Law: Making Citations for Law Materials

URL: https://libguides.cmich.edu/law

Styles

APA Style (7th ed) Section 11: Legal References (p. 355 - 368) provides general guidelines, to cite APA Style legal references, in-text citation of legal materials, and legal reference examples. The followings are some examples. Check Section 11 for detailed information.

11.4 Cases or Court Decisions

Note: the title or name of a case is written in standard type in the reference list entry and in italic type in the in-text citation.

Reference: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). http://www.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

In-text Citation: (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954)

11.5 Statues (Laws and Acts)

Reference: Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S. C. § 12101 et/ seq/ (1990). https://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm

In-text Citation: (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990)

11.6 Legislative Materials Legislative material include federal testimony, hearings, bills, resolutions, reports, and related documents.

Title of federal testimony and full feral hearing in italic type for both reference entry and in-text citation

Reference: Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program for borrowers: Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor & Pensions,  113th Cong. (2014). https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/strengthening-the-federal-student-loan-program-for-borrowers

In-text Citation: (Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program, 2014)

The rest in standard type

Reference: Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, H.R. 1100, 113th Cong. (2013). https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th_congress/house-bill/1100

In-text Citation: (Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, 2013)

11.7 Administrative and Executive Materials Administrative and executive materials include rules and regulations advisory opinions, and executive orders.

Reference: Protection of Human Subjects, 45 C.F.R. § 46 (2009). https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/ohrp/policy/ohrpregulations.pdf

In-text citation: (Protection of Human Subjects, 2009)

11.8 Patents

Reference: Hiremath, S.C., Kumar, S., Lu, F., & Salehi, A. (2016). Using metaphors to present concepts across different intellectual domains (U.S. Patent No. 9,367,592). U.S. Patent and Trade-mark Office. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=9367592

In-text citation: (Hiremath et al., 2016)

11.9 Constitutions and Charters

To cite a whole federal or state constitution, a citation is not necessary. Simply refer to the constitution in text.

U.S. Const. art. I, § 3

11.10 Treaties and International Conventions

Reference: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

In-text citation: (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)

MLA handbook Appendix 2 lists examples MLA style citation for Government Publications and Legal Work, In addition to related guidelines in different chapters. The followings are selected examples. Check page 343-346 for more examples.   

Government Publications

With Government Name as It Appears on Source

U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-2015. Skyhorse Publishing 2014.

With Government Name Standardized to Consolidate Entries

United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6394/text. 114th Congress, 2nd session, House Resolution 6394, passed 6 Dec. 2016

Legal Work

United States Supreme Court

Decisions

United States Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education. United States Reports, vol. 347, 17 May 1954, pp. 483-97. Library of Congress, tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/userep/usrep347483/usrep347483.pdf.

Federal Statues (United States code)

United States, Congress, House. United States Code. Title 17, section 304, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 14 Jan. 2017, uscode.house.gov.

Public Laws

United States, Congress. Public Law 111-122. United States Statutes at Large, vol. 123, 2009, pp. 3480-82. U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-123/pdf/STATUTE-123/pdf.

Federal Appeals Court Decisions

United States, court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Moss v. Colvin. Docket no. 15-2272, 9 Jan. 2017. United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, www.ca2uscourts.gov/decisions.html. PDF download

Federal Bills

United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6394/text. 114th Congress, 2nd session, House Resolution 6394, passed 6 Dec. 2016.

Hearings

United States, Congress, House committee on Education and Labor. The Future of Learning: How Technology is Transforming Public School. 16 June 2009, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg50208/html/CHRG-111hhrg50208.htm.

Executive Orders

United State, Executive Office of the President [Obarack Obama]. Executive Order 13717: Establishing a Federal Earthquake Risk management Standard. 2 Fed. 2016. Federal Register, vol. 81, no. 24, 5 Feb. 2016, pp. 6405-10, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2017-title3-vol1/pdf/CFR-2017-title3-vol1-eo13717.pdf.

State Court of Appeals, Unpublished Decisions

Minnesota State, Court of Appeals. Minnesota v. McArthur. 28 Sept. 1999, mn.gov/law-library-stat/archive//ctapun/9909/502.htm. Unpublished opinion.

State Senate Bills

Wisconsin State, Legislature. Senate Bill 5. Wisconsin State Legislature, 20 Jan. 2017, docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/related/proposals/sb5.

Constitutions

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription. National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 28 Feb. 2017, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript.

Treaties

United States, Senate. Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/114/cdoc/tdoc8/CDOC-114tdoc8.pdf. Treaty between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

Resolutions of International Governing Bodies

United Nations, General Assembly. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Resolution 217 A, 10 Dec. 1948. United Nations, www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/. PDF download.

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the citation guide that is generally considered the authoritative reference fore American legal citations.

Bluebook Quick guide provides examples illustrate how to cite commonly used sources in accordance with The Bluebook's Whitepages, which are intended for use in law review footnotes. For citations in court documents and legal memoranda, please refer to the Bluepages.

As the same as other databases, You can use HeinOnline to generate citations. HeinOnline you can use "cite" to generate a citation in different styles (e.g. Bluebook, ALWD, Chicago, APA, etc.). You can also use Citation Navigator

 

Westlaw provides a citation generator in its databases.Simply highlight the text you intend to cite and select "Copy with Reference" from the drop-down menu. Follow this video click to generate citation https://app.screencast.com/hQL86eaGJoAMz

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