Common bluebook citations for federal courts welcome. Case citations basic legal citation cornell university. There are many sources supported within the bluebook including legal cases, supreme court cases and statutes. Note that many cases have several parallel citations, i. The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case. However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows.
The citation may be followed by other parenthetical information, such as a brief explanation of the case s relevance or a quotation from that case. If you are citing a specific point in the case, you may use only that page number and eliminate the. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library. This guide has only scratched the surface of the countless rules contained in the bluebook that need to be considered to create an accurate bluebook court case citation. Use short citations if there is an intervening citation. Because you will often cite a case and other legal materials multiple times in a document, the bluebook has established a short form for use in subsequent citations. Citation of a court case requires the following components. Citations below are based on the twentieth 20 th edition of the bluebook cases. Bluebook citation for legal materials purdue writing lab. Bluebook rule 10 covers how cases should be cited in legal documents. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law.
If you dont have the reporter being cited, use the case name index in any parallel reporter to find the pages for your case. However, when citing to florida law weekly, the style is fla. Cite the official report first and then the unofficial west reporter. Statutes recap 22 use full citation if the statute you are about to cite for the first time comes from a. Thus far, this guide has described how to cite cases in long form, i. Bluebook case guide bluebook citation generator legalease.
Cases bluebook legal citation tarlton law library at tarlton law. Cases bluebook citation 101 practitioner format research. The main rule that describes the short form for cases is rule 10. For citations to an authority which is part of a larger, consecutively paginated source, such as case reporters or periodicals, include the page number on which the authority being cited begins. Case name abbreviations table 6 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z.
When citing a given states cases to that states courts, always provide parallel citations to the official and unofficial reports. In these cases, cite instead by the name of the second party. Pages, paragraphs, and pincites bluebook legal citation. The following information regarding the bluebook citation format is an adapted version of the style and formatting guidelines found in the bluebook, 20th ed. The sheer complexity of the bluebook means that citing a court case can be a time consuming, confusing, and daunting task.
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