How to cite legislation?
At the University of Economics, Prague, the following options for citing legislative documents are known. Please consult your thesis supervisor to determine which option to use.
The APA 7th edition citation style provides general recommendations in its manual, but it only addresses U.S. case law in its examples, leaving the citation of regional law to specific institutions. Based on these general guidelines, VŠE CIKS has created its own examples for citing Czech and EU legislation.
In your thesis, where possible, specify the particular section of the legislative document (e.g., paragraph, article, title, etc.) from which you are citing, either directly in the sentence or at least in the citation parentheses. The general structure of the in-text citation is similar to other documents, but instead of the author, you place the designation, e.g., “Act No. 121/2000 Sb.” or a shortened title like “Copyright Act” at the beginning. However, it is necessary to decide on one version and use it consistently throughout your thesis for each legislative citation. You cannot switch between using the designation and the shortened title in different citations. The general structure (consistent with the examples below) is as follows:
specific section (designation of legislation, year)
(designation of legislation, year, specific section)
References
If you cannot find a specific example below, you can cite Czech legislation published in the Collection of Laws, the Collection of International Treaties, the Collection of Legal Regulations of Territorial Self-Governing Units and Some Administrative Authorities, as well as in Bulletins of Ministries and Other Authorities, using the following template:
Type of legislation No. XX/year title (shortened title if applicable) (“as amended” if applicable), Publication Part publication XX (year of approval). URL
The URL is optional in APA 7th ed., but VŠE CIKS recommends including the URL for Czech legislation, which is usually available online. Ideally, link to the regulation in its current version from databases such as ASPI or Beck Online, which are available at VŠE. Other official sources are also acceptable, but if you cite amended legislation, you must provide the URL for the current version.
Specific examples and more information can be found on the APA 7 legislative citation page.
Legislative Rules of the Government
See Chapter VI.
Citing legislative sources according to the journal “Právník”
This involves footnote citations, with document entries being a combination of the modified styles of the Legislative Rules of the Government and ČSN ISO 690.