How to Use Proper Citations

What’s a Citation?

A traffic cop “citation” is not the kind you’ll learn in this class.

Citations you learn in this class are shorthand directions to official legal authorities and other reliable references that support your arguments.

Your opinions and those of non-lawyers claiming to be legal experts don’t count!

I’ve been a lawyer 39 years. I know from experience that opinions of non-lawyers will only get you into trouble with judges.

Only official legal authorities control judges!

If you don’t “cite” legal authorities properly, the judge won’t know what official legal authorities control his or her decisions, and the judge will rule however he or she chooses!

Not good for you!

The consequence should be clear to you by the time you study this class, having completed all the classes in the Main Menu.

Don’t let your judge ignore the law!

Unless you properly tell the court what official legal authorities you’re relying on to win your case, the court will favor your opponent who does!

To control the court properly requires proper citations.

Citations can reference almost anything, including:

• Constitutional Provisions
• Statutes and Codes
• Case Law (published appellate court decisions)
• Rules of Court
• Law Review Articles (from leading law schools)
• Scholarly Works
• Even an old children’s book or newspaper article

Anything your arguments rely on (other than evidence itself) needs to be “cited”.

Think of citations like little treasure maps showing the court where it can find the legal authorities and references you’re claiming to support your arguments, legal authorities and references that agree with and support your arguments, legal authorities and references the court can find on its own and rely upon because you formed your citations properly!

Or, think of them as giant signposts pointing to the gaping holes in your opponent’s arguments, legal authorities and references showing his case is nothing but a sack of beans!

Trial judges and appellate justices haven’t time to dig through thousands of books in search of the legal authorities and references you want them to rely on in granting you a favorable verdict.

Nor do they have time (or the inclination) to worry their very busy heads puzzling over what you might mean by “that case you probably read about in law school that said we don’t have to talk when we’re arrested”.

Of course, if that’s the best you can do, then do what you can … but don’t expect any but the kindest, most patient, angelic judge to make an effort to decipher your meaning … and don’t be surprised when you lose!

Citations pin an authority or reference to a single source … destroying ambiguity!

Proper citations are precise.

Proper citations point to only one authority or reference.

Proper citations use an efficient shorthand format everyone can follow to find the legal authorities and references you are relying on to win.

Like everything else in this course, citation format is easy to learn.

And, mighty important!

Citation format is a micro-language within the world of law.

Citation format is a way to say what otherwise would take too many words and leave judges wondering, “What the heck does that mean?”

Take the familiar Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). This citation references a 1966 United States Supreme Court decision interpreting the Fifth Amendment to guarantee your right to remain silent and be warned, “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law”.

Here’s another: U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §2. This citation directs the court’s attention to Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Notice how concise these two citations are and how precisely they point to the authorities. Each refers to one authority and one authority only. Your opponent cannot claim they point to anything else.

Confusion is your enemy! Get rid of it.

Don’t give your opponent an opportunity to muddy the litigation waters.

Keep things clear and concise!

By the time you finish this class you’ll be able to cite legal authorities and references like a seasoned trial lawyer!

The Bluebook

The “official” reference for citation format is The Bluebook. This is the final authority on citation format relied upon by lawyers, judges, and appellate court justices.

In its 19th edition (at the time of this writing) its complexity is far beyond what you’ll probably ever need. If you wish to own the latest and greatest of legal citation manuals, however, this is it.

It is NOT REQUIRED. It is mentioned here only so you know about it.

The image above is a live link to the website where you can purchase the latest version in book form or subscribe for online access only.

The Bluebook started in 1926 as a 26-page pamphlet, published by Harvard Law Review editor, Erwin Griswold. Today, The Bluebook is compiled at Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale for anyone wishing their citations to pass muster at the highest levels.

If you need to cite some obscure legal authority or unusual reference, you may choose to get The Bluebook for its official say-so. A used copy not more than 10 years old will probably meet your needs. Used copies priced affordably can be found at www.Amazon.com.

Below are the most common citation forms you’ll run into as a pro se litigant.

You’ll probably need no more than what you learn in this class.

Legal Authorities

Think of legal authority as the judges’ boss!

What the boss says goes!

Well … almost.

Judges must obey cited legal authorities if they are:

• on point (explained in the REFERENCE MENU class on Legal Research)
• controlling in your jurisdiction
• cited in proper form

If legal authorities you cite are not “on point” and “controlling” they count for nothing.

If legal authorities are not cited in proper form, the court may not “find” them or rely on them.

Legal authorities fall into four separate groups:

• Constitutions (state and federal)
• Statutes (state and federal)
• Rules of Court (evidence, procedure, judicial administration, etc.)
• Case Law (appellate court opinions)

These do not overlap.

• Constitutions are constitutions.
• Statutes are statutes (though some are called “code” or other names).
• Rules of Court are rules.
• Case law is case law.

Keep this in mind, and citing legal authorities will be a whole lot easier!

Citations to Constitutions

The form for citing constitutions is simplicity itself.

There’s the United States Constitution and a constitution for each state.

These citations follow a simple format:

• constitution name
• articles, sections, and clauses or sub-sections
• amendments, sections, and clauses or sub-sections

Examples follow:

U.S. Const. art. I, §9, cl. 2. [United States Constitution, Article I, section 9, clause 2]

U.S. Const. pmbl. [Preamble to the United States Constitution]

U.S. Const. amend. XIV, §2. [Section 2 of 14th Amendment to United States Constitution]

N.M. Const. art. IV, §4. [New Mexico Constitution, Article IV, section 4]

These are probably all you’ll need.

For more complex citations refer to The Bluebook or just copy the format used by appellate court justices in published opinions. If the justices use a particular format, they must be OK for you!

Citations to Statutes

We’retalking about “statutes”, not “statues”. Do not confuse these two words.

Citations to statutes follow a similarly simple form.

Examples:

28 U.S.C. §1291 (1994). [Title 28 of the United States Code, section 1291, 1994 edition]

Del. Code Ann. tit. 13, §1301 (1981). [Delaware Code Annotated, title 13, section 1301, 1981 edition]

775.089(8) Fla. Stat. (1991). [Chapter 775, section 089, sub-section 8, Florida Statutes, 1991 edition]

Not much to it, really!

The key is forming your statute citations so precisely they can refer to only one statute.

Poorly formed citations give your opponent opportunities to play deceitful tricks, confusing the court with smoke and mirrors to hide the truth and win unjustly.

Don’t give your opponents opportunities to cheat!

Citations to Rules

Rules, not rulers.

Rules come in several types:

• Rules of Evidence
• Rules of Civil Procedure
• Rules of Criminal Procedure
• Rules of Appellate Procedure
• Rules of Judicial Administration
• etcetera

Rules say what should be done in court.

They are “law” in their purest sense.

They are also a separate body of law, unlike constitutions, statutes, and case law.

They are the law of courts, controlling what happens in court!

They are easy to cite.

Fla.R.App.P. 9.800. [Section 9.800 of Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure]

For more on these refer to The Blue Book or just pick up the formats from citations you see published.

Citations to Case Law

This isn’t about suitcases. It’s about appellate cases.

Published appellate court opinions are what you most often cite in your court filings, i.e., “case law”.

Citations to case law are just as easy as citations explained above. In some ways they’re easier, because they follow a fairly standard pattern.

• Names of Parties
• Source Reference
• Court Identification
• Date

There are primarily two (2) kinds of citations to case law.

• Citations to supreme court opinions, state and federal.
• Citations to lower appellate court opinions, state and federal.

United States Supreme Court Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court opinions are distinguished by having only the year enclosed in parentheses at the end. Here are some examples:

Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1055 (U.S. 1992). The United States Supreme Court reasoned in this case, “There is perhaps no more impenetrable jungle in the entire law than that which surrounds the word ‘nuisance’. It has meant all things to all people and has been applied indiscriminately to everything from an alarming advertisement to a cockroach baked in a pie.”

If your case involved a “nuisance” claim, you might wish to cite this case for the foregoing point of view or for some other doctrine stated by the “Supremes”. The U.S. Supreme Court, of course, trumps the decisions of all lower state and federal courts.

Decisions of the U.S.S.Ct. also trump decisions of the President and all executive branches as well as decisions of Congress (unless overridden by Congress).

Here’s a paragraph from an actual appellate court case:

The District Court should have given either Appellant’s requested jury charge that it was not necessary for Appellee to be careless to be liable under negligence per se. This was particularly true as to violation of federal laws and regulations intended to ensure the proper operation of Safety Appliances on railroad cars. Myers v. Reading Co., 331 U.S. 477, 67 S.Ct. 1334, 91 L.Ed 1615 (1947); Didinger v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 39 F.2d 798 (6th Cir. 1930). Notice the U.S. Supreme Court is cited, followed by a decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

State Supreme Court Opinions

State Supreme Court opinions are distinguished by having only the state abbreviation and the year enclosed in parentheses at the end. For example:

Cooper v. A.A.A. Highway Express Inc., 206 S.C. 372, 34 S.E.2d 589 (S.C., 1945).

The parties should be obvious to you. Notice, again, the parties portion of the citation is underlined (alternatively italicized) and followed by a comma that is not underlined. The next number is the volume number of the South Carolina Supreme Court Reporter followed by the page number. Finally, in parentheses, the state abbreviation (old school) followed by a comma, a space, and the date of the opinion. The parentheses are then closed, followed by a period. Don’t forget the period.

Sometimes citations to these cases also include reference to a regional reporter. For example:

Cooper v. A.A.A. Highway Express Inc., 206 S.C. 372, 34 S.E.2d 589 (S.C., 1945).

Here, reference to the state supreme court reporter is followed by a reference to the Southeast Reporter Second Series.

Same format with volume number of the reporter, followed by abbreviated reporter name, followed by page number.

Note how the state abbreviation is enclosed in parentheses at the end, along with the date of this opinion, telling you this is a state supreme court opinion.

Here’s another:

Spears v. State, 278 So.2d 443 (Miss., 1973).

In this example, underlined parties are followed by comma, then volume number of regional reporter, abbreviation for Southern Reporter Second Series, page number, and in parentheses the state abbreviation (old school) followed by comma and year of opinion.

As you see, not all state supreme court cases are cited to a state supreme court reporter.

Note how the state abbreviation is again enclosed in parentheses at the end, along with the date of this opinion, telling you this is a state supreme court opinion.

One more:

State v. Addison, 7 A.3d 1225, 160 N.H. 732 (N.H., 2010).

This New Hampshire Supreme Court case is cited to both the regional reporter (Atlantic Reporter Third Series) and the New Hampshire Supreme Court Reporter.

Note, once again, how the state abbreviation is enclosed in parentheses at the end, along with the date of this opinion, telling you this is a state supreme court opinion.

Scott v. Otis Elevator Company, 572 So.2d 902 (Fla. 1990). This case stands for the proposition that judicial relief for intentional tort is predicated on a well-established principle of law that the alleged injured party must prove (or be able to convince a jury) by a preponderance of the admissible evidence that defendant engaged in the course of action purposely to cause plaintiff its alleged damages.

You might write: Appellate courts must accept a trial court’s findings of fact unless the appellate court has a “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc., 456 U.S. 844, 855 (1982). Concrete Pipe and Prods. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust, 508 U.S. 602, 623 (1993). These opinions must be followed by the trial court and all appellate courts state and federal.

The higher courts’ decisions always control those of all lower courts.

There’s really not much to it!

Anyone can use citations to control the courts if they have any reasonable ability using the English language and possess a handful of common-sense.

Federal Appellate Court Opinions

In the federal system, nearly all appeals are taken to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. There are several circuits, but you will learn more about that in the other Tutorials in this course.

Aside from the U.S. Supreme Court, federal circuit courts are where most federal appeals are heard and from which they are reported.

Federal circuit court case law is cited as simply as other case law.

Here are two more examples:

The standard of review relating to the admission of evidence is abuse of discretion. McKnight v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 36 F.3d 1396, 1403 (8th Cir. 1994). This, of course, from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The standard of review relating to the propriety of jury instruction, is de novo as such errors are errors of law. U.S. v. Campa, 529 F.3d 980, 992, (11th Cir. 2008). This from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

State Appellate Court Opinions

As with the federal system, state appellate court opinions are handed down by state level appellate courts. All but a few of the states have an appellate division between the trial level and the state supreme court. (In Rhode Island and New Hampshire, appeals from a trial court are taken directly to the state supreme court. Citations for these were described above.)

Citations to state appellate court opinions are usually to a particular “reporter” that presents the official text of those opinions.

For example, in Florida one usually cites opinions published in one of the “Southern Reporters” of which at this time there are three:

1. Southern
2. Southern Second
3. Southern Third

These reporters present stated appellate court and state supreme court decisions from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Here is a typical citation to a Florida case found in the Southern Second reporter.

Kirk v. United States Sugar Corporation, 726 So.2d 822 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). (Notice the period at the end of the citation.)

In this case, former Florida Governor Claude Kirk (and a number of others) appealed a decision of the lower court (Kirk is appellant), and United States Sugar Corporation opposes (United States Sugar Corporation is the appellee).

Copy this citation (using Ctrl-C) then paste it in a Google search bar (using Ctrl-V) to see the full text of the appellate decision. (WARNING: When using Google to see cases please choose a Google result that references an official source and not some lawyer’s office or other off-the-wall source. Trust only official sources.)

If your case involved issues similar to those raised in this case at the trial level, you would cite this case and include quotes from the case in support of your position. Here is an example:

“The primary jurisdiction doctrine counsels that a court should not substitute its judgment for an agency’s when dealing with a subject that is vested within the agency’s expertise and discretion. See South Lake Worth Inlet Dist. v. Town of Ocean Ridge, 633 So. 2d 79 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994); State ex rel. Shevin v. Tampa Elec. Co., 291 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974). In the instant case, the trial court relied upon Ocean Ridge to hold that the primary jurisdiction doctrine barred *825 Plaintiffs’ public nuisance claim. We disagree that Ocean Ridge compels such a result on a motion to dismiss in the instant case.” Kirk v. United States Sugar Corporation, 726 So.2d 822 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).

Notice the text is enclosed in quotation marks, and the citation is added after the closing quotation marks.

Reporters by states:

• Atlantic Reporter – Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and District of Columbia
• Northeastern Reporter – Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
• Northwestern Reporter – Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa
• Southeastern Reporter – West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
• Southern – Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana
• Southwestern Reporter – Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas
• Pacific Reporter – Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada

Many have second, third, and further editions.

All are cited the same way.

Citations to Other References

Other references commonly encountered include:

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Scientific Papers
• Textbooks
• Almanacs

For each of these, rather than worrying about formats set out in The Bluebook (mentioned above), just name the publication, the date of the publication, the author of the text you wish to cite. In practice, one seldom needs to make reference to these “other references”, since the most important citations are those that identify official sources of legal authorities.

These, of course, are not official but, rather, publications by private companies that have no “legal authority”. When they are cited it is usually to underscore some public thought on the matter in controversy having no compelling power to control the courts.

Conclusion

This class covered the most frequently encountered citations.

The Bluebook contains some 400 pages explaining its “Uniform System of Citations”, a great deal more than you are likely to ever need.

There’s no need for you to know every possible citation covered by The Bluebook.

You’ll seldom need more “citation know-how” than presented here.

As you read case law when doing your legal research, you’ll see how appellate court justices cite authorities and references in their published opinions. Take note of the format they use and feel free to use the same in your filings. If its good enough for the appellate courts (especially if controlling in your jurisdiction) there should be no problem for you to follow their lead.

Just make certain your citations are specific.

Specificity is ensured by using proper citation form.

Quiz on Citations

To be added …