List of all most popular abbreviated legal terms defined. This article is brought to you for free and open access by the school of law at. A systematic approach miniindex to the bluebook search this guide search. Below is a basic list of very common abbreviations. The main rule that describes the short form for cases is rule 10.
Judge posner recently and famously, as his article went viral as much as one can among the online legal community criticized the bluebook as a monstrous growth, remote from the functional need for legal citation forms, that serves obscure needs of the legal. These regional reporters contain appellate case law from all 50 states plus the district of columbia. If the case is not cited in print, include the month, day, and year in the date. But delaware has developed its own forms, and the bluebook comprehensive and long as it islacks several delawarespecific citation. The bluebook contains rules that prescribe how to cite a variety of legal documents.
Table 6 notes that a word of eight letters or more may be abbreviated at the authors discretion if substantial space is saved. Inclusive page numbers for the chapter should be provided after the title of the book see owens and sprudzs examples below. Books, reports, treatises bluebook legal citation tarlton. They can be found in the index of the bluebook and also in the textual discussion about abbreviations. Use t10 geographical terms and t to create a bluebook abbreviation.
The bluebook is one of those fixturesdare i say institutionsthat professors, judges, and practitioners love to hate. Bluebook rule 10 covers how cases should be cited in legal documents. Problems, cases, and materials 2006 when you are citing to a work that has been published by the same publisher more than once, you should cite the edition and the year it was published in. Unlike the remainder of the bluebook, which is designed in a style and at a level of complexity commensurate with the needs of the law journal publication process, the bluepages provide easytocomprehend guidance for the everyday citation needs of firstyear law. Basic layout bluebook 101 library guides at university of. Bt2 jurisdictionspecific citation rules and style guides. The bluebook also tells you which reporter to cite, if the courts opinions are printed in more than one reporter. In addition, abbreviate any state or smaller geographic unit included in a.
In citations, abbreviate the names of months as follows. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law. A42x 1962 westlaw campus research offcampus access requires my. Periods not an intuitive section for guidance on abbreviations for agencies and organizations as the bluebook is largely silent on this issue. Below is a list of state supreme court and court of appeals abbreviations. Pointbypoint, it is linked to the free citation guide, the indigo book.
Set out below is a table of words and their abbreviations with links to examples. For example, for the arizona supreme court it says, cite to p. Cases bluebook legal citation tarlton law library at. The last major part of a case citation is the court and date, contained in a parenthetical following the case location. United states treaties and other international agreements.
Generations of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the bluebook s unique system of citation in their writing. The bluepages contain condensed versions of the full rules and are intended to provide easytocomprehend guidance for. The law librarys reference desk has a hard copy of the 9th edition. Court document abbreviations table 8 of 17th edition this table gives suggested abbreviations for citations of court documents and legal memoranda not in the other forms of legal writing for the words most commonly found in the titles of court documents.
Bluebook layout bluebook guide guides at georgetown law. There are too many rules for this introductory guide to cover. In court documents briefs, motions and legal memoranda, a full case name is usually italicized or underlined. Oct 11, 2019 list of only abbreviations for state supreme courts. For help identifying an unfamiliar abbreviation in a source, consider. Basic layout bluebook 101 library guides at university. Citing secondary sources sample bluebook citations. The bluebook specifies a hierarchy of preferred sources for checking the text of the agreements to which the u.
Jul 19, 2019 the bluebook consists of four main sections. Periodical materials bluebook guide libguides at university of. Bluebook abbreviations legal abbreviations libguides. Law school bluebook basics one of the books that all 1l law students are required to purchase is the bluebook.
Legal citations legal reference sources research guides. The bluepages, the lightblue pages at the front of the 18th edition of the bluebook, are especially helpful for practicing lawyers, judges, and law students. Citation machine helps students and professionals properly credit the information that they use. The scope of the indigo book s coverage is roughly equivalent to the bluebook s bluepagesthat is, the indigo book covers legal citation for u. It takes account of the latest edition of the bluebook, published in 2015, and the supreme courts style guide. At best, i was able to make an abbreviation generator that mechanically applied the abbreviation tables, but that was after i fed most of the information in manually. Failure to serve legal process fail to aid failure to stop and render aid false pretenses writing insufficient check fcc false claiming u. However, it can be used by anyone embarking on a foreign legal research project.
The indigo bookisnt the same asthe bluebook, but it does implement the same uniform system of citation thatthe bluebookdoes. The bluebook lists most abbreviations categorically in tables. The indigo book isnt the same as the bluebook, but it does implement the same uniform system of citation that the bluebook does. The 20th edition of the bluebook was published in 2015. Bluebook abbreviation michigan uniform abbreviation am. An introductory class guide this guide was created for use by attendees at the summer success 2011 program held at the harvard law school. Your first step in cite checking a treaty or other international agreement is to find the correct citation. Jun 06, 2017 the introductory paragraph instructs that legal authorities should be spelled out in full unless they are used as a standalone citation, 3 and the rule recognizes a small number of accepted abbreviations that should be used in citations, 4 recommends the use of pinpoint cites they are not required, but are preferred because they are very. Students should remember, though, that there are numerous abbreviations that are not included in those tables.
Within the bluebook, and also in supporting materials, help can be found for deciphering the rules of citation. Jun 08, 2011 a scholar can certainly write a superb article without once consulting the bluebook, but an editor who can identify errant commas and inconsistent abbreviations in the footnotes is also more likely to catch typographical and grammatical mistakes in the text. Mar 27, 2020 this can lead to citation confusion so be sure to check the bluebook closely. The proper bluebook citation for articles appearing in consecutively paginated journals is volume number, abbreviation of the periodical name, first page of the article, and specific pages cited, if any volume. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library. Those categories are organized alphabetically in the adjoining table. In defense of the bluebook justia law blog june 8, 2011. For abbreviations in citations and case names, follow the rules in the bluebook. Abbreviations for courts in the united states and district of columbia. It is a composite of those contained in the bluebook and the alwd guide to legal citation. If you prefer to search by state supreme court or court of appeals exclusively, click on the links in the left hand navigation bar for. Such citations and abbreviations are found in court decisions, statutes, regulations, journal articles, books, and other documents. For example, the fictional philadelphia journal of law and order.
The indigo book law is the operating system of our. Abbreviate the listed words wherever they appear in a partys name that is part of a citation. The article, internet enhancement of the role of civil society in promoting the rule of law in transitional states, examines the potential for online access to laws and legal information to give citizens meaningful access to, and. 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 list includes only the abbreviations for the states supreme court or court of last resort. As indicated below, those phrases such as affg or overruled by that are followed by a case citation as their. This book is a reference guide that, believe it or not, will be just about the only book you take from law school into your practice as a lawyer. Common abbreviations used in criminal record reports. As has been true of all editions released since 2010, it is also indexed to the the bluebook and the alwd guide to legal citation. The rules for citing the court and year are fairly simple, but do include. Oct, 2017 the last major part of a case citation is the court and date, contained in a parenthetical following the case location. Southwestern journal of law and trade in the americas sw. A b c d e f gh i jk l m n o p qr s t u vwxyz show all. Thus far, this guide has described how to cite cases in long form, i.
Fenton, was published last month in the inaugural issue of the j. The reader should easily be able to ascertain what court decided the case, its geographical jurisdiction, and the year of the decision. Supreme court abbreviations bluebook quick reference. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator. The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case.
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. The rules for citing the court and year are fairly simple, but do include some exceptions. It is common practice in legal documents to cite to other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. The above link is to the 9th edition in its online format, which includes an extensive appendix on legal abbreviations. From the legal writing clinic writing tip of the week abbreviations in legal writing this tip covers some of the abbreviations you might use in the text of a legal document. In this way, the ability to bluebook is simply a proxy for other skills. 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. You must indicate both the state name and name of the court, except. The first section is the bluepages, which provide information on basic legal citation. Explanatory phrases table 8 the following table lists a number of explanatory phrases some of which contain abbreviations commonly used in indicating prior or subsequent history and weight of authority of judicial decisions. The scope ofthe indigo books coverage is roughly equivalent tothe bluebook s bluepagesthat is,the indigo bookcovers legal citation for u. An open implementation of a system of legal citation.
List of only abbreviations for state supreme courts. Browse the list of 5 692 legal abbreviations with their meanings and definitions. Pink text information that you will need to find from. Bluebook is listed in the worlds largest and most authoritative dictionary database of abbreviations and acronyms. If a journal does not otherwise indicate the volume number but does continuous pagination across issues, use the year as the volume number. However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows. West publishes seven 7 regional reporters as part of the national reporter system. The bluebook, you will need to use the most recent publication, the bluebook. However, the following are rules and examples for other types of legal documents that many firstyear law students may need to. The following are common abbreviations that should be used when citing treaty sources. Nov 25, 2019 often, it is best to use the bluebook index, look up abbreviations and consult the categories for abbreviations listed there. This page provides bluebook a uniform system of citation, 19th ed. West also publishes the california reporter and the new york supplement, which contain appellate case law from california and new york.
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