Introduction

• Citations for numerous pieces of legislation, executive and agency regulations, and court court cases contain abbrevations that are not always explicit in their meaning.
• Simarly, publications ("reporters") containing or reporting on such laws, regulations, and cases utilize often arcane citation abbreviations and enumeration in their citations.
• Consequently, it becomes necessary to understand both the citation abbreviations and formats to be able to search for any required legal information.
• IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • The Abbreviation lists below are not comprehensive.
  • Notice that there are variations in format among some of the examples. This is because there are often non-standard versions of court decision (case law) formats, though the major reporters are usually quite consistent. The problem is usually in the courts themselves or in other secondary sources.
• A good discussion of Citation formats is Ronald B. Standler's "Legal Research and Citation Style in USA" at: http://www.rbs0.com/lawcite.htm

Examples

• Federal Legislation

  Abbreviation	Publication
  Pub. L. No.	Public law number: # of Congress - Accession # Example: Pub. L. No. 106-110
  H.R.	House of Representatives Bill - # of Bill Example: H.R. 228
  S.	Senate Bill - # of Bill Example: S. 228

• United States Supreme Court Decisions

  General Format: Petitioner v. Respondent, volume# U.S. page# (year)

  Abbreviation	Publication
  U. S.	United States Reports Example: 350 U.S. 191 (1952)
  S. Ct.	Supreme Court Reporter Example: Turner v. Safley, 107 S.Ct. 2254 (1987)
  L. Ed	United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition (also L. Ed. 2d, second series Example: 32 L. Ed. 2d 499 (1972).

• Federal Appeals Court Decisions

  General Format: Appellee v. Appellant, volume# F.3d page# (circuit court, year)

  Abbreviation	Publication
  F., F.2d, F.3d	Federal Reporter, first, second, and third series Example: 75 F.3d 264 (6thCir.1996)

• Federal District Court Decisions

  General Format: Petitioner v. Respondent, volume# F.Supp. page# (district court, year)

  Abbreviation	Publication
  F. Supp.	Federal Supplement Example: Universal v. Reimerdes, 111 F.Supp.2d 294 (SDNY 2000)

• California State Court Decisions

  These examples are not comprehensive for all California case and legislative formats.

  General Format: Case Title / (Year) / Volume # / Reporter Name / Series # / Page # / Parallel Cites

  Abbreviation	Publication
  C, Cal.Rptr., C.2d. Cal.Rptr.2d	California Reporter, first and second series Example: Burgess v. Burgess (1996) 13 Cal. 4th 25, 51 Cal. Rptr. 2d 444, 913 P.2d 473
  CA, C.A., CA2d, C.A.2d.,Cal. App., Cal. App.2d.	California Appellate Reports, first and second series. Example: Eric J. v. Betty M (1999) 76 Cal.App. 4th 715, [3] 90 Cal.Rptr.2d. 549
  P., P.2d	Pacific Reporter, first and second series Example: Hebb v. Severson, 201 P.2d 156 (Wash. 1948)

  Notes:

  • The Sacramento Public Law Library has a nice introduction to citations formats in California court reporters at: http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us/LegalGuides/CITATIONS.htm
  • There are other state and regional reporters around the country.