Reading Legal Citations *

Cases | Statutes | Regulations | Some Common Legal Abbreviations

Books in the Pierce Law Library	Online help
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (on reserve at library desk) Beber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (on reserve at library desk)	Legal Citation Site - Cornel LII site offers Blue Book and ALWD citation formats

Legal Citations

A citation is a reference to legal authorities and precedents such as statutes, cases, regulations and law review articles. Citations are used in arguments to courts, legal textbooks, law review articles and the like to establish or fortify the propositions argued.

Citations to legal materials follow a standard format which makes it possible for anyone using a law library to find cited cases, statutes, regulations, and law review articles.

Most legal citations consist of three basic parts:

the name of the case, statute, or article
a statement of where the item can be found in a multi-volume set of legal materials written as: volume number name of publication (or set) page number
a date

A complete case citation looks like this:

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Legal citations may also contain additional information, such as an author's name or the court that issues a decision, which helps the reader determine how authoritative or credible an item is.

Recently several jurisdictions have adopted format- and vendor-neutral citation forms, and other jurisdictions are likely to follow.

Below are examples of citations to cases, statutes, regulations and law review articles with explanations of the various parts. At the end of this guide is a listing of some common legal abbreviations used in citations.

CASES

United States Supreme Court

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 490 (1954).

name of case: Brown v. Board of Education
vol.# : 347
reporter: United States Reports
page# case begins: 483
page# exact reference: 490
year of decision: 1954

Lower Federal Court

Brown v. Board of Education, 98 F. Supp. 797 (D. Kan. 1951).

name of case: Brown v. Board of Education
vol.# : 98
reporter: Federal Supplement
page # case begins: 797
court: U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas
year of decision: 1951

"Vendor-Neutral" Case Citation as adopted by the Wisconsin State Bar

Jones v. Smith, 1996 Wis 47 ¶ 15

name of case: Jones v. Smith
year of decision: 1996
court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
case #: 47
paragraph #: 15

LAW REVIEW ARTICLES

Zygmunt J.B. Plater, Environmental Law as a Mirror of the Future: Civic Values Confronting Market Forces Dynamics in a Time of Counter-Revolution , 23 B.C. ENVTL. AFF. L. REV. 739 (1996).

author & title of article: Zygmunt J.B. Plater, Environmental Law as a Mirror of the Future: Civic Values Confronting Market Forces Dynamics in a Time of Counter-Revolution
vol.# : 23
journal name: Boston College Environmental Affair Law Review
page # : 739
year of publication: 1996

STATUTES

Session Law

Civil Rights Act of 1964, P.L. 88-353, 78 Stat. 241 (1964).

popular name: Civil Rights Act of 1964
public law# or chapter#: P.L. 88-353
vol.#: 78
title of book: Statutes at Large
page#: 241
year enacted: 1964

Code

Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §1971 et seq. (1988).

popular name: Civil Rights Act of 1964
title# or chapter#: 42
title of book: United States Code
section# or part#: 1971 et seq.
year of compilation: 1988

REGULATIONS

As Promulgated
44 Fed. Reg. 29375 ( May 18, 1979 ).

vol.#: 44
title of book: Federal Register
page#: 29375
date of publication: May 18, 1979

As Codified

42 C.F.R. §124.501 (1991).

title#: 42
title of book: Code of Federal Regulations
section#: 124.501
year of compilation: 1991

SOME COMMON LEGAL ABBREVIATIONS

A., A.2d Atlantic Reporter

A.L.R. American Law Reports

Am. Jur. 2d American Jurisprudence (encyclopedia)

C.F.R. Code of Federal Regulations

C.J.S. Corpus Juris Secundum (encyclopedia)

C.M.R. Code of Massachusetts Regulations

F., F.2d, F.3d Federal Reporter

F. Cas. Federal Cases

F.R.D. Federal Rules Decisions

F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d Federal Supplement

Fed. Reg. Federal Register

L. Ed., L. Ed. 2d Lawyers' Edition Supreme Court Reports

N.E., N.E.2d North Eastern Reporter

N.H. New Hampshire Reports

N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated

N.H. Laws Laws of the State of New Hampshire

N.H. Admin. R. Ann. New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules Annotated

N.H. Reg. New Hampshire Register

N.W., N.W.2d North Western Reporter

N.Y.S., N.Y.S.2d New York Supplement

P., P.2d, P.3d Pacific Reporter

S. Ct. Supreme Court Reporter

S.E., S.E.2d South Eastern Reporter

S.W., S.W.2d, S.W.3d South Western Reporter

So., So. 2d Southern Reporter

Stat. Statutes at Large

U.S. United States Reports

U.S.C. United States Code

U.S.C.A. United States Code Annotated

U.S.C.S. United States Code Service

Note: 2d indicates second series, 3d indicates third series. The series number is an essential part of the title.

For further information and abbreviations see: A Uniform System of Citation and Beber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations.