Quick Tips for Deciphering Legal Citations
When you are reading cases and other legal materials, you will often encounter citations to other materials. While it may look overwhelming, it is really quite simple with the help of these tips.
Some examples of the types of citations you might see:
- Statute: 16 USC 4246 or 16 USC § 4246
- Case: Bush v. Gore, 121 S. Ct. 525, 531 U.S. 98, 146 L. Ed 2d 388
- Law review article: 49 Cath. U. L. Rev. 575 (2000)
Here are some tips for finding these types of citations:
- To determine what the abbreviation stands for,
check out the following resources:
- Frequently Used Case Reporter Abbreviations
- The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Check the Tables)
Law Reserve, Dictionaries, Reference, Annex Reference KF 245 B55 2005 - Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
Law Dictionary and Reserve K 89 B53 2001 - Raistrick's Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations (International sources)
Law Ref Desk K 85 R3 1993
- The number preceding the abbreviation is:
- Case and law review: volume number
- Statute: title number
- The number following the abbreviation is:
- Case and law review: page number where case or law review article starts
- Statute: section number (may include a § symbol)
- Often, the date of the article or case decision is included in parentheses.
Parallel citations may be provided where the same court decision is printed in more than one case reporter, as in the example of Bush v. Gore above. This indicates that the decision is published by different publishing companies who add various bells and whistles to assist researchers.
Remember, if you have any questions, please contact a reference librarian.