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

§ 1-000. BASIC LEGAL CITATION: WHAT AND WHY? [BB|ALWD]
§ 1-100. Introduction
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When lawyers present legal arguments and judges write opinions, they cite authority. They
lace their representations of what the law is and how it applies to a given situation with
references to statutes, regulations, and prior appellate decisions they believe to be pertinent
and supporting. They also refer to persuasive secondary literature such as treatises,
restatements, and journal articles. As a consequence, those who would read law writing and
do law writing must master a new, technical language – "legal citation."
For many years, the authoritative reference work on "legal citation" was a manual written and
published by a small group of law reviews. Known by the color of its cover, The Bluebook
was the codification of professional norms that introduced generations of law students to
"legal citation." So completely do many academics, lawyers, and judges identify the process
with that book they may refer to putting citations in proper form as "Bluebooking" or ask a
law student or graduate whether she knows how to "Bluebook." The most recent edition of
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, the nineteenth, was published in 2010. In 2000
a competing reference appeared, one designed specifically for instructional use. Prepared by
the Association of Legal Writing Directors, the ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional
System of Citation (4th ed. 2010) has won wide acceptance in law schools.
Differences between the two are minor (and noted here). In the way that dictionaries both
prescribe and reflect usage, so do these manuals. Both also reflect the environment of their
creation – law schools with comprehensive print libraries and full access to the major
commercial online legal information systems. The realities of professional practice in many
settings, particularly at a time when digital distribution of legal materials is displacing print,
lead to dialects or usages in legal citation neither manual includes.
This introduction to legal citation is focused on the forms of citation used in professional
practice rather than those used in journal publication. For that reason, it does not cover The
Bluebook's distinct typography rules for the latter. Furthermore, it aims to identify the more
important points on which there is divergence between the rules set out in the two manuals
and evolving usage reflected in legal memoranda and briefs prepared by practicing lawyers.
Like other new languages, "legal citation" is easier to read than it is to write, at least at first.
The active use of any language requires greater mastery than the receiving and understanding
of it. In addition, there is the potential confusion of dialects or other nonstandard forms of
expression. As already noted, "legal citation," like other languages, does indeed have dialects.
Most are readily understandable and thus pose little likelihood of confusion for a reader. To
the beginning writer, however, they present a serious risk of misleading and inconsistent
models. As a writer of "legal citation," you must take care that you check all references that
you find in the work of others. This includes citations in court opinions. Commercial
publishers have long viewed citation as a subtle form of advertising through branding. Thus,
citations in decisions published in the multiple series of the National Reporter System of the
Thomson Reuters unit known as West (from the Atlantic Reporter to the Federal Supplement)
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