Cite It: Citing Legal Sources

Citing Judical Opinions...in Brief

Citing Constitutional and Statutory Provisions...in Brief

Citing Agency Material...in Brief

These videos are available in Information to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2013) by Peter Martin. This free eBook, provided by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell University Law School, is based on The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed.).

More information on citing other types of legal sources, including statutes and constitutions, can be found here:

LexisNexis

http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/index.htm

http://citeuslegalus.com/

http://lib.westfield.ma.edu/content.php?pid=486574&sid=4027367

Basic Format:

You should include the following elements in your citation of court cases:

• Names of the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s)
• Volume and abbreviated name of Reporter with page number
• The court's name*, including the year

*The court's name is not necessary for U.S. Supreme Court cases

U.S. Supreme Court basic format:

Name v. Name, Volume U.S. Page (Year)

Corley v. United States, 556 U.S. 303 (2009).

Lower courts basic format:

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter abbreviation Page (Court Name).

State v. Hood, 135 Ohio St.3d 137, (2012-Ohio-6208).

In-text citations

As with MLA and APA styles, in-text citations for legal sources are meant to point the way to the complete citation in your reference list. Abbreviations should remain consistent between in-text citations and reference list entries. Your signal phrase should indicate the level (federal, state, municipal, etc.) any time such information is not self-evident.

Court Cases:

Name v. Name (year). OR

(Name v. Name, year).

In Corley v. United States, the Supreme Court found that confessions made after an unreasonable delay between arrest and preliminary hearing may be suppressed (2009).

OR

The Supreme Court found that confessions made after an unreasonable delay between arrest and preliminary hearing may be suppressed (Corley v. United States, 2009).