Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Legal abbreviations are shorthand notations that represent larger legal terms and law terms. Such citations and abbreviations are found in court decisions, statutes, regulations, journal articles, books, and other documents. Likewise, capitalize plaintiff, defendant, debtor, trustee or creditor when referring to the party in the case that is the subject of the order. Plaintiff is related to the words plaintive and complain. Citing to the record in briefs marquette university law. Short forms for cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown. This table gives suggested abbreviations for citations of court documents and legal memoranda not in the other. Cite directly after quoting or paraphrasing from a deposition.
Trustee has objected to the debtors claim of exemptions, but, the trustee in shoopman objected, although the debtors. The first named plaintiff or petitioner and the first named defendant or respondent are listed as the case name. This is a proposed citation style to adapt the bluebook to the unique needs of wikipedia. Phrases such as on the relation of or on behalf of are abbreviated ex rel. Set out below is a table of words and their abbreviations with links to examples.
In the present case, the court has concluded that there exists a likelihood of confusion between plaintiff s kelley blue book designation and defendants 1900blu book and 1800 blue book designations in the states of california, nevada, arizona, oregon and hawaii, in that plaintiff has shown that at least in those states the term blue. Published since 1911, it is produced by the oregon state archives, a. Filing 16 certificate of service supplemental by james michael heiser on behalf of blue book services, inc. Abbreviations in case names check the bluebook for common abbreviations common abbreviations. List the type of court document, followed by the page number and a period. The bluebook states that all case citations should be to the reporters required by local rules 102, and in california the citation rules are contained in the yellow book. Plaintiff defendant citation third party respondent. Any word over eight letters may also be abbreviated if substantial space is saved and the result is clear. This page is about the various possible meanings of the acronym, abbreviation, shorthand or slang term. Use the bluebook abbreviation for deposition, which is dep.
The full name of the case at the trial court is always in the format plaintiff v. If the defendant in the trial court case brings an appeal, the defendants. Place your citation after the period, so that it forms its own parenthetical sentence. Additionally, the chicago manual of style recommends its use for all citation of legal material. The blue book was issued in the name of bethe leketo and is dated 17 march 1999. These tables give the various abbreviations for the u. My students are currently finishing up their briefs on summary judgment. This 1992 federal case from the second circuit court of appeals is published in volume 969, page 50, of federal reporter, second series. Abbreviations for court names that you would use in the event a court abbreviation is not provided in table 1. The name of the reporter is always abbreviated when citing a case. This is a departure from usual scholarly bibliographic format. There are a different kinds of party names, and the type of name will determine format. These are examples of what are legal abbreviations.
How to cite a complaint according to bluebook pen and. Bluebook requires a citation to include the name of the document with bluebookapproved abbreviations, along with the page number, date if necessary, and the docket number. Interpreting citations supreme court of the united states research. Its limited aim is to serve as a tutorial on how to cite the most widely referenced types of u.
The bluebook style guide is used in the american legal profession for citation of all. The ways of legal citation for court documents in the d. There are too many rules for this introductory guide to cover. They also asked the judge to lift his preliminary injunction except for its application to the city of burien, where there is still an outstanding. Abbreviations may also be found for common words or legal phrases.
The case name occurs at the beginning of the citation. Bluebook citation for legal materials purdue writing lab. Fortunately, there is an easy trick to remember plaintiff vs. A state abbreviation in parentheses with no other abbreviation indicates the highest court in the state decided the case. You may abbreviate other words of eight or more letters if the abbreviation will save substantial space in the case name and will be easily understood by readers. How to read a citation sample federal case citation international shoe v state of washington plaintiff or first party defendant or 2nd party 326 u. At the hearing of the special plea, attorney mr joina for the plaintiff raised a preliminary point arguing that the special plea itself was not properly before the court, it having been filed at a time when the defendants. The oregon blue book is the official state fact book about all levels of government in oregon. If there is more than one plaintiff or defendant, use only the first party on each side. To cite a complaint, you need to understand what it is. If there are multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants, one only lists the first. Because publishers adopt different practices regarding how abbreviations are printed, one may find abbreviations with or without periods for each letter.
Any information about state and court that is clear from the reporter name should be deleted from the parenthetica l. Yellow book tells us that its good practice to give parallel citations to the other reporters that also contain the case. For a court document with a long title, such as plaintiff s reply to defendants memorandum of. The bluebook is the most commonly used system for legal citations in the united states, especially for legal scholarship, but also with modifications by local rules in judicial opinions and party briefs this proposal covers citations to united states legal materialsu. Cite only the first listed party on each sidejohn p. United states and geographical units listed in table 10 unless the geographical unit is the entire name of the party. The guidelines contained in the manual of style for the connecticut courts have been drafted by the office of the reporter of judicial decisions in accordance with the preferences of the justices of the supreme court and the judges of the appellate court. Bluebook is a citation style guide used for legal citations. If youre referring to a plaintiff, or several plaintiffs, generally, or a plaintiff from a different case such as one you are citing, the lower case plaintiff should be used unless, of course, its the first word of a sentence.
Unless otherwise indicated in appendix 3e, form an abbreviation s plural by adding s. If youre referencing the plaintiff in your case, the blue book says to use plaintiff. We have been discussing the importance of citing to the court filings in a summary judgment motion setting. Citing cases bluebook guide guides at georgetown law library.
Words in case names basic legal citation cornell university. When citing the constitution of a governmental entity, use the abbreviated title of. Case name abbreviations table 6 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z. When pleading do you write plaintiff, plaintiff, or plaintiff. Below is a basic list of very common abbreviations. Only refer to the first plaintiff and the first defendant.
What should you abbreviate when referring to a case in a citation sentence words in table 6 and rule 10. B here refers to the rules from the bluepages at the beginning of the. In textual sentences, abbreviate widely know acronyms and the eight words specified in rule 10. In the trial court, the first name listed is the plaintiff, the party bringing the suit. Style guide us bankruptcy court middle district of florida. Bluebook rule 10 covers how cases should be cited in legal documents. It is a composite of those contained in the bluebook and the alwd guide to. However, the following are rules and examples for other types of legal documents that many firstyear law students may need to. Pinpoint citation to specific page referenced preceded by at other short forms are acceptable as long as its clear which case you are citing. Citations are to the 20th edition of the bluebook, a uniform system of citation rule 10.
The bluebook contains rules that prescribe how to cite a variety of legal documents. The bluebook is a writing style most often used for legal citation. Here are examples of acceptable short forms for universal city studios, inc. Since plaintiff and defendant are both legal terms, it can be confusing to remember the difference between them. Court document abbreviations table 8 of 17th edition this table gives suggested abbreviations for citations of court documents and legal memoranda not in the other forms of legal writing for the words most commonly found in the titles of court documents. Abbreviate the words in t6 and geographical units according to t10. The defendants, led by the state of washington, asked the judge to reconsider his ruling that he couldnt rule yet on whether the requirement to use kelley blue book valuations was unconstitutional because there were material facts in dispute. Motion to conduct proceedings in english in the district court of the second circuit wailuku division state of hawaii. The bluebook is designed to provide information on legal citation, particularly to law students in their first year, law clerks, summer associates, lawyers, and others working in legal professions. The bluebook style guide is used in the american legal profession for citation of all relevant sources.
Name of the case underlined or italicized and abbreviated according to rule 10. This is not a comprehensive citation reference work. The style manual is intended to assist all justices, judges, law clerks, and support staff. It is common practice in legal documents to cite other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. Use the bluebook, blue pages, pages 2426 in rule b17, rule 10. The volume for a reporter is given first, then the abbreviation of the title. Here are the major rules from the 19th edition of the bluebook regarding record citation. The page number of the volume on which the case first appears is next. This edition of the tyle s manual for the supreme and appellate courts of illinois has been revised from prior editions two specific goals.
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