Citation practices and the bluebook cuny school of law. For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the bluebook s unique system of citation. The authority is one of multiple authorities directly stating or supporting the proposition, and one of the other authorities was mentioned in the proposition. Oh, but the lawyers and law students who write and organize the bluebook obviously have no idea how to write a reference manual so it is actually useful. If you do not know what the abbreviations in rule 21. Within those footnotes, citations are made in citation sentences and clauses.
In this paper, we describe the standard use of citations as described in the attorneys blue book and how hypo, a program that models casebased legal reasoning, generates and uses citations in a very similar way to analyze fact situations and to. Note, however, that this instrument is not intended for legal documents. Blue pages this guide covers the bluebooks white pages, which provide citation rules for academic papers. For example, the proper citation for an amendment to the u. Always check the blue pages in the back of the bluebook table 1 to ensure that the spacing of reporters is correct.
Before we delve into some bluebook basics, please note that while the bluebook is. However, the basic format of a case citation is as follows. For standard legal documents, intext citations are rendered either as i a complete sentence that supports a claim in the immediately preceding sentence of text, or, ii when the citation relates to a particular part of a sentence, as a clause within the sentence, immediately following the claim it supports. When writers do not signal a citation, the cited authority states the proposition, is the source of the cited quotation or identifies an authority referred to in. Citation machine helps students and professionals properly credit the information that they use. The form is a blend between intext and footnotebased formats, as its citations are located in the text but appear more similar to footnotebased ones.
Introductory signals appear at the beginning of citation sentences. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library. Guide to cite using bluebook citation method with examples. A common use of this signal is to show that two different jurisdictions agree. An offer to give or accept a stipulated performance in the future to satisfy an obligors existing duty along with an acceptance of that offer. Additionally, you may have multiple authorities in a single signal. Book citations variants and special cases institutional authors services restatements annotations 3800. Citation sentence a sentence consisting wholly of authorities which support the previous sentence or clause. Bluebook citation for llm students bluebook citation for. Unfortunately, theres no simple trick to memorizing all the rules but over time youll get a feel for what looks right. Its limited aim is to serve as a tutorial on how to cite the most widely referenced types of u. It is used in citations to present authorities and indicate how those authorities relate to propositions in statements.
Apr 01, 2020 in academic legal writing, law journals, citations are placed in footnotes. Bluecolored practitioners notes for court documents. That is to sayit is clear and obvious that the cited source supports what the author is saying but the reader needs to make some leap or inference in order to establish the connection between the writing and citation. A publication that establishes the correct form of case citations or of references to a legal authority showing where information can be found. Scan your paper for grammar mistakes and catch unintentional plagiarism. There is a standard set of clarifying or qualifying words used with citations. Just the mention of bluebook citation will usually elicit groans from your listener. Signals bluebook citation 101 academic format research. Proceedings of the 1st international conference on artificial intelligence and law rss. This relation can be supportive, comparative, or contradictory.
A signal used in a legal citation to introduce a case supporting a proposition for which another case is quoted. Like a sentence, all citations have a period denoting the end of the citation. Chicago manual of style 16th edition full note american psychological association 6th edition. Law school bluebook basics one of the books that all 1l law students are required to purchase is the bluebook. The precise format of a case citation depends on a number of factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case. Citing an authority without any preceding word to clarify or qualify its connection to the text represents that the citation directly states the proposition or identifies a quotation or authority with which the citation is associated e. The following information regarding the bluebook citation format is an adapted version of the style and formatting guidelines found in the bluebook, 20th ed. As noted, the style sheet requires citations to both the official reporters and the regional reporters. The bluebook legal citation guide now available online yale. In academic legal writing, law journals, citations are placed in footnotes. The bluebook also has citation rules for legal memoranda and other practiceoriented materials the blue pages, which students in lrwa2. Hypo is designed to support lawyers by modeling legal reasoning based on cases and hypothetical situations. Pinpoint citations to the regional reporter in addition to the pinpoint citations to the official reports are optional.
With its help, you can cite academic sources like you would do it in any other style without having to consult the monstrously detailed style guide. Blue book legal definition of blue book legal dictionary. Citation rules for court documents and legal memoranda. The bluebook of legal citation is a must have for every law student because lawyers are crazy and have to have a crazy way of citing everything. For nonwashington cases, pinpoint citations are made to the official report or the unofficial report. They suggest that footnotes are meant only for nonacademic legal documents, but footnotes may be preferable for most profs. And not just in lawyers writing judicial opinions contain errors, too. Sloppy or inaccurate form suggests in attention to detail or ignorance of the correct form. Clearly supports the proposition inferential step required authority referenced and cited see more than one authority could be cited but only one is cited because the others would not be helpful or are not necessary see e. In some circumstances, a source or citation may support a statement in a piece of legal writing nondirectly. The bluebook style is exclusively used for legal papers, and so it can be somewhat complicated due to its focus on easy citations of various court documents. Introductory signals guide bluebook citation generator. The signal accord comes after another citation that supports the proposition.
Generations of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the bluebooks unique system of citation in their writing. 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. The style manual used by the new york state law reporting bureau. All citations must include a pin cite, unless the citation is merely providing. Oct 24, 2018 additionally, you may have multiple authorities in a single signal. How to cite the amendments in bluebook format legal beagle.
The citational footnote style is an alternative to the traditional placement of citations, using footnotes only for the citational content that would otherwise appear in the body of an opinion if either the running text citation style 1. B1 structure of legal citations citations appear in the body of the text. Include a period at the end of the entire citation. Preceding citation may only contain one authority but ignore authority in.
Signals are important because they indicate how a cited authority relates to the text. Statute citations have a volume, the name of the cited code, a section, and a date. For a detailed discussion on where to place the numbers for your footnotes, see r1. The first citation here directly supports the statement and the accord signal and second citation indicates another source that supports it. The bluebook, is the definitive style guide for legal citation in the united states. A volume that explains the organization of a state government and provides the names of state officials. In fact there is little uniformity in the use of the signals by law clerks and other legal writers. The bluebook also has citation rules for legal memoranda and other practiceoriented materials the blue pages, which students in lrwa2 use for their memo assignments.
It indicates that two or more sources state or support the proposition, but the text either quotes or refers to only one of them. Removes the requirement of including the court abbreviation even when unambiguously conveyed by the state court reporter title. In law, a citation or introductory signal is a set of phrases or words used to clarify the authority or significance of a legal citation as it relates to a proposition. It is most often used to indicate that the law of one jurisdiction is in line with that of another. In general, if one source is considered more authoritative than the others, place this one first in the string cite. Although it is intended to highlight the bluebook, and not substitute for it, we hope this guide provides a convenient, delawarespecific resource for the superior courts judicial officers, law clerks, interns, externs, and staff. 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. A uniform system of citation, a style guide, prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the united states.
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