For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the bluebooks unique system of citation. Pointbypoint, it is linked to the free citation guide, the indigo book. Bluebook citation for legal materials purdue writing lab. Clicking on an orange bracketed and labeled selection below will take you to the portion of this guide discussing the appropriate citation format. A b c d e f gh i jk l m n o p qr s t u vwxyz show all. Citation format examples for footnotes general rules times new roman, size 10, 1 line spacing, justified. Internet citation bluebook citation 101 practitioner. In case the book is being published by more than one publishing house, write the. The second half of the second citation example lists the regional reporter citation as a parallel citation. The following information regarding the bluebook citation format is an adapted. Blue pages are meant for academics and practitioners, and the white pages are for law. Generally, rule 4 will provide guidance for proper shortform citation of this type of authority, as is discussed under general shortform citation rules in this guide.
Note that if the state or court is clear from the official reporter title, omit it from the date parenthetical. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library. The bluebook, is the definitive style guide for legal citation in the united states. For numbers of 3 or more digits, drop all repeated digits but the last two. You could cite to these documents, published solely in electronic form, as if they were. Importantly, however, it documents the many respects in which contemporary legal writing. Bluebook citation for llm students harvard library research guides. Guide to cite using bluebook citation method with examples. Short form rules for primary sources are at the end of each rule section for example, short forms for cases is listed in rule 10.
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. As has been true of all editions released since 2010, it is also indexed to the the bluebook and the alwd guide. Books, reports, treatises bluebook legal citation tarlton law. In thinking of the bluebook, i have been reminded of big blue, the ibm corporation. 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 bluebook requires citation to printed material provided it is available, unless there is an authenticated, official, or exact digital copy of the printed sources. Do not end a citation clause with a period, unless it is the last clause in the sentence. In a diverse and rapidly changing legal profession, the bluebook continues to provide a systematic method by which members of the profession communicate important information to one another about the sources and legal authorities upon. This guide provides answers specifically to questions about the citation rules in the white pages, not the blue pages. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law.
However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows. For instance, if your reference is a case that begins on page 100 of your source, but you want to point specifically to a statement six pages in, the page number in your citation would be 100, 106. Do not begin a citation clause with a capital letter unless the citation clause begins with a source that would otherwise be capitalized. The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case. Short form citations for statutes need to include the section number as well as the minimum information necessary to identify which of your previouslycited. The bluebook also has citation rules for legal memoranda and other practiceoriented materials the blue pages, which students in lrwa2 use for their memo assignments. Element a the volume number if it is a multivolume work followed by a space e. Short form citation may be used as long as it is clear which authority you are. You can choose to include any portion of the citation, like the volume number and. The works current online format, introduced in early 2016, was created with the. History of bluebook the development of the bluebook from its inception in 1926 as a twentysixpage pamphlet. Citation clauses are set off from the text by commas and immediately follow the proposition to which they relate. Generations of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the bluebooks unique system of citation in their writing. Bluebook citation for llm students bluebook citation for.
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