(6)
Endnotes. Endnotes may be located after the text. These, however,
perform the same function as footnotes and endnotes to a chapter, which are
located respectively at the foot of a page or at the end of a chapter.
Beneath the Text
A text can have footnotes or endnotes, which perform the same function.
Footnotes are located beneath the text at the foot of a page. Endnotes are
located at the end of a chapter, so they are “beneath” the text in an extended
sense of the term. Footnotes and endnotes are treated together since they
perform the same function.
Footnotes and endnotes serve two useful purposes. They contain citations of
material to which a writer has referred, and thus avoid unsightly references to
citations in the text. They allow the author to make an aside by way of
expansion, commentary or event tangential discussion without disrupting the
flow of the main text.
Avoidance of Unsightly Citation
Notes may contain citations of material referred to or relied on by the author.
In a law text this consists mainly of legislation, cases, texts, articles in journals
and websites. Putting these citations in a footnote avoids cluttering the text
with unsightly references.
155
This is obviously an aesthetic function.
Further to this point, situating citations in a text under a system of citation such
as the APA or Harvard system was introduced when there were only
typewriters not computers so that making footnotes was cumbersome and
time consuming.
156
In this regard, these methods have outlived their purpose
and are as ugly as sin, although they are still used.
A preferable system is to cite references fully in a bibliography, then cite
publications relevant to the text in a footnote, citing them by reference to the
name of the author (or names of the authors), the year of publication, and, if
relevant, the page or pages to which the writer wants to refer. In fact, such a
system is used in this book.
___________________
155
Gibbs (1993) p 500
156
Under the APA system, a reference is cited in the body of the text
by giving the author and year, and if applicable, the page. Thus a citation
of page 76 of the first edition of this book would be (Enright 2008, p 76).
Full citation of publications is given in a list of references or the
bibliography.
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