Bluebook citation rules.
What each rule requires and the form it gives: case names, reporters, statutes, signals, short forms, quotations and typeface.
Writing a citationSignals, typeface, pincites, short forms and quotations: the rules every citation follows.
- 1Structure and signalsCitation sentences, signal order, and how authorities are strung together.
- 2Typeface conventionsWhat is italicised and what is roman, in a brief and in a law review.
- 3Subdivisions and pincitesPages, sections, paragraphs, footnotes, and the ranges that join them.
- 4Short forms and id.When a short citation is allowed, and what “id.” may refer back to.
- 5QuotationsBlock quotations, alterations, omissions, and quotation marks.
- 6Abbreviations and numbersAbbreviation spacing, ordinals, numerals, and symbols.
- 8CapitalisationCourt, party, title, and constitutional capitalisation in briefs.
- 9Titles of officialsJudges, justices, and the titles that take a capital.
What you are citingCases, statutes, constitutions, regulations, books and articles.
- 10CasesCase names, reporters, courts, dates, and the parentheticals that follow.
- 11ConstitutionsFederal and state constitutions, articles, and amendments.
- 12StatutesCodes, session laws, ordinances, and the year of the code edition.
- 13Legislative materialsBills, resolutions, hearings, reports, and debates.
- 14Administrative materialsRegulations, agency adjudications, and the Federal Register.
- 15Books and reportsAuthors, editors, editions, and the works cited in full.
- 16PeriodicalsLaw reviews, magazines, newspapers, and their volume and page forms.
- 17Unpublished sourcesManuscripts, forthcoming works, letters, and interviews.
- 18Internet and mediaURLs, databases, recordings, and broadcast material.
- 19Looseleaf servicesReporters and services cited by volume, publisher, and date.
Court documentsThe Bluepages: how a citation is written in a brief, a motion or a memorandum.
Specialist materialForeign, international, tribal and archival sources.
- 20Foreign materialsNon-US jurisdictions, languages, and the T2 country tables.
- 21International materialsTreaties, international courts, and intergovernmental bodies.
- 22Tribal materialsTribal codes, courts, and constitutions.
- 23Archival materialsCollections, finding aids, and material held in an archive.
Reference tablesT1 to T16: the tables a citation's abbreviations are taken from.
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