To the Law-Lib community:
The AALL Citation Committee has drafted a User Guide to the AALL
Medium Neutral Citation form, to illustrate how the new citation
convention could be implemented in a variety of jurisdictions. We
feel that, in addition to the utility of setting forth the AALL form
in rule format, this Guide also shows how eminently workable the new
form is.
The version that follows is a bit rough. The document may
also be found at the University of Utah Law Library Web site
at http://info.law.utah.edu/citation.html. Comments and suggestions
may be sent to myself (address below) or to principal draftsperson
Bruce Kennedy at fac4296%uoft01@uoft02.utoledo.edu.
REMINDER: THIS IS A DRAFT ONLY AND NOT AN OFFICAL DOCUMENT OF THE
AALL.
USER GUIDE
to the
AALL MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION
Draft Release 2.2: Case Citations
February, 1996
Purpose. This guide indicates how researchers can cite American
judicial decisions using the medium neutral citation developed by the
American Association of Law Libraries (AALL).
For issues not addressed in this guide, the researcher should follow
the most current edition of the The Bluebook: Uniform System of
Citation.
Cases
Rule 1. Basic Citation Form. [Supplementary to Blue Book Rule
10.1.]
A full case citation includes:
1) the case name (Rule 2)
2) the year of decision (Rule 3)
3) the court (Rule 4)
4) the opinion number (Rule 5)
5) the notation U - if the opinion is unreported (Rule 6) and
6) the paragraph number - if a pinpoint cite is needed to
specific text (Rule 7).
Examples: Godard v. Poole, 1995 US 353, 23
Price v. Bitner, 1996 Wis 404, 12
Cohen v. Berring, 1997 Ohio App (2d) 66U, 10
Gasaway v. Estes, 1998 US Mich (W Dist) 90, 44
Billings v. Kehoe, 1999 La Ascension Parish 104U, 12
Roalfe v. Houdek, 2000 NY Sur (11th) 112, 245
Rule 2. Case Name. [Supplementary to Blue Book Rule 10.2.]
Case names should conform to rule 10.2 and related rules of the
Bluebook - except that a
researcher may cite an opinion from any source so long as it contains
the data elements used in
the AALL medium neutral citation.
Rule 3. Year of Decision. [Supplementary to Blue Book Rule 10.5.]
After the case name, indicate the year in which the decision was
rendered. Express the year as
a four digit number e.g. 1995 not 95.
Rule 4. Court. [Supplementary to Blue Book Rule 10.4.]
After the year, indicate the court which rendered the opinion.
Identify the court by constructing
an abbreviation using the sub-rules below.
Generally, use US to identify a federal court. Use the standard
geographical abbreviations from
the latest edition of the Bluebook to identify a state or territorial
court.
Also use standardized abbreviations from the Bluebook when needed to
identify local or
specialized courts. For convenience, a dictionary of standard
abbreviations appears as Appendix
I of this Guide.
Omit periods and other punctuation within the court abbreviation as
they are superfluous e.g.
US not U.S. Omit the abbreviation Ct - unless its omission would make
the abbreviation
ambiguous.
4.1 High Courts. Identify a high court decision by using only a
geographical abbreviation
e.g. use US to cite a United States Supreme Court decision and Miss -
not Ms - to cite a
Mississippi Supreme Court decision.
Examples: 1996 US 212, 8
1997 Miss 33, 17
4.2 Intermediate Appellate Courts of General Jurisdiction. To cite
an appellate court -
1) use US or a state or territorial abbreviation,
2) followed by App,
3) followed by the number or name of the judicial circuit or
district in parenthesis
e.g. US App (11th) or US App (DC). Omit the parenthetical
if the circuit or
district is part of a unitary appellate court and the
opinion binds all coequal
divisions of the court.
Omit the abbreviations Cir or Dist unless the omission
would make the
abbreviation ambiguous.
Examples: 1997 US App (8th) 33, 17
1996 La App (5th) 212, 8
4.3 Other Courts. To cite any trial court or a specialized appellate
court -
1a) use US for a federal court - followed by a state or
territorial abbreviation if
needed to identify a federal district,
Example: 1995 US Mich (W Dist) 111, 10
or 1b) use a state or territorial abbreviation - followed by a
local geographical
abbreviation if needed to identify the local court issuing
the opinion,
Example: 1999 Miss Adams County 33, 17
and 2) followed by any additional standard abbreviations needed to
unambiguously
identify the court issuing the opinion,
Examples: 1996 La Dist (10th) 212, 8
1998 Del Fam 212, 8
3) followed by the number or name of the judicial circuit or
district in parenthesis.
Omit the parenthetical if the circuit or district is part
of a unitary court and the
opinion binds all coequal divisions of the court.
Example: 2000 NY Sur (11th) 440, 5
Rule 5. Opinion Number. [No Equivalent Bluebook Rule.]
Courts supporting the AALL medium neutral citation will apply a
unique number to each
opinion. Include this opinion number after the court abbreviation.
Example: 1996 US 212, 8
Rule 6. Unreported Status. [Related to Bluebook Rule 10.8.1.]
If an opinion is unreported (as determined by the issuing
jurisdiction), append the letter "U" to
the opinion number.
Example: 1996 Ohio App (8th) 312U, 15
Rule 7. Pinpoint Citation by Paragraph Number.
[Related to Bluebook Rule 3.3.]
Courts supporting the AALL medium neutral citation will number each
paragraph of text within
an opinion. After the opinion number, a researcher may cite to
particular text by referring to
the appropriate paragraph number. Place a comma between the opinion
and paragraph numbers.
Example: 1996 US 212, 8
APPENDIX I
Abbreviation Dictionary
for the
AALL Medium Neutral Citation
Note: The abbreviations below are selected from the fifteenth edition
of The Bluebook: Uniform
System of Citation. Should the Bluebook offer two abbreviations for
the same word - e.g. D or
Dist for District - use the version listed below.
Part A: Geographic Abbreviations
Alabama Ala
Alaska Alaska
American Samoa Am Sam
Arizona Ariz
Arkansas Ark
California Cal
Canal Zone CZ
Colorado Colo
Connecticut Conn
Delaware Del
District of Columbia DC
Florida Fla
Georgia Ga
Guam Guam
Hawaii Haw
Idaho Idaho
Illinois Ill
Indiana Ind
Iowa Iowa
Kansas Kan
Kentucky Ky
Los Angeles LA
Louisiana La
Maine Me
Maryland Md
Massachusetts Mass
Michigan Mich
Minnesota Minn
Mississippi Miss
Missouri Mo
Montana Mont
Nebraska Neb
Nevada Nev
New Hampshire NH
New Jersey NJ
New York NY
New Mexico NM
North Carolina NC
North Dakota ND
North Marianas Islands N Mar I
Ohio Ohio
Oklahoma Okla
Oregon Or
Pennsylvania Pa
Philadelphia Phila
Puerto Rico PR
Rhode Island RI
San Francisco SF
South Carolina SC
Tennessee Tenn
Texas Tex
United States US
Utah Utah
Vermont Vt
Virgin Islands VI
Virginia Va
Washington Wash
West Virginia W Va
Wisconsin Wis
Wyoming Wyo
Part B: Court Name Abbreviations
Admiralty Adm
Appellate Department App Dep't
Appellate Division App Div
Bankruptcy Bankr
Borough Court [Name] Bor
Chancery Ch
Children's Court Child Ct
Circuit Court Cir
City Court [Name] City
Civil Appeals Civ App
Civil Court of Record Civ Ct Rec
Claims Court Cl Ct
Commerce Court Comm Ct
Common Pleas C P [Name if appropriate]
Commonwealth Court Commw Ct
County Court [Name] County
Court of Civil Appeals Civ App
Court of Claims Cl Ct
Court of Criminal Appeals Crim App
Court of Customs & Patent Appeals CCPA
Court of Customs Appeals Ct Cust App
Court of Errors Ct Err
Court of Errors and Appeals Ct Err & App
Court of International Trade Ct Int Trade
Court of Military Appeals CMA
Court of Military Review CMR
Court of [General, Special] Sessions Ct [Gen, Spec] Sess
Criminal Appeals Crim App
Customs Court Cust
District Court Dist
District Court of Appeals Dist Ct App
Domestic Relations Court Dom Rel
Eastern District E Dist
Emergency Court of Appeals Emer Ct App
Equity Court or Division Eq
Family Court Fam
High Court High Ct
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict
Litigation JPML
Justice of the Peace Court J P Ct
Juvenile Court Juv Ct
Law Court Law Ct
Law Div Law Div
Magistrate's Court Magis Ct
Middle District M Dist
Municipal Court [City Name] Mun
Northern District N Dist
Orphans' Court Orphans' Ct
Parish Court [Name] Parish
Probate Court P Ct
Police Justice Court Police J Ct
Southern District S Dist
Superior Court Super
Supreme Court Sup
Supreme Court of Errors Sup Ct Err
Supreme Judicial Court Sup Jud Ct
Surrogate's Court Sur
Tax Court T C
Temporary Emergency
Court of Appeals Temp Emer Ct App
Territory Terr
Tribal Court [Name] Tribal Ct
Western District W Dist
Youth Court Youth Ct
###Rita Reusch
Law Library Director
Professor of Law
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
voice: 801-581-6594
fax: 801-585-3033
email: rita.reusch@law.utah.edu
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