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§ 4-800. Spacing between Abbreviated Words and Periods in
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Abbreviations
§ 4-810. Spacing between Abbreviated Words [BB|ALWD]
§ 4-810(1) Examples
– David•A.J.•Richards,•Originalism•Without•Foundations,•65•N.Y.U.•L.•Rev.
•1373•(1990)•(reviewing•Robert•Bork,•The•Tempting•of•America:•The•Political
•Seduction•of•the•Law).
– Orange•Cnty.•Agric.•Soc'y,•Inc.•v.•Comm'r,•893•F.2d•529•(2d•Cir.•1990).
– Natural•Res.•Def.•Council•v.•NRC,•216•F.3d•1180•(D.C.•Cir.•2000).
• = space
Principle 1: Successive words abbreviated with a single capital letter are normally not
separated from one another with a space.
Principle 2: Longer abbreviations are separated from one another and from single letter
abbreviations with a space.
Principle 3: In journal titles, successive single letters that refer to an entity are separated from
other single letter abbreviations with a space.
Principle 4: Numbers, including ordinal numbers (2d, 4th), are treated as single letters.
§ 4-820. Periods in Abbreviations [BB|ALWD]
§ 4-820(1) Examples
– David A.J. Richards, Originalism Without Foundations, 65 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1373 (1990)
(reviewing Robert Bork, The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law).
– Orange Cnty. Agric. Soc'y, Inc. v. Comm'r, 893 F.2d 529 (2d Cir. 1990).
– Natural Res. Def. Council v. NRC, 216 F.3d 1180 (D.C. Cir. 2000).
Principle 1: In general abbreviations should end in a period.
Principle 2: However, in abbreviations that are contractions ending with an apostrophe and
the last letter of the word should not be followed by a period..
Principle 3: In addition, entities that are commonly referred to by their initials may be
abbreviated using those initials without periods.
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