Please review Bluepage B10 and Whitepage R10 carefully (particularly R10.2.1 on general rules for case names), as they provide guidance on case citations. These rules are comprehensive and contain detailed instructions and examples on formatting case citations. Besides citing cases, R10 also provides direction on citing briefs, court filings, and transcripts, among other things.
| Case Names | R10.2, pp. 96-103 |
| Reporters & Other Sources | R10.3, pp.103-05 |
| Court and Jurisdiction | R10.4, pp. 105-07 |
| Date or Year | R10.5, p. 107 |
| Parenthetical Information | R10.6, pp. 108-09 |
| Prior & Subsequent History | R10.7, pp. 109-12 |
| Special Citation Forms | R10.8, p. 112-16 |
| Short Forms for Cases | R10.9, pp. 116-18 |
As noted previously, the Bluepages provide easy-to-use directions for general citation needs for judges, law clerks, practitioners, other legal professionals, and law students. Guidance for case citation is set forth in B10, pp. 11-18.
It is important to consult the following tables in addition to R10 to ensure proper case citation. As you will discover, The Bluebook contains a substantial amount of material on abbreviations.
| T1, pp. 227-98 | This table contains a list of reporters and corresponding abbreviations, courts and corresponding abbreviations, and preferred sources to cite for federal courts and each state's courts. |
| T2, p. 299 | The material on Foreign Jurisdictions is online. |
| T3, pp. 299-302 | Information on Intergovernmental Organizations. |
| T4, 302-03 | Treaty Sources |
| T5, p. 303 | Arbitral Reporters |
| T6, 304-07 | This table sets forth abbreviations for terms used in case names (e.g., America[n] = Am., Association = Ass’n, Institut[e, ion] = Inst., and University = Univ.). |
| T7, pp. 307-10 | This table has abbreviations for court names that can be used if a court abbreviation is not provided in T1. |
| T8, p. 310 | Explanatory Phrases |
| T9, p. 311 | Legislative Documents |
| T10, pp. 312-18 | This table provides abbreviations for geographical terms, including U.S. states and cities, as well as foreign countries (e.g., Alaska = Alaska, Chicago = Chi., Illinois = Ill., Philadelphia = Phila., Slovenia = Slovn., and United Stated of America = U.S.). |
| T11, p. 319 | Judges & Officials |
| T12, p. 319 | Months (Generally, three-letter abbreviations except for June and Sept.) |
| T13, pp. 320-322 | Contains abbreviations for institutional names in periodical titles (this table will come in handy for citation to a law review article. |
| T14, p. 323 | Publishing Terms |
| T15, pp. 323-327 | This table contains abbreviations for an assortment of service publishers. |
| T16, pp. 327-328 |
Contains abbreviations for subdivisions, like chapter (ch.), table (tbl.), amendment (amend.), article (art.), and supplement (supp.). Note that paragraphs and sections have specific instructions.
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