DEPARTMENTOFDEFENSE LAW OFWARMANUAL JUNE2015

policies and regulations are constantly updated, so practitioners are advised to ascertain whether
more recent versions of cited policies and regulations have been issued.
In some cases, cancelled issuances or superseded policies or regulations are cited to show
the past practice, and, at times, a series of issuances are cited to illustrate a continuity in practice.
Policies and regulations often exceed the requirements of applicable law, and the mere
citation of a policy or regulation in this manual should not be understood to reflect the view that
the policy or regulation’s requirements have been promulgated out of a sense of legal obligation
for the purposes of assessing customary international law or otherwise intending to reflect legal
requirements.
1.2.2.5 Citation Forms. An effort has been made to make citations forms
consistent throughout the manual, and to provide enough information about each cited source to
reflect its significance and to enable readers to find it. 4 This manual has not strictly adhered to
an established system of citation. Although certain citation systems were consulted,
modifications were made as deemed appropriate for this type of resource, to make the citation
forms straightforward and simple and relatively easy for readers to understand. In regard to
abbreviations, for example, this manual generally does not abbreviate the names of academic
journals. Moreover, it is hoped that the quotations from the cited sources that have been
included in footnotes will help readers find the cited sources electronically.
1.2.3 Use of Cross-References in This Manual. This manual uses cross-references in the
footnotes to point the reader to other sections of the manual containing relevant discussion of a
particular topic. In particular, an effort has been made to use cross-references rather than to
repeat discussion of a recurring issue or duplicate citation of legal sources. In sections in which
a law of war rule is only mentioned tangentially or as an example, a cross-reference is used to
direct the reader to the section of the manual in which a more in-depth discussion of that rule and
supporting sources are provided. 5
Cross-references are linked to enable the reader to access the referenced section quickly.
4 Cf. Richard A. Posner, The Bluebook Blues (reviewing Harvard Law Review Association, The Bluebook: A
Uniform System of Citation (19th ed., 2010)), THE YALE LAW JOURNAL 850, 852 (2011) (“A system of citation
forms has basically two functions: to provide enough information about a reference to give the reader a general idea
of its significance and whether it’s worth looking up, and to enable the reader to find the reference if he decides that
he does want to look it up. In Goodbye to the Bluebook I suggested four principles to guide the design of such a
system: ‘to spare the writer or editor from having to think about citation form,’ ‘to economize on space and the
reader's time,’ ‘to provide information to the reader,’ and ‘to minimize distraction.’”).
5 Refer to § 1.2.1 (Use of Footnotes in This Manual).
4