“Style Error: Australian Guide to Legal Citation

Hello,
There is an error in this style in its subsequent citation of statutes.

The first time a statute is entered, it should output as below:

<i>Privacy Act 1988</i> (Cth)
This works correctly.

If the same statute is cites again in the very next statute, it should output as:
Ibid.
This works correctly.

But if the statute is cited again, with other, different, citations in between (eg in footnote 1 and then not again until footnote 4)
it outputs as:
<i>1988</i> (Cth).

It should output as for the first time the statute is entered, ie:
<i>Privacy Act 1988</i> (Cth).

The AGLC Guide is available at http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc

Assistance in fixing this would be appreciated.
  • works for me. Which Zotero version are you using?
  • Version 4.0.12
  • that should work. And can you replicate this in a fresh document? I.e. just insert three citations - the statute, then another citations, then again the statute.
    Looking at the style, the only way I can see the title from disappearing is if you - for some reason - use suppress author.
  • Strange. I am still having problems. In a fresh document, the Act still outputs as below. I don't think I'm using suppress author - I haven't tried to modify the style in any way. Could you advise how I would check this?

    Another user in my group library is also having the same problem.


    1. Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
    2. Anita L Allen and Erin Mack, ‘How Privacy Got Its Gender’ (1989) 10 N. Ill. UL Rev. 441.
    3. 1988 (Cth).
  • I can reproduce this, and it seems a likely processor bug.

    What seems to be happening is that the "title-short" variable is not declaring content when it renders. Since it is grouped with the author-note macro, which produces no output on a legislation item, the group believes it has rendered nothing but orphan terms, and quashes the content.

    Let me check into it. Should have more information in a bit.
  • Thanks, appreciate it.
  • edited November 3, 2013
    Okay, here's what's happening.

    The title-short variable is used in the subsequent reference. Currently, title-short is set from the Short Title field, so if that field is empty, you get nothing in the output. The style can be fixed by testing for variable="title-short", and rendering "title" if it is not available.

    However ...

    This behaviour is arguably wrong on the CSL 1.0.1 specification, which defines the term this way:

    title-short
    short/abbreviated form of "title" (also accessible through the "short" form of the "title" variable)
    If the form <text variable="title" form="short"/> is used, and no value is set in the Short Title field, you get the Title field value instead, as a fallback. Arguably, title-short should behave in the same way.

    But ...

    One of the reasons title-short was introduced in the first place was to allow testing for the presence of a value in the Short Title field (which isn't possible unless there is a first-class CSL variable attached to it).

    So ...

    It's clear that title-short should test false if Short Title is empty, but I'm not sure whether it should also fall back to the value of the Title field when an attempt is made to render it. The specification does not say so explicitly, and it's a bit of a stretch to read the language above in that way.

    And so ...

    I'll write to the CSL dev list (xbiblio-devel) for guidance. Meanwhile, the style can be fixed by testing for title-short, and explicitly calling the title field when it shows false.
  • No, we actually specifically agreed that title-short - as opposed to title form="short" should not return anything when short title is empty. Rintze may know where the old discussion is. The current processor behavior is correct.

    I'm sorry for the confusion, for some reason I still had an old version of the style although I tried updating. The line in question was inserted here:
    https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/commit/7999dd78f47dca2469d67959fbde833d7e29803d
    by you (fbennett).
    I'm not sure about the reason for that change -
    I had this left to the regular title macro on purpose since I did not see anything in AGLC suggesting short titles for those item types. If we want to use the short version here, it should be set to the macro title-short (which uses title form="short", so it doesn't stay empty).
  • @jmackenzie
    this is a regression in the style - we'll fix it.
  • Guilty as charged. Always happy to cause confusion.

    Ta.
  • The style is now fixed. The updated version will appear on the repository within 30mins (check the timestamp). Update your copy of the style by re-installing it from the repository. (See here if you need instructions for installing styles in standalone.)

    Styles should also update automatically within 24hs for Zotero 4.0+
    In an existing document, you may have to switch to a different style and back for the changes to take effect once the style is updated.
    Any further problems please let us know.
  • Thank you! The style is now working correctly. Really appreciate your being able to sort this out so quickly.
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