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How to Read a Legal Citation
CASE CITATION Whetsel v. Sherwood, ___ U.S. ___ , ___ S.Ct. ____ , 2003 WL 329302, 2003 U.S. LEXIS 1072, 71 U.S.L.W. (2003). This example shows a U.S. Supreme Court case citation to a denial of certiorari. In this diagram, the red part of a correct citation identifies the name of the case, Whetsel v. Sherwood. The text highlighted in green, shows a space for the eventual volume number, reporter abbreviation and page number of this pronouncement. Generally, when an appellate judge (or Justice) decides a case, s/he will write an opinion explaining the result reached. These opinions are collected by government printers and private publishers and issued in sets of books called reporters. A reporter is a series of books under one title that reprints these opinions for use in research. The item following the space for the volume number is the reporter abbreviation. The space for the number to the right of the reporter abbreviation is the page number on which the opinion begins. Following the first citation, separated by a comma, are any parallel citations to that case (here, the parallel citations are noted in purple). These parallel citations contain the same text of the opinion, but they are printed in reporters published by other companies or posted on the web or within one of the major legal databases. "WL" stands for WESTLAW and "U.S. LEXIS" stands for United States Supreme Court material within Lexis-Nexis. These parallel citations are often available before the official reporter (or in this example even before the West Publishing parallel in Supreme Court Reporter), so you may have occasion to look up those citations. Finally, the last item in a citation (blue, in this example) is the year the opinion was written. For more information regarding citation of electronic legal materials please see the following: http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/ Some common reporters and abbreviations you are likely to see include:
STATE CASE CITATION State ex rel Walls v. Ohio Masonic Home et al., 98 Ohio St. 3d 285, 2003-Ohio- 370, 782 N.E.2d 581, 2003 Ohio LEXIS 151(2003). This example shows an Ohio Supreme Court case citation. The red part of a citation identifies the name of the case, State ex rel Walls v. Ohio Masonic Home. The text in green shows the volume number, reporter abbreviation, and beginning page number of this decision published in the official reporter for the State of Ohio. It is followed by the electronic citation found on the Ohio Supreme Court's website Reporter of Decisions search page: (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/ROD/documents/). Generally, when an appellate judge (or Justice) decides a case, s/he will write an opinion explaining the result reached. These opinions are collected by government printers and private publishers and issued in sets of books called reporters. A reporter is a series of books under one title that reprints these opinions for use in research. The item following the volume number is the reporter abbreviation. The number to the right of the reporter abbreviation is the page number on which the opinion begins. Following the first citations, separated by a comma, are any parallel citations to that case (here, the parallel citations are noted in purple). The parallel citations contain the same text of the opinion, but they are printed in reporters published by other companies or posted on the web or within one of the major legal databases. In this example, there is no "WL" as the opinion of the court has been published in the print regional North Eastern reporter, 2nd Series (2d). Ohio LEXIS stands for Ohio Supreme Court material within LexisNexis. These parallel citations are often available before the official reporter. The last item in a citation (blue, in this example) is the year the opinion was written. For
more specific information related to Ohio citation format click on the
following links: Revisions to the Manual of Citation (July 12, 2002) http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/ROD/pdf/Rev_Manual_Cit_02.pdf Rules
for the Reporting of Opinions (May 2002)
STATUTE CITATION
Example: Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (The popular name of an act) Each public law, as it is passed by Congress, is printed by the United States Government Printing Office and is called a slip law. These slip laws are usually cited by their public law number which consists of the Congress number and the Public Law number: P.L. 101-336 Colors represent: Number of Congress - Public Law Number
The Congressional calendar is generally divided into two sessions. Following each session, the slip laws are published in chronological order in a set called the United States Statutes at Large. 103 Stat. 327 Colors represent: Volume Number - Abbreviation for the Statutes at Large - Page Number on which the law begins
To provide for determining which statutes exist on a particular subject, the Statutes at Large have been codified in a set called the United States Code. The Code brings all of the laws on the same subject or topic together. The United States Code (U.S.C.) is the official edition published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The GPO is slow in publishing the Code and in issuing supplements. Also, annotations (citations) to court decisions interpreting the statutes are not included in the official U.S. Code. There are two privately published annotated editions of the code: United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.), published by Thomson/West, and the United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.), published by LexisNexis. Both
sets are kept up to date by annual pocket parts and pamphlets issued throughout
the year. Each also has a detailed index, and each code section is annotated
with citations to court decisions interpreting that section. There may
also be annotations, or references, to relevant secondary sources.
42 U.S.C.A. §12101 (West 2005) 42 U.S.C.S. §12101 (LexisNexis 2003) Colors represent: Title Number - Name of Code - Code section - Publisher - Date of volume or supplement
For further information on citations: The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds., 18th ed. 2005) Mary Miles Prince, Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Prince's 5th ed. 2001)
Schuyler
M. Cook
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