Legal Citations
The rules and guidelines for legal citations are covered in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, published by the editors of prestigious law journals. Find examples for common legal resources below, as well as links to more detailed information.
Online Legal Citation Guides
Cornell University Law School has an excellent guide to legal citation. Click the image to visit the site.
Georgetown Law Library provides a guide to using the Bluebook, along with videos and tips for citation in general. Click the picture to visit the site.
Common Abbreviations
Legal citation guidelines call for many sources to be abbreviated according to a standard convention. Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations allows you to search by publication or abbreviation, and includes an extensive index of both US and Britsh publications.
Examples
Case (or judicial opinion) citations follow a common structure, whether from a federal or state court. They include:
| Party Names | Reporter Information | Jurisdiction | |||||
| Plaintiff | v. | Defendant, | vol. | reporter | starting page # | (court | year) |
As an example:
Plaintiff v. Defendant, vol. reporter starting page # (court year)
Franklin v. United States, 992 F.2d 1492 (10th Cir. 1993)
Franklin v. United States, 992 F.2d 1492 (10th Cir. 1993)
| Party Names | Reporter Information | Jurisdiction | |||||
| Franklin | v. | United States | 992 | F.2d | 1492 | (10th Cir. |
1993) |
**Georgetown Law Library has a brief, 4-minute video describing case citations.**
Statutes are published in sets called codes. It varies from state to state, but generally has the following structure:
United States Code
Title Code Section Year
18 U.S.C. § 844 (2006)
18 U.S.C. § 844 2006
| Title | Code | Section | Year | ||||
| 18 | U.S.C. | § 844 | 2006 | ||||
Montana Code
Code Title-Chapter-Section Year
Mont. Code Ann. § 30-2A-101 1991
Mont. Code Ann. § 30-2A-101 1991
| Code | Title-Chapter-Section | Year | |
| Mont. Code Ann. | § 30-2A-101 | 1991 | |
An abbreviated version is also commonly used within Montana courts:
§ 30-2A-101, MCA
**Georgetown Law Library has a brief, 3 minute video explaining statutory citations.**
Law Reviews and Law Journals
Author, Article Title, Volume Abbreviated Journal Name Page (Year)
Dan L. Burk & Julie E. Cohen, Fair Use & Infrastructure for Rights Management Systems, 15 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 41 (2001)
Dan L. Burk & Julie E. Cohen, Fair Use & Infrastructure for RIghts Management Systems, 15 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 41 (2001)
| Author, | Article Title, | Volume | Journal Name |
Page |
(Year) |
| Dan L. Burk & Julie E. Cohen | Fair Use & Infrastructure... | 15 | Harv. J.L. & Tech. |
41 |
(2001) |
* see Cardiff Legal Abbreviations for journal name abbreviations *
Magazines and Newspapers
Author, Article Title, Abbreviated Journal Name, Issue Date, at Page Number
David S. Cloud & Greg Jaffe, For Bush, the Path to War Gets More Complex, Wall St. J., Sept. 3, 2002, at A1
David S. Cloud & Greg Jaffe, For Bush, the Path to War Gets More Complex, Wall St. J., Sept. 3, 2002, at A1
| Author, | Article Title, | Journal Name, | Issue Date, | at Page Number |
| David S. Cloud & Greg Jaffe, | For Bush, the Path to War Gets More Complex, | Wall St. J., | Sept. 3, 2002, | at A1 |
* see Cardiff Legal Abbreviations for journal name abbreviations *
Author, Title Page (Year)
John. R. Vile, The United States Constitution: Questions and Answers 55 (2d ed. 2014)
John R. Vile, The United States Constitution: Questions and Answers 55 (2nd ed. 2014)
| Author, | Title | Page | (Year) | ||||
| John R. Vile, |
The United States Constitution: Questions and Answers |
55 | (2d ed. 2014) | ||||
* edition is only included for editions other than the first.
Electronic Sources
General Guidelines
Legal citations are less concerned with format or location when citing sources.
The Blue Book recommends that you provide a URL if it will make it easier to find the source.
Add the URL to the end of the citation, followed by a period:
Tyler Pager, Drafting Only Men for the Military Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules,New York Times, Feb. 24, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/us/military-draft-men-unconstitutional.html.