banner

Four Basic Types of Bluebook Citations

There’s no getting around the fact that legal citation is complicated. With so many types of material to cite, and different rules for different jurisdictions and publications, learning legal citation can seem like an overwhelming task. But knowing the three most common types of citation will allow us to cover most types of citations used in everyday legal practice. If we add a fourth type to the list, we will be able to handle most kinds of scholarly writing, too.

In standard American legal practice, three types of material are most frequently cited: cases, statutes, and constitutions. In legal scholarship, we must also learn to cite journal articles. If we become fluent in these four cornerstone citation types, we will be able to generate most types of legal documents without too much hesitation over citation style.

At present, there is no citation generator that correctly applies Bluebook citation style to all types of legal material. Even citation machines that claim to be able to handle Bluebook citation make frequent errors, particularly in the area of party name designations, abbreviation conventions, and typeface rules. If you want to shortcut the citation process, the only reliable way to do this is to find a published citation to your material in a West reporter or through Lexis, and copy that cite.

Please note: In the citation patterns below, the punctuation you must use is designated with all caps. For example, COMMA means you must use a comma there to fulfill the requirements of the citation pattern. Each pattern will be shown with the actual punctuation and with the all-caps designations because it is very easy to overlook small punctuation marks.

Also note: For the purposes of this handout, we will not be covering the use of Id.

Cases

Here is the basic pattern for American case citation for the first reference to a case from Rule 10 in the Bluebook.

Name-of-caseCOMMA volume-number volume-name first-page-of-caseCOMMA pin-cite OPENPARENSdate-of-decisionCLOSEPARENS PERIOD

With the punctuation, here is how that would look:

Name-of-case, volume-number volume-name first-page-of-case, pin-cite (date-of-decision).

Notice that the name of the case is italicized but the rest of the cite is in plain text. Example:

It is an historic and enduring principle of our national jurisprudence that the United States is “a government of laws, and not of men.” Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 163 (1803).

Subesequent cites use the “at” form:

Truncated-case-nameCOMMA volume-number volume-name at page-numberPERIOD

With the punctuation, here is how that would look:

Truncated-case-name, volume-number volume-name at page-number.

Example:

Marbury, 5 U.S. at 164.

  • Italicize the case name.

  • The name of the case is the name of the party or parties. Generally, this means:
    - The last names of adult individuals.
    - The initials of minor children.
    - The whole names of corporations, abbreviated according to Rule 10.2 and the tables in Rule 10.

  • When multiple individuals are a party, name only the first listed individual.

  • In the trial court, the name of the plaintiff or petitioner appears first, and the name of the defendant or respondent appears last.

  • To abbreviate versus, use a lower-case v followed by a period: v. Do not use upper case or any combination of letters.

  • In the volume name, do not insert spaces after the periods between the portions of the abbreviations. For example, Federal Reporter Second Series is abbreviated as F.2d with no space following the period.

  • The “pin cite” is the exact page or paragraph in which a quoted excerpt is found. It is called a pin cite because you use it to “pin” a quote to a specific page or paragraph within a case. Because cases are often long and cover multiple legal points, these pins are crucial to anyone who wishes to check your citation.

  • Don’t forget the period at the very end of the cite!

 

Statutes

There are two basic patterns for statutes and similar rules. In the first pattern, we start with the name of the reporter. In the second pattern, we start with a volume number.

Example, Pattern 1:

Name-of-volume section-symbol section-number OPENPARENSyearCLOSEPARENS PERIOD

Md. Code, Com. Law § 1-101 (2012).

Example, Pattern 2:

Volume-number name-of-volume section-symbol section-number OPENPARENSyearCLOSEPARENS PERIOD

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006 & Supp. 2010).

  •  For sample citations for all fifty U.S. States, check the Cornell Law School’s excellent cite:
    http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/3-300.htm

  • The second pattern often will cover administrative rules as well as statutes. Example: 20 C.F.R. § 404.260 (2012). Note that this example follows the second pattern.

  • The year should be the most recent year of publication or compilation, not the year that the statute was enacted.

  • No punctuation separates the parts of the cites. In the sample Maryland statute citation, the comma exists as part of the name of the volume, not as part of the citation pattern.

  • Nothing is italicized or underlined in a cite to a statute.

  • In law review citations, use all-caps and small-caps for the name of the volume.

  • These rules apply to enacted legislation and rules only. For proposed, repealed, or other non-enacted legislative or administrative materials, consult the Bluebook for proper citation formats.

 

Constitutions

Here is the basic pattern for citing American constitutions (state or federal) from Rule 11 in the Bluebook.

Constitution-name article/amendment-nameCOMMA section-numberCOMMA clause-number-if-applicablePERIOD

  • The constitution name consists of the abbreviated name of the jurisdiction plus the abbreviation for the word constitution.

  • Article is abbreviated art., amendment is abbreviated amend., clause is abbreviated cl., and sections are designated with the symbol §.

  • Do not use any punctuation between the name of the constitution and the article or amendment name.

  • Do not underline or italicize any portion of the cite.

  • Only use a date if you are citing to a provision of a constitution which is no longer in effect.

  • For law review material, use all-caps and small-caps for the name of the constitution.

  • Examples:
    U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 2.
    U.S. Const. amend. XIII, § 2.
    N.Y. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

 

Law Journal Articles

Here is the basic pattern for citing articles in law reviews or law journals.

Author-full-nameCOMMA Article-titleCOMMA volume-number volume-name first-page-of-articleCOMMA pin-cite OPENPARENSyearCLOSEPARENS PERIOD

 Here is how that pattern looks with the punctuation:

Author-full-name, Article-title, volume-number volume-name first-page-of-article, pin-cite (year).

  • Do not omit or abbreviate any portion of the author’s name.

  • Do not present the author’s name in reverse order. The first name should come first, and the last name should come last.

  • Italicize the title of the article.

  • In a law review article, use all-caps and small-caps for the name of the volume.

  • Do not use abbreviations in the name of the article.

  • Do abbreviate the name of the journal.

For more information, see Peter W. Martin’s excellent summary and explanation of the Bluebook here:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/index.htm