To pinpoint several pages, insert a dash between the page numbers. To pinpoint several paragraphs, follow the citation with ‘paras’ and insert a dash between the paragraph numbers:
e.g. Department for Children, Schools and Families, Autumn Performance Report 2008 (Cm 7507, 2008) 54

Title

Give the title in italics.

Give the first letter of all major words a capital letter. Minor words (e.g. 'for', 'and', 'or', 'the') should not be capitalized, unless they begin a title or a subtitle.

If the item has a title and a subtitle that are not separated by punctuation, insert a colon : between them.

Command Paper number

The abbreviation before a Command Paper number depends on the year of publication:

  • 1833-69 = C (1st series)
  • 1870-99 = C (2nd series)
  • 1900-18 = Cd
  • 1919-56 = Cmd
  • 1957-86 = Cmnd
  • 1986- = Cm.

Further information

Give any relevant further information in the brackets before the Command Paper number, e.g. Department for International Development, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future (White Paper, Cm 7656, 2009).