Judicial opinions basic legal citation cornell university. This list only includes abbreviations for states court of appeals. California style manual for many years, the california style manual has served as the official guide for styling citations to legal materials in documents filed with state courts in california. Some of the appellate districts are further divided into divisions. In a multivolume book, the volume number is placed to the left of the authors name. Double check with your professor, outside guides, and the bluebook rules themselves. State court abbreviations bluebook quick reference. Effective january 1, 2008, however, california rule of court, rule 1. Name of the case underlined or italicized and abbreviated according to rule 10. These are the intermediate level courts in california.
Florida district courts of appeal the court the district court the third district court. Federal court citations follow the same general format. The bluebook is designed to provide information on legal citation, particularly to law students in their first year, law clerks, summer associates, lawyers, and others working in legal professions. Indicating the court allows you to see at a glance if a case is mandatory such as a case from the u. Court of appeals abbreviations bluebook quick reference. Supreme court, courts of appeal and district courts are listed. Instate references to decisions appearing in california reports or california appellate. This is the states highest court, and when possible you should use. Federal courts bluebook guide guides at georgetown law. Supreme court, ninth circuit court of appeal, california supreme court, or any california.
Below is a list of state supreme court and court of appeals abbreviations. If you prefer to search by state supreme court or court of appeals. Cases how to cite statutes how to cite citation to internet. Citation rules usually specify which reporter you should cite to. This practice is not only confusing to nonlawyers, but also ugly. A citation to a court of appeals case in the federal reporter includes the following six elements. California cases how to read a legal citation lawguides at. Case citations and abbreviations guide to legal abbreviations.
The california style manual provides an alternative citation format. The bluebook is a writing style most often used for legal citation. District court, you will most likely find it published in the reporter, federal supplement, produced by west publishing. United states supreme court cases can be found in three separate reporters. Bluebook case guide bluebook citation generator legalease.
The california courts of appeal are divided into six appellate districts, based on geography. If a court of appeals case is published in the federal reporter, the bluebook dictates that you cite to it table 1, p. Follow the bluebook for cases cited to the southern reporter. Bluebooking cases bluebooking and legal citation libguides at. This is a citation to a california court of appeal case, published in volume 14 of the fourth series of california appellate reports as well as in. Supreme court, ninth circuit court of appeal, california supreme court, or any california court of appeal or persuasive such as a federal court of appeal case from another circuit or a trial court case. Alaska, arizona, california, colorado, hawaii, idaho, kansas.