Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook

Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook

Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook A Guide for Students and Practitioners THIRD EDITION Linda J. Barris Carolina Academic Press Durham, North Carolina

Copyright 2007, 2010, 2015 Linda J. Barris All Rights Reserved ISBN 978-1-61163-774-8 LCCN 2015946674 Carolina Academic Press 700 Kent Street Durham, NC 27701 Telephone (919) 489-7486 Fax (919) 493-5668 www.cap-press.com This book is published as a guide to the rules of legal citation set forth in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Twentieth Edition, copyright 2015 by The Columbia Law Review Association, The Harvard Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal. This book is neither published by nor affiliated with the publishers of The Bluebook. The Bluebook is published by The Harvard Law Review Association, Gannett House, 1511 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Acknowledgments xi 1 Getting Started 3 A. Introduction to Legal Citation and The Bluebook 4 B. Practitioners Style and Local Rules 6 1. Typeface Conventions: Practitioners Style 6 2. Introduction to Local Rules 9 C. When to Cite 10 D. Citation Sentences, Clauses, and Embedded Citations 12 1. Citation Sentences 14 2. Citation Clauses 14 3. Embedded Citations 15 E. Pinpoint Citations 17 1. Pages 18 2. Sections and Subsections 19 3. Paragraphs 21 4. Lines 21 5. Footnotes 22 6. Endnotes 23 7. Supplements 24 F. Spacing Rules for Citation Abbreviations 24 G. Introduction to Short Form Citations 26 1. Id. 26 2. Supra 27 3. Alternate Short Forms 28 2 Cases 29 A. Basic Case Citation Rules 30 1. Case Name 30 2. Source Information 33 (a) Volume 35 (b) Reporter Name 35 (c) Beginning Page Number 35 (d) Pinpoint Page Number (aka Pincite) 35 3. Court 36 v

vi CONTENTS 4. Year 38 B. Special Rules for Case Names 38 1. Businesses and Organizations 39 2. Governmental Parties 41 (a) Federal Government 42 (b) State Governments 42 (c) A County, City, or Town Is a Party 44 3. Alternate Names 45 4. Procedural and Descriptive Phrases 46 5. Unions 50 6. Commissioner of Internal Revenue 50 C. Short Form Case Citations 50 1. Id. 51 2. Alternate Short Form 52 D. Parallel Citations 55 E. Public Domain Citations 57 F. Parenthetical Information 60 1. Dissents and Concurrences 60 2. Quoting or Citing Parentheticals 61 3. Weight of Authority 62 G. Subsequent History 63 H. Ordering Multiple Additions to Citations 63 3 Statutes 65 A. Federal and State Statutes 66 1. Form 66 2. Basic Federal and State Statutory Citations 68 3. Code Name 69 4. Titles, Chapters, and Section Numbers 70 5. Publisher 73 6. Year of Code 74 B. Additional Information in Statutory Citations 74 1. Supplements 74 2. Subject Matter Codes 75 3. Named Statutes 75 C. Short Forms: Statutes 75 1. Id. 76 2. Alternate Short Form 76

CONTENTS vii 4 Constitutions 79 A. Basic Citation Forms 79 B. Short Form: Constitutions 80 5 Regulations 83 A. Federal Administrative Regulations 83 B. State Administrative Regulations 85 C. Internal Revenue Code 86 D. Treasury Regulations 87 6 Procedural and Court Rules 91 A. Rules of Procedure and Evidence 91 1. Federal Rules of Procedure and Evidence 91 2. State Rules of Procedure and Evidence 92 B. Rules of Court 93 1. Federal Rules of Court 93 2. State Rules of Court 94 C. Short Forms: Rules 95 7 Secondary Sources 97 A. Treatises and Books 97 1. Author s Full Name 98 2. Book Title 99 3. Pinpoint Page, Section, or Volume 99 4. Publication Information 99 5. Year 100 6. Short Forms: Treatises and Books 100 B. Periodicals (Law Reviews and Journals) 102 1. Author s Full Name 102 2. Article Title 103 3. Volume 103 4. Periodical Name 103 5. Beginning Page 104 6. Pinpoint Page(s) 104 7. Year 104 Short Forms: Periodicals 104 C. Restatements 106 Short Forms: Restatements 107 D. Legal Dictionaries 108 Short Forms: Dictionaries 108

viii CONTENTS E. American Law Reports (A.L.R.) Annotations 109 Short Forms: A.L.R. Annotations 110 F. Legal Encyclopedias 111 Short Forms: Encyclopedias 111 8 Litigation Documents and Record Citations 113 A. Litigation Documents and Appellate Record 113 1. Document Title 114 2. Pinpoint Citations 115 B. Short Forms: Litigation and Record Citations 117 C. Enclosing Citations in Parentheses 117 9 Strings, Signals, and Explanatory Parentheticals 119 A. String Citations 119 1. String Basics 119 2. Short Forms in String Citations 122 B. Signals 123 1. Signal Basics 124 2. Determining the Appropriate Signal 125 3. Multiple Signals in String Citations 126 4. Using Explanatory Parentheticals to Clarify Signals 128 5. Using Short Forms With Signals 128 C. Explanatory Parentheticals 129 10 Quotations 131 A. Form of Quotations 131 1. Block Quotations 132 2. Short Quotations 132 B. Alterations 133 C. Omissions 135 11 Capitalization 139 A. Capitalization Basics 139 B. Court Documents and Proceedings 141 1. Courts 141 2. Parties to a Legal Action 142 3. Titles of Court Documents 143 4. Court Proceedings 143 12 Numbers, Numerals, Ordinals, and Symbols 145 A. Numbers and Numerals 145 B. Ordinals 147

CONTENTS ix C. Symbols 147 13 Electronic Sources 149 A. Cases 151 1. Commercial Databases: Published Decisions 151 2. Commercial Databases: Unpublished Decisions 153 3. Authenticated or Official Decisions 155 4. Short Forms 155 B. Statutes 156 1. Commercial Databases 156 2. Authenticated or Official Versions 157 3. Short Forms 157 4. Practitioners Alternate Form (Optional) 157 C. Constitutions 159 D. Regulations 160 E. Procedural and Court Rules 161 F. Secondary Sources 162 1. Treatises and Books 162 2. Periodicals 163 3. Restatements 164 4. Dictionaries 164 5. A.L.R. Annotations 165 6. Encyclopedias 166 Appendix: Citing Cases from Commercial Databases 167 Index of Bluebook Rules 171 Subject Index 173

Acknowledgments A special thanks to the many legal writing instructors, librarians, colleagues, and friends who have offered insight and feedback over the years. xi