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Bluebook Guide: Services

This guide introduces the Bluebook's uniform system of legal citation. This guide is best used in conjunction with the Bluebook.

Overview

Unofficial topical compilations contain cases, administrative materials, and brief commentaries and are published as "services."  Services initially appear in looseleaf form and are then sometimes published as bound volumes.  Legal Looseleafs in Print, updated annually, contains a comprehensive listing of services.  The Whitepages provide rules for citing services.  See R19, pp. 186-88.  Note that some services are no longer published in print or are otherwise available online.  The Bluepages present a concise overview and some examples for citing services.  See B19, pp. 27-28.

Citation Form for Services

Services will be cited by volume, abbreviated title in ordinary type, publisher, subdivision, and date.  When the source is a case, the abbreviated name of the court will be included in the same parenthetical as the date in accordance with R10.4.  Consult T15, pp. 323-27, for service and publisher abbreviations.  If a service is not listed in T15, refer to T13 to abbreviate the words in the title.  See R19.1, pp. 186-87.

The Bluebook provides specific information for the elements noted above, along with examples.

Volume:  A volume designation of a service may be a number, a year, a descriptive subtitle from the spine of the volume, or any combination of the foregoing. Use brackets to avoid confusion when a volume designation includes words or a year. In the case of a transfer binder citation, the volume designation will indicate the years for included materials.  See R19.1(a), pp. 186-87.

Publisher: Every service citation, either looseleaf or bound, will indicate the publisher.  The abbreviation of the publisher’s name will appear in parentheses after the service’s title.  The Bluebook includes the list of service publisher abbreviations.  If a publisher is not listed, the abbreviation should be in accordance with R15.1(d).  See R19.1(b), p. 187.

Subdivision:  Service citations will include paragraph or section numbers (if possible); otherwise, the citation will include a page number.  Refer to R3.2 (pages, footnotes, endnotes, and graphical materials) and R3.3 (sections and paragraphs) for additional information.  The report number may be specified if it will aid in locating the cited material.  See R19.1(c), p. 187.

Date:  The date given in a service citation depends on the type of material for which the citation is provided.  See 19.1(d), pp. 185-86.

  • To cite a case reported in the service, provide the exact date for looseleaf services or the year for bound services of the case pursuant to R10.5
  • To cite a statute or regulation, indicate the exact date of its enactment or promulgation (unless the exact date is otherwise shown within the citation)
  • When citing other materials, like articles or commentaries, show the exact date (if available)
  • For undated materials in a looseleaf service, use the date of the page on which the material is printed or the date of the subsection in which it is printed

Short Citation Forms

For cases, use the short citation form as provided by R10.9.  The complete volume designation should be included for the service binder, and paragraph or section numbers should be substituted for page numbers if appropriate.  If the case has page numbers in addition to paragraph or section numbers, the individual pages should be cited instead of the paragraph or section number in the short citation form to identify specific material.  To cite the entire case in short form, provide either the case’s paragraph or section number or the case’s first-page number without using "at."  The Bluebook also provides several examples, illustrating short citation forms for cases.  See R19.2, p. 188.

For short form citations for other materials, the relevant citation rules as described in The Bluebook should be followed.

  • Statutes (R12.10, pp. 133-34)
  • Regulations (R14.5, pp. 145-46)
  • Articles & Commentaries (R16.9, pp. 167-69)