Basic Legal Citation

If this is your first introduction to legal citation, please read the research guide, "How to Read a Legal Citation" before beginning.

 

Additionally, there is a large section of materials dealing with legal citations on our page for First-Year Law Students.

 

For a copy of this document in PDF format on Claranet click here.

 

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, is the most widely used legal citation system in the United States.  It is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal.  Currently, it is in its 18th edition.

Alternative legal citation style guides exist, including the ALWD Citation Manual and the Maroonbook, used by journals published at the University of Chicago Law School. Many state courts have their own citation rules that take precedence over the Bluebook for documents filed with those courts. Some of the local rules are simple modifications to the Bluebook system.  In other states, notably New York, California, and Michigan, the local rules are so different from the Bluebook that they are codified in their own style guides.

 

The rule for citations is found in California Rules of Court, Rule 1.200.  It reads:

 

Citations to cases and other authorities in all documents filed in the courts must be in the style established by either the California Style Manual or The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, at the option of the party filing the document. The same style must be used consistently throughout the document.

 

For a full list of jurisdiction-specific citations, refer to BT.2 in the Bluebook.

 

This research guide is only going to cover the very basics in Bluebook.  It will give brief examples on how to cite the following materials: cases, statutes, and journals.

 

Cases | Statutes | Journals | Services

 

Cases

The rule for cases in Bluebook is Rule 10.  We are going to be using a U.S. Supreme Court case as an example.  To begin, let's cover some basics about formatting.  First, case names are always underlined or italicized. 

 

XYZ Corp. v. John Doe

 

Secondly, the "v." is always lowercase and is never "vs."

 

XYZ Corp. v. Doe

 

The case name is followed by a comma

 

XYZ Corp. v. Doe,

 

Do not include the parties' first names, unless it is the name of a corporation

 

XYZ Corp. v. Marie Callendar's Inc.,

 

If there is more than one plaintiff or defendant, include only the first party on each side. 

 

Do not include "et al"

 

Do not abbreviate United States in a case name

 

United States v. Rumsfeld,

 

Supreme Court

 

For a Supreme Court case, cite to the official reporter, U.S. Reports.  If it is not yet available there, cite to S. Ct. (Supreme Court Reports), L. Ed. (Lawyers' Edition), U.S.L.W. (United States Law Weekly), or Lexis/WestLaw in that order.  Do not include parallel citations.

 

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

 

As there is only one U.S. Supreme Court, you do not need to include the court in the parenthetical information (Rule 10.4), although you still need to include the year (Rule 10.5).

 

Federal Appellate and Trial Courts

 

For the Federal Circuit Courts, the format is much the same.  The one big difference is that the court is always included in the parenthetical information.  For published federal circuit court cases cite to the Federal Reporter, for federal district court cases cite to the Federal Supplement.

 

Davis v. Everett, 102 F. 2d 24 (9th Cir. 1954)

 

Notice the period after "F." and the lack of a period after "2d".  Also, note "Circuit" is abbreviated as "Cir." 

 

There are other permissible abbreviations you may use in a case's party name.  For a full list refer to Rule 6.1(b) in the Bluebook.

 

State Cases

 

For state cases, cite first to the regional reporter if the case is published there.  If not, cite to the official state reporter, California Reports or California Appellate Reports.  If the case is available in both, cite to both with the official reporter listed first:

 

People v. Garrison, 47 Cal. 3d 746, 765 P. 2d 419 (Cal., 1989).

 

As this is a California Supreme Court case, we do not need to include the court name in the parenthetical information.  However, as we are also citing to the regional reporter, Pacific Reporter, we need to include from which state it was derived as this reporter includes other Western states.

 

Citing dissenting opinion

 

If you are citing to the dissenting, rather than majority, opinion state as much in your citation:

 

Parker v. Randolph, 442 U.S. 62, 84 (1979) (Stevens, J., dissenting).

 

Pinpoint cites

 

When citing to a particular page in the opinion, cite both the beginning page and the page with the quotation:

 

Quincy v. Raleigh, 213 U.S. 192, 202 (1958).

 

Case History

 

When you are citing to a case which has subsequent history refer to the history when you are citing to the lower court. 

 

For example:

 

Overton v. Pettygrove, 119 F. 2d 888 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 234 U.S. 764 (1947).

 

Notice two things about this citation.  One, it gives the subsequent history as this case was later heard by the Supreme Court.  Secondly, the first citation to the Federal Reporter does not have a year included.  This is because the Supreme Court heard it the same year.  If a higher court hears a case in the same year as the lower court, then you would only include the year once at the end of the citation.  If the higher court heard the case in a later year, reflect that in the citation:

 

Marshall v. Northrup, 444 F. 2d 67 (2d Cir. 1967), aff'd, 300 U.S. 119 (1968).

 

Other history terms you may encounter include: aff'd, aff'd on other grounds, rev'd, cert. denied, cert. granted, modified, reh'g granted, and vacated.  For more information refer to Rule 10.7 in the Bluebook.

 

Quoting or Citing Parentheticals

 

When a case cites to another case, you must reflect that in the citation.  When you have a dissenting opinion citing to another dissenting opinion it can get a little confusing how to order these.  According to Bluebook Rule 10.6.3, parenthetical phrases must go in the following order: weight of authority parentheticals, "quoting" or "citing" parentheticals, and finally explanatory parentheticals.  For example:

 

Baldwin v. Alabama, 472 U.S. 372, 399 (1985) (Stevens, J., dissenting) (citing Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 938 (1983) (Blackmun, J., dissenting)) (noting the importance of rationality when imposing death sentences).

 

 

Statutes

The Bluebook rule for citing statutes is 12.3.

 

Federal Code

 

To cite to the official federal code use the following format:

 

title / citation stem / section / year (in parenthesis)

 

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000).

 

You may also include the popular name of the originating legislative, if appropriate:

 

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 § 102, 42 U.S.C. § 4332 (2000).

 

When possible, you always want to cite to the official code or its supplement.  If this is not possible, cite the unofficial code, the official session laws, privately published session laws (United States Congressional and Administrative News), WestLaw/Lexis, a looseleaf service, an internet source, or a newspaper -- in that order.

 

The United States Code is published every six years.  Federal laws that are published after the most recent U.S. Code publication will be found either in the U.S. Code supplement, or an unofficial annotated code service (U.S.C.S. or U.S.C.A.).  When citing to a supplement or pocket part, follow the direction in Bluebook rule 3.1(c).

 

Example:

 

18 U.S.C. § 510(b) (Supp. I 1983).

 

California Code

 

California Code is different from other states in two visible ways.  First, the titles in the state code are titled by their subject -- Cal. Veh. Code, Cal. Civ. Code, etc.  Secondly, there is no "official" code for California published directly by the state.  Accordingly, the publisher name must always be included in the parenthetical information.  There are two main publishers of the California Code -- West and Deering's.  Here are some citation examples:

 

Cal. Veh. Code § 11,506 (West 2000).

Cal. Penal Code § 187 (Deering 2000).

 

For a list of the permissible statutory abbreviations check out this list created by the Sacramento County Law Library.

 

 

 

 

Law Review Articles/Journals

The rule for periodicals and law review articles is Rule 16 in the Bluebook.  The basic format for citing a law review article is as follows:

  

author / article name / journal volume / journal name / page number / year (in parenthesis)

 

Charles A. Reich, The New Property, 73 Yale L.J. 733, 737-38 (1964).

 

Richard A. Epstein, The Supreme Court, 1987 Term -- Foreword: Unconstitutional Conditions, State Power, and the Limits of Consent, 102 Harv. L. Rev. 4, 44 (1988).

 

Be very careful about abbreviating journal names.  There are accepted forms for virtually all of them.  Consult Table 13 in the Bluebook for a list.

 

 

 

"Services" or Loose-leaf materials

 

A loose-leaf service is a subject-oriented compilation of materials which may include cases, statutes, and commentary.  These materials are designed for practicing attorneys who specialize in a particular area of law.  Some examples include the Environment Reporter, Labor Law Reporter, and Federal Tax Reporter.  The Bluebook rule for citing to a service is 19.1.

 

Citations to loose-leaf services should include the volume, abbreviated title, publisher, subdivision, and date.  Refer to Tables T.13 and T.15 in the Bluebook for the approved abbreviations.

The volume designation may be a year, a descriptive subtitle, or a number.  Here are some examples:

 

5 Trade Reg. Rep.

1979-1 Trade Cas.

[Current Developments] Hous. & Dev. Rep.

[2 Wages-Hours] Lab. L. Rep.

 

Every citation to a loose-leaf service must include the publisher's name:

 

4 Lab. L. Rep. (CCH) § 9046

[1982] 12 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law. Inst.)

 

When citing a case found in a loose-leaf service, cite the exact date of the case:

 

Rhode Island Insurance Agents Agree Not To Rig Bids, [Jan.-June] Antitrust & Trade Reg. Rep. (BNA) No. 967, at D-11 (June 5, 1980).

 

 

 

 

If you need any assistance with citation, or anything else, please consult with a law librarian at the reference desk.

 

 

Page last updated: August 25, 2009