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See, cf, contra — a small vocabulary saying how the source relates.
Also known as: See also, Words before a legal citation
An introductory word before a citation, telling the reader what the authority does. No signal means the source states the proposition directly; 'see' means it supports it by inference; 'contra' means it says the opposite. The distinction is a claim about strength, and it is checkable.
A short word or abbreviation before a citation indicating the relationship between the authority and the proposition: no signal for direct support, 'see' for indirect support, 'cf' for a useful comparison, and 'contra' for an authority to the opposite effect.
A record about how a reference is written, not about what the law says. Nothing here is legal advice.
American practice codifies the signals in detail and their misuse is treated as a substantive error rather than a stylistic one, because the signal is a representation about what the source says.
United States
British academic practice uses a smaller set more loosely, and OSCOLA discourages the elaborate American apparatus in favour of saying plainly in the text what the authority does.
United Kingdom
One or two italic words or a two-letter abbreviation set immediately before a citation, separated from it by a space.