How to Read a Legal Citation
Legal resources are cited using a different format from other bibliographic citations. Citations are usually to the official legal authority for the court decision or statute or code section.
The basic format for legal sources includes the volume number, abbreviated title of the source, and page or section numbers. Citations may also have a popular name.
Cases
For example, a popular name for a Supreme Court case is:
| Roe | v. | Wade | |
| which translates as: | Plaintiff | versus | Defendant |
The official citation for this Supreme Court decision is:
| 410 | U.S. | 113 | |
| which translates as: | Volume 410 | United States Reports | Page 113 |
There are several different publishers for legal documents such as court decisions. (Libraries usually only carry one of these published versions.) These publishers may be referred to in parallel citations for this case. (The LexisNexis database provides these documents in electronic format, but unless it is a very recent case, the Lexis citation is not usually used.)
For example, the parallel citations for this case are:
| 93 | S.Ct. | 705 | |
| which translates as: | Volume 93 | Supreme Court Reporter | Page 705 |
| or | 35 | L.Ed. 2nd | 147 |
| which translates as: | Volume 35 | U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Ed. 2nd series | Page 147 |
| or | 1973 | U.S. Lexis | 159 |
| Year | Lexis database | Lexis document number |
The full citation for this case, therefore, is:
| Roe v.Wade | 410 U.S.113, | 93 S.Ct. 705, | 35 L.Ed.2nd 147 | (1973) |
| Popular name | official citation | parallel citation | parallel citation | date of opinion |
List of Frequently Cited Reporters.
Codes
Citing a section of the code follows a similar format, with some variations:
| 18 | U.S.C. | § 545 | (1994) |
|
Title |
U.S. Code |
Section 545 |
Date of publication |
While there are also several different publishers for the state and federal codes, parallel citations are not included as part of code citations.
For more information on interpreting legal citations, see:
Elias, S. and Levinkind, S. (2000).Legal research : how to find and understand the law. (8th ed.). Berkeley: Nolo Press. (KF 240 .E35 2000)
Harvard Law Review Staff . (1996).Uniform System of Citation : The Bluebook. (16th ed.). Cambridge: Harvard Law Review Association. (Reference KF 245 .U554 1996)
LegalCitation StyleGuide.(2004). LegalCitation.Net: Resources for Legal Writing and Research. [Online] Available: http://www.legalcitation.net/
LexisNexis. (2004). "Case Law." LexisNexis Academic Knowledge Base [Online]. Available: http://support.lexisnexis.com/academic/record.asp?ArticleID=Academic_case_law_searches.
