Basic case citation should follow the following format. If, however, the provision cited or quoted has changed since the publication of the source doing the citing or quoting, cite. A uniform system of citations has changed the treatment of cases cited from underlining to italics as long as it meets court rule requirements. Publications appearing in abovetheline text should be italicized. I keep seeing case citations in which in re is italicized but the name is not. If the article is written by a student author, the designation of the piece see r. When citing a source for the purposes of a citing or quoting parenthetical under rule 1.
You should only italicize long latin phrases or obsolete words or phrases. Goddamn this thread reminds me of why the bluebook is a piece of shit. You should use ordinary plain text for case names in full citations, except for procedural phrases like ex rel. In briefs, memos, and other legal writings, all case names and procedural phrases should be italicized or underscored. Italicize punctuation only when it falls within italicized material in a citation. I still remember discussing that comma in our citation workshop in law school and wondering if it was too late to go to veterinary school. The fastest way to collect all of the citation information for a case is to highlight the specific text you would like to cite and use the databases copy with citation feature. Marvin or just referring to the case by its short name marvin. He insists on italics for case names and also explains that the bluebook does not require underscoring. Common bluebook citations for federal courts welcome. Why dont you italicize the case name when there is only. There are extensive bluebook rules regarding what parts of the party names are to be included, omitted, or abbreviated, depending on several factors. When referring to a case by name alone, underline and cite fully with a citation sentence or citation clause. You should use large and small capitals for book authors and titles.
Those phrases such as cert denied, introducing a case citation for the action indicated by the explanatory phrase are followed by commas which are not italicized, see rule 2. Supreme court, or unless it is obvious or irrelevant from the context. 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. Note, however, that in general most forms of primary legal authority cases, statutes, etc. In footnote text, use ordinary romanplain text for case names in a full citation or for case names in a short. All words in case names, other than the first word of either partys name, is abbreviated if it is listed in table 6 on pages 30203 of the bluebook rule 10. Party name, volume reporter page court year parenthetical. Omit all other parties besides the first listed in the case name. Perry this is the case name and is either italicized or underlined. A lawyers guide to writing how to handle cases in legal. For example, in the colyer case judge anderson determined that mere membership in the communist party was not a threat to the country.
In court documents, the case name is underlined or italicized. News programs with a specific name should also be italicized. Underlined case names should remind you of the blue book from law school. Well, that, and the fact that computers made the use of italics much easier. Cite to page 707 of a 1995 case between bruce babbitt, secretary of the interior, et al. 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.
The main rule that describes the short form for cases is rule 10. Bluebook citation in scholarly legal writing georgetown law. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law. Typeface conventions bluebook legal citation tarlton law library. You should italicize the titles of newspapers, journals, magazines, and radio series. In academic writing, the case name is in normal type in footnotes and italicized in text. Journal conventions vanderbilt journal of entertainment. According to the bluebook, you must italicize the period in id. Do not italicize the apostrophe or the s following an italicized possessive term e. In legal documents, it seems that italic type is used more frequently than underlininglikely because the bluebook. Citations are to the 20th edition of the bluebook, a uniform system of citation rule 10 cases p. Articles, essays, and other pieces by nonstudent authors.
Citations in quotingciting parentheticals, 6152010 related section. I thought it was the same rule as the comma after case names. However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows. Please apply these vlr conventions to every piece that you edit. Include the year of the decision in parenthesis, unless obvious or irrelevant from the context. Bluebook case guide bluebook citation generator legalease. Typically, the court and date are omitted and a pinpoint citation is given. In the names of court cases, use the abbreviation v. The abbreviation of case names is governed by rule 10. Abbreviate the words in t6 and geographical units according to t10. Case names should appear in italics when in roman font headings, and in roman font when in italicized headings.
What should you abbreviate when referring to a case in a citation sentence words in table 6 and rule 10. As with the literary examples, italicize these titles on your works cited page or bibliography in chicago or mla style and use title case. For party name abbreviation rules, it is the same as a citation sentence. Do not underline party names, italicize case names. Italics follow the design principle of keeping the fonts on a page as simple and consistent as possible. The names of the parties are italicized or underlined depending on the ultimate use of the citation. Italics supra may be used to refer to certain types of previously cited materials as well as internal crossreferences. Documenting legal works in mla style the mla style center. Note that in footnotes, words other than the first word in each partys name are subject to the abbreviation rule. There are a few different types of names, and the type of name will determine format.
Abbreviate case names that include procedural phrases. In all child custody cases, the welfare of the child and the childs best interest is the primary, paramount and controlling consideration of the court. 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. However, the shortened name must be unambiguous and readily identify the case being referred to. According to the bluebook, case names are underlined or italicized not both, whether youre citing the entire case name marvin v. Generally one partys name or a shorter version of the name may be used if the reference is unambiguous. Part i of the slatebook modifies and adds to the bluebook s rules. United states and geographical units listed in table 10 unless the geographical unit is the entire name of the party. Italicize c ognito, sans plus, res ipsa, jus ad bellum. The abbreviations, though latin, have been incorporated into the common english language and, thus, are not italicized.
As seen in the example above, the basic elements to a bluebook case citation are. For this dla we will be underlining the case names rather than italicizing them. Italicize everything in the case name, but dont italicize the comma at the end of the case name. Citing cases bluebook rules dulaneybrowne library at. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library. Law school bluebook basics one of the books that all 1l law students are required to purchase is the bluebook. For proper citation, you should either underline or italicize the case name, depending on where in a document you are placing the citation see rule 2.
Every case name must be checked against the abbreviations chart in the bluebook table t. Italicize only in the text or textual comments in the notes in the oil platforms case. Bluebook is the primary authority for citations, and the chicago manual of style is the primary. A lawyers guide to writing blog archive italics or. To determine the name of a court case, use only the name of the first party that appears on either side of v. Deciding court, jurisdiction date of decision united states v.
The more complicated part of the rule distinguishes between case opinions and causes of action. If you are submitting legal documents to a state court, you may have to cite cases using state court reporters in addition to regional reporters. Only refer to the first plaintiff and the first defendant. Italicized case names are prescribed by the california style manual, which served as the official guide for documents filed in california state courts until the adoption of california rule of court 1. Thus far, this guide has described how to cite cases in long form, i. If you are using the bluebook for a citation guide then it is very likely that you will need to cite a case. Typeface conventions bluebook legal citation tarlton. Why dont you italicize the case name when there is only one party. You must be consistent throughout every case and citation if you choose to italicize or if you choose to. When citing a published decision, italicize underline case names and use roman type for the letter v. Below depicts how to cite a case using the bluebook from the supreme court.