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

§ 2-200. How to Cite Judicial Opinions
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In the U.S. legal system, judicial opinions are probably the most frequently cited category of
legal material. The articulated grounds of past judicial decisions are, in many instances,
binding precedent for currently litigated matters. Under other circumstances, they are
"persuasive" authority. In either event, if on point, they should be cited. In the context of legal
citation, judicial opinions are commonly referred to as "cases" and organized collections of
opinions are called "law reports" or "case reports." Most cited "cases" are opinions of
appellate courts; however, trial court rulings on questions of law do on occasion produce
decisions lawyers may wish to cite, despite their limited force as precedent.
Prior to the era of electronic information dissemination, many courts that produced large
numbers of legal opinions selected only a fraction of them for "publication" in law reports.
The remaining "unpublished cases" were, as a practical matter, unavailable for citation. The
appearance of online systems ready, even eager, to pick up and distribute "unpublished"
decisions forced courts to be clearer about the status of decisions they view as merely
involving the routine application of settled law. See § 2-250.
Since the decisions of American courts generally deal with multiple issues and tend to be
lengthy, recounting pre-litigation facts and procedural events of limited relevance to the
points for which they might be cited, it is rarely enough simply to cite the case. Under most
circumstances, a full case citation should include a reference to a specific portion or portions
of the opinion. A reference that merely directs the reader to a decision of the U.S. Supreme
Court and no more has a greater likelihood of frustrating than persuading. It is analogous to
route directions that identify the city or neighborhood but fail to furnish a complete street
address.
The relevant citation principles follow; section 3-200 provides both basic examples and
sample case citations from all major U.S. jurisdictions.
§ 2-210. Case Citations – Most Common Form [BB|ALWD]
§ 2-210(a) Examples
– Czapinski v. St. Francis Hosp., Inc., 2000 WI 80, 236 Wis. 2d 316, 613 N.W.2d
120.
– Kootenai Envtl. Alliance, Inc. v. Panhandle Yacht Club, Inc., 671 P.2d 1085 (Idaho
1983).
Principle: The core of a case citation consists of four elements:
Element (a) - The parties' names (often referred to as the "case name" or less frequently the
"style" or "caption" of the case)
• Names are italicized or underlined (§ 5-100)
• and boiled down using an extensive set of omissions (§ 4-300) and abbreviations (§
4-100),
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