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Legal Citation Formats

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If you are searching for a legal citation you must use the precise format shown below, including exact punctuation. For other types of references such as newspaper and magazine articles, see the article on Citing References.

Contents

  • 1 Getting a Document by Legal Citation in LexisNexis
  • 2 U.S. Case Law
    • 2.1 Federal Reporters
    • 2.2 State Reporters
    • 2.3 Regional Reporters
    • 2.4 Citation Formats for Canadian Legislation
  • 3 U.S. Law Reviews & Journals
  • 4 U.S. Statutes, Codes, and Regulations
    • 4.1 Annotated U.S. Code (USCS)
    • 4.2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations
    • 4.3 Federal Register
  • 5 State Registers
  • 6 State Administrative Codes
  • 7 Bibliography Help: MLA, APA, Turabian Style Hints
    • 7.1 Cases
    • 7.2 Codes

Getting a Document by Legal Citation in LexisNexis

If you are looking for a specific law, legal decision, or law review article and have the citation in hand you can retrieve it immediately on the appropriate legal search form(s) or the Power Search form. If you are not sure which type of material your citation refers to, compare it to the examples below to choose the right search form.

U.S. Case Law

As a general rule, you can use citation formats found in the Uniform System of Case Citation (Blue Book). See specific examples below. You can search for U.S. case law citations on any of the following forms:

  • Easy Search
  • US Federal & State Cases
  • Power Search (Pick "Federal & State Cases, Combined" from the drop down or use Browse Sources or Find Sources to pick a specific court.

Federal Reporters

  • 100 F.2d 1
  • 134 F.3d 817
  • 19 F Supp. 2d 104
  • 789 F. Supp. 320
  • 139 L. Ed. 2d 25
  • 118 S Ct. 62
  • 514 U.S. 673
  • 65 U.S.L.W. 3204

State Reporters

  • 246 App Div 2d 682
  • 19 Cal 4th 142
  • 23 Fla. Law W. D 733
  • 344 Ill. App. 266
  • 344 Mich. 624
  • 230 N.J. Super. 182
  • 23 N.Y.S.2d 2
  • 84 Ohio St. 3d 1457
  • 2000 PA Super 2
  • 150 Tex. 39

Regional Reporters

  • 723 A.2d 852
  • 250 Cal. Rptr. 21
  • 100 N.E.2d 497
  • 75 N.W.2d 19
  • 100 P. 34
  • 300 P.2d 19
  • 727 So. 2d 913
  • 150 S.W.2d 202

Citation Formats for Canadian Legislation

You can search for Canadian legal material on the following forms:

  • Canadian Cases
  • Canadian Legislation
  • Canadian Law Journals
  • Power Search (Use Browse Sources or Find Sources to pick a specific court.

When typing in a citation, it is necessary to enter brackets, punctuation, capitalization or spaces.

  • [1997] O.J. no 4806
  • 39 D.L.R. (4th) 595

U.S. Law Reviews & Journals

As a general rule, you can use citation formats and abbreviations found in the Uniform System of Case Citation (Blue Book). See specific examples below. You can also use the Law Review search forms to look for specific articles by author, title, and date.

  • 74 Fordham L. Rev. 1475
  • 54 Emory L.J. 1139
  • 22 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 901
  • 14 N.Y.L. Sch. J. Hum. Rts. 375
  • 113 Harv. L. Rev. 1963
  • 29 Cardozo L. Rev. 927

U.S. Statutes, Codes, and Regulations

Annotated U.S. Code (USCS)

The system recognizes the following statute citation formats:

  • 5 USCS SEC 5901
  • 5 USCS SECTION 5901
  • 5 USCS § 5901
  • 101 PL 509
    Replace the § symbol with SECTION or SEC when constructing a search: 5 USCS § 5901 becomes 5 USCS SEC 5901

U.S. Code of Federal Regulations

Format your Code of Federal Regulations citation like the examples below:

  • 40 CFR 129.4
  • 20 CFR PART 404 APPENDIX I
  • 17 CFR 230.429

Federal Register

Format your Federal Register citation like the examples below:

  • 64 FR 71680
  • 63 FR 33835
  • 58 FR 51735

State Registers

State Official Register Name Citation Format

Alabama

Not Online

N/A

Alaska

Alaska Administrative Journal

24 AAJ 94

Arkansas

Arkansas Government Register

72 ARGR 40

Arizona

Not Online

N/A

California

California Regulatory Law Bulletin

2005-40 CRLB 495

Connecticut

Connecticut Law Journal

58 conn l j 14

Delaware

Delaware Government Register

40 DEGR 23

District of Columbia

District of Columbia Register

45 d c reg 7589

Florida

Florida Administrative Weekly

23 faw 463

Georgia

Georgia Government Register

10 GAGR 21

Hawaii

Hawaii Government Register

10 whgr 9

Idaho

Idaho Administrative Bulletin

97-1 iab 187

Illinois

Illinois Register

27 l reg 1154

Indiana

Indiana Register

29 ind reg 2898

Iowa

Iowa Administrative Bulletin

19 iowa admin bull 1142

Kansas

Kansas Register

18-35 kan reg 1272

Kentucky

Not Online

N/A

Louisiana

Louisiana Register

26 LR 99

Maine

Maine Government Register

71 megr 139

Maryland

Maryland Register

30-5 md reg 377

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Register

808 ma reg 79

Michigan

Not Online

N/A

Minnesota

Minnesota State Register

24 minn reg 1379

Mississippi

Mississippi Government Register

15 msgr 3

Missouri

Missouri Register

23 moreg 2503

Montana

Not Online

N/A

Nebraska

Nebraska Government Register

7 negr 39

Nevada

Nev. Register of Admin. Regulations

23-4 nev reg 1999

New Hampshire

New Hampshire Government Register

7 nh gov reg 176

New Jersey

New Jersey Register

38 njr 3095(b)

New Mexico

New Mexico Register

8 n m reg 69

New York

New York Register

2006-22 N.Y. St. Reg. 40

North Carolina

North Carolina Register

13 nc reg 621

North Dakota

Not Online

N/A

Ohio

OH - The Register of Ohio

2006 OH Reg. 7030008

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Register

19 ok reg 2299

Oregon

Oregon Bulletin

45-7 Or Admin R Bull 3

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Bulletin

27 pa bull 701

Rhode Island

Rhode Island Government Register

52 rigr 85

South Carolina

South Carolina State Register

30-3 sc reg 1

South Dakota

South Dakota Register

23 south dakota reg 123

Tennessee

Tennessee Administrative Register

25-7 tenn admin reg 14

Texas

Texas Register

22 texreg 1317

Utah

Utah State Bulletin

99-17 utah bull 4

Vermont

Vermont Government Register

77 vtgr 4

Virginia

Virginia Register of Regulations

15 va regs reg 2667

Washington

Washington State Register

96-24 wsr 3

West Virginia

Not Online

N/A

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Administrative Register

488 wis admin reg 43

Wyoming

Wyoming Government Register

20 wygr 19

State Administrative Codes

State Administrative Code formats vary from state to state. Find the state you are looking for in the table below to see the a sample citation:

State Citation Format

State Citation Format

Alabama

ala admin code r 20-X-6-.04

Alaska

3 alas admin 32.390

Arizona

ariz admin r1-1-101

Arkansas

014 04 CARR 002

California

23 CCR 2915

Colorado

1 CCR 301-40

Connecticut

ct admin 12-2-1

Delaware

de admn 10-400-005

District of Columbia

cdcr 25-100

Florida

fac 12-1.001

Georgia

ga admin 560-11-5-.01

Hawaii

WCHR 2-51

Idaho

IDAPA 02.01.03.004

Illinois

1 il admin 100.100

Iowa

21 IAC 85.41(215)

Kansas

kar 4-4-920

Kentucky

306 kar 1:050

Louisiana

lac 42:XIII.3501

Maine

CMR 01-001-125

Maryland

COMAR 02.01.08.03

Massachusetts

102 cmr 7.07

Michigan

mich admin code r 318.143

Minnesota

mn r 1325.2700

Mississippi

CMSR 06-000-002

Missouri

1 CSR 20-5.020

Montana

mont admin R 4.10.1401

Nebraska

Nebraska Admin. Code Title 119, Ch. 35

Nevada

nac 97.125

New Hampshire

N.H. Admin. Rules, Cmp 301.03

New Jersey

njac 2:71-2.6

New Mexico

8.16.2.18 NMAC

New York

6 NYCRR 703.2

North Carolina

2 N.C.A.C. 7J. 0017

North Dakota

N.D. Admin. Code 7-03.1-02-01

Ohio

oac ann 901:9-1-14

Oklahoma

OAC 165:55-17-21

Oregon

Or. Admin. R. 291-011-0005

Pennsylvania

4 pac 1.313

Rhode Island

CRIR 01-025-016

South Carolina

SC Code Regs 7-500

South Dakota

ARSD 5:02:10:08

Tennessee

Tenn Comp R & Regs 0765-1-.05

Texas

1 tac 5.195

Utah

uac r23-19-7

Vermont

wcvr 10-060-009, @ 5813.2

Virginia

11 VAC 10-20-270

Washington

wac 12-10-170

West Virginia

W Va CSR 11-1A-4

Wisconsin

Wis. Adm. Code ATCP 29.41

Wyoming

wcwr 002-040-006 @ 31

Bibliography Help: MLA, APA, Turabian Style Hints

Although most style guides simply defer to the bluebook's style, here are some examples of ways you can incorporate Cases or Codes that you have found in LexisNexis Academic into your Bibliography page. For more help with style guides, visit our page on Citing References.

Cases

MLA
Case title, U.S. Reports citation, page numbers, docket number, name of the court, year of decision, Internet address, and date of accessing the site

Fullilove v. Klutznick. 448 U.S. 448. 448-554. No. 78-1007. US Supreme Court. 1980. Online. LexisNexis® Academic. (11 Feb. 2010).

APA
Case title, U.S. Reports citation, year of decision, and Internet address.

Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448 (1980) [Online] Retrieved from www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic.

Turabian
Case Name, Reports Citation (Year of Decision) LexisNexis main URL (accessed date for Turabian).

Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448 (1980). Accessed 13 February 2010; available from LexisNexis Academic www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic

Codes

MLA
Title number, statute book of the U.S. Code. section. year. publication medium, name of computer service, and date of access.

42 US Code. Sec. 405. 1998. Online. LexisNexis® Academic. 13 February 2010.

APA
Act or Section Name, Abbreviated Citation et seq. (Edition year of the Code) Retrieved date from LexisNexis Academic database. Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §2301 et seq. (2006). Retrieved 13 February 2010 from LexisNexis Academic database.

Turabian
Act or Section Name. U.S. Code. Year. Vol(Which is really title number, but Turabian style forces you to use Volume), section number. Accessed date; available from LexisNexis Academic

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act. U.S. code. 1998. Vol 20, sec. 2301. Accessed 24 March 2005; available from LexisNexis Academic
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