How to Read a Legal Citation
Case Citation, Generally
General format: Seasons Coal Co. v. Cleveland, 10 Ohio St. 3d 77(1984)
| Case name | Volume No. |
Reporter* | Page No. |
Year |
| Seasons Coal Co. v. Cleveland, | 10 | Ohio St.3d | 77 | (1984) |
*The title of the set of books containing the case. See below: Common Reporters for Federal Cases, Common Reporters for State Cases, Common Reporters for Ohio Cases
U.S. Supreme Court Example
Whetsel v. Sherwood, 537 U.S. 1182, 123 S.Ct. 1208, 154 L.Ed. 1013 , 2003 WL 329302, 2003 U.S. LEXIS 1072, 71 U.S.L.W. (2003).
Case Name: Whetsel v. Sherwood.
Official Reporter Citations: The first number is the volume number, followed by the reporter abbreviation, followed by the page number.
Parallel Citations: These parallel citations contain the same text of the opinion, but they are printed in reporters published by other companies, posted on the web or in LexisNexis or Westlaw. "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.
Year: The year the opinion was written.
Common reporters for Federal Cases:
Decisions of Federal Courts| REPORTER NAME | ABBREVIATION |
| United States Reports | U.S. |
| Supreme Court Reporter | S.Ct. |
| United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition | L.Ed. |
| United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition, Second Series | L.Ed. 2d |
| United States Law Week | U.S.L.W. |
| Federal Reporter | F. |
| Federal Reporter, Second Series | F.2d |
| Federal Reporter, Third Series | F.3d |
| Federal Supplement | F. Supp. |
| Federal Rules Decisions | F.R.D. |
State Citations
State ex rel Walls v. Ohio Masonic Home, 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.
Case Name: State ex rel Walls v. Ohio Masonic Home.
Official Reporter Citation: Volume number, reporter abbreviation, and beginning page number of this decision.
Ohio WebCite: The electronic citation found on the Ohio Supreme Court's Reporter of Decisions Search Page. See Revisions to the Manual of Citations(July 12, 2002).
Parallel Citations: 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.
Year: The year the opinion was written.
Common State Reporters
| REPORTER NAME | ABBREVIATION |
| Atlantic Reporter | A. |
| Atlantic Reporter, Second Series | A.2d |
| California Reporter | Cal. Rptr. |
| North Eastern Reporter | N.E. |
| North Eastern Reporter, Second Series | N.E. 2d |
| North Western Reporter | N.W. |
| North Western Reporter, Second Series | N.W. 2d |
| New York Supplement | N.Y.S. |
| New York Supplement, Second Series | N.Y.S. 2d |
| Pacific Reporter | P. |
| Pacific Reporter, Second Series | P. 2d |
| Southern Reporter | So. |
| Southern Reporter, Second Series | So. 2d |
| South Eastern Reporter S.E. | S.E. |
| South Eastern Reporter, Second Series S.E.2d | S.E. 2d |
| South Western Reporter | S.W. |
| South Western Reporter, Second Series | S.W. 2d |
Ohio Reporters
| OHIO REPORTER NAME | ABBREVIATION |
| Ohio State Reports | Ohio St. |
| Ohio State Reports, Second Series | Ohio St. 2d |
| Ohio State Reports, Third Series* | Ohio St. 3d |
| Ohio Appellate Reports | Ohio App. |
| Ohio Appellate Reports, Second Series | Ohio App. 2d |
| Ohio Appellate Reports, Third Series* | Ohio App. 3d |
| Ohio Miscellaneous | Ohio Misc. |
| Ohio Miscellaneous, Second Series* | Ohio Misc. 2d |
| Ohio Bar Reports | Ohio B. |
| Ohio Opinions | Ohio Op. |
| Ohio Opinions, Second Series | Ohio Op. 2d |
| Ohio Opinions, Third Series | Ohio Op. 3d |
| Ohio Nisi Prius Reports | Ohio N.P. |
| Ohio Nisi Prius Reports, New Series | Ohio N.P. (n.s.) |
| Ohio Decisions | Ohio Dec. |
| Ohio Decisions, Reprint | Ohio Dec. Reprint |
| Ohio Circuit Court Decisions | Ohio C.C. Dec. |
| Ohio Circuit Reports (Jahn) | Ohio C.C. |
| Ohio Circuit Decisions | Ohio Cir. Dec. |
| Ohio Circuit Court Reports, New Series | Ohio C.C. (n.s.) |
| Unreported Ohio Appellate Cases | Ohio App. Unrep. |
Statute Citation
Example: Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (The popular name of an act)
United States Code: Topical arrangement of United States statutes:
42 U.S.C.A. §12101 (West 2005)
42 U.S.C.S. §12101 (LexisNexis 2003)
Title Number - Name of Code - Code section - Publisher - Date of volume or supplement.
If the cite is just to U.S.C., this means the official edition of the United States Code, published by the Government Printing Office.
Public Laws: When a law is passed, it is called a public law or slip law. Their citation is the Congress number and the Public Law number:
P.L. 101-336
Statutes at Large: The Statutes at Large contain the public laws in chronological order, with margin notations indicating where parts of the public law will appear in the U.S. Code.
103 Stat. 327
( Volume Number, Abbreviation for the Statutes at Large, Page Number).
For more information, see Federal Legislative History - How newly enacted law are published.
More Information:
- Basic Legal Citation via LII
- Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
- Bluebook Guide - Suffolk University Law School
- Free Historical PDF Copies of The BlueBook: A Uniform System of Citation, 1926-1991
- Ohio Reporter of Decisions - See
1992 Interim Edition to the Manual of Citations
and Revisions to the Manual of Citations
(July 12, 2002). - The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass'n et al. eds., 18th ed. 2005), KF245 .B58.
- Mary Miles Prince, Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations (Prince's 5th ed. 2001), KF246 .P74 2001.
SMC (2/03), SA 6/17/2008.
links checked 8/7/2009 aeb