Introduction to Basic Legal Citation - access-to-law home

growing pressure on those ultimately responsible for citation norms, namely the courts, to
establish new rules that no longer presuppose that some one publisher's print volume (created
over a year after the decisions or statutes it compiles were handed down or enacted) is the key
reference. Several jurisdictions have responded; many more are sure to follow. On the other
hand, work habits and established practices die hard, especially when they align with vested
commercial interests.
In 1996, the American Bar Association approved a resolution recommending that courts adopt
a uniform public domain citation system "equally effective for printed case reports and for
case reports electronically published on computer disks or network services." It proceeded to
lay out the essential components of such a system. The American Association of Law
Libraries had previously gone on record for "vendor and media neutral" citation. An
increasing number of state courts have adopted citation schemes embodying the core elements
recommended by these national bodies. For example, North Dakota state court opinions
released after January 1, 1997 are to be cited according to the following North Dakota
Supreme Court rule:
When available, initial citations must include the volume and initial page number of the
North Western Reporter in which the opinion is published. The initial citation of any
published opinion of the Supreme Court released on or after January 1, 1997, contained in a
brief, memorandum, or other document filed with any trial or appellate court and the
citation in the table of cases in a brief must also include a reference to the calendar year in
which the decision was filed, followed by the court designation of "ND", followed by a
sequential number assigned by the Clerk of the Supreme Court. A paragraph citation should
be placed immediately following the sequential number assigned to the case. Subsequent
citations within the brief, memorandum or other document must include the paragraph
number and sufficient references to identify the initial citation.
N.D. R. Ct. 11.6 (b).
The Rule provides examples, e.g.:
• Smith v. Jones, 1997 ND 15, 600 N.W.2d 900 (fictional).
• Smith v. Jones, 1996 ND 15, 21, 600 N.W.2d 900 (fictional).
For decisions of the North Dakota Court of Appeals, the formula is the same with the
substitution of "ND App" for "ND." As intended, the system facilitates precise and immediate
reference to a portion of a North Dakota appellate decision that is as effective whether the
reader follows the citation using the court's own Web site or one of the commercial online
services or finds it in a volume of the North Western Reporter. Since the key citation
elements, including paragraph numbers, are embedded in each decision by the court, they are
carried over into that print reporter and the commercial electronic services. As a
complementary measure, the North Dakota Supreme Court Web site furnishes the North
Western Reporter citations for all decisions in its database, which currently reaches back
through 1966. Consequently, researchers need not consult a commercial source to obtain the
volume and page numbers associated with over four decades of decisions.
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