Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

Legislation is commonly referred to by a short title (e.g., Autorský zákon for Copyright Act)
or an abbreviated, vernacular form (e.g., “AZ”).
2.1.2 Formal Form
In the rarely used standard form, cite statutes, laws, and decrees by the word “Zákon”,
number (č.) and year (separated by a back slash), the publication in which it is published
(Sbírka, abbreviated “Sb.”, followed by the publication’s name, e.g., “Sb. zákonů”), and full
title:
2.2 Codes
Zákon č. 121/2000 Sb. o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem
autorským a o změně některých zákonů.
The abbreviations of major Codes are:
Civil Code: Občanský zákonik (OZ)
Commercial Code: Obchodni zákoník (ObchZ)
Criminal Code: Trestní zákon (TZ or TrZ)
3.0 Jurisprudence
In the common form, cite cases by abbreviated name of the reporter in which it is published
(sometimes with the volume number preceding it), case number, and year (often abbreviated
to the final two digits, but may be four digits):
R 13/97.
In the rarely used standard form, the reporter’s full name is written out (e.g., “Sbírka
soudních rozhodnuti a stanovisek”), followed by case number (č.__), and year.
3.1 Reports
The two major reporters are abbreviated by “N” (the Collection of Constitutional Court’s
decisions and opinions) and “R” (the Collection of Courts’ decisions and opinions).
Unreported cases are not cited.
4.0 Books
Cite books by name of the author(s) [family name, first initial], title, publisher, place of
publication, and date. For monograph commentary, add the word “(komentář)” after the title
of the law commented upon:
Telec, I.: Autorský zákon (komentář). C.H. Beck, Praha 1997.
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