- Check the accuracy of the author, title, publication year, and page numbers.
- Check that all claims are supported by the sources that are cited.
- Check that pinpoint citations, id., supra, and infra cross-references are provided and correct.
- Confirm that the source is current.
What is a legal citation example?
Typically, a proper legal citation will inform the reader about a source's authority, how strongly the source supports the writer's proposition, its age, and other, relevant information. This is an example citation to a United States Supreme Court court case:
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 480 (1965)
.
How do you cite the New York CPLR?
“New York decisions shall be cited from the official reports, if any.” (
CPLR 5529 [e]
.) “Where New York authorities are cited in any submissions, New York Official Law Report citations shall be included, if available.” (Rules of Ct of Appeals [22 NYCRR] § 500.1 [g].)
How do I cite an official reporter?
- Name of the case (underlined or italicized and abbreviated according to Rule 10.2)
- Volume of the reporter.
- Reporter abbreviation (Table 1)
- First page of the case.
- State and court, if needed (abbreviated according to Tables 1 & 10 and Rule 10.4)*
- Year the case was decided.
Is the Pacific Reporter official or unofficial?
Supreme Court cases are published in at least two, and sometimes three, recognized reporter sets: the official reporter (California Reports) and
two West reporters
(Pacific Reporter and California Reporter).
What happens if you cite bad law?
If your case is overruled on the grounds for which you cite it,
your proposition is bad law
. Also, note that a higher court could abrogate a lower court ruling by making a statement of law that contradicts your proposition – essentially overruling your case without mentioning it by name.
How do you read a case citation?
- Case Name.
- Volume No.
- Name of Reporter.
- Beginning Page.
- Year of Decision.
Because the law is constantly evolving
, checking your cited judicial decisions is absolutely essential. The importance of this practice cannot be overstated. Also referred to as “cite-checking”, this is a process through which you can determine whether the cases that you wish to cite are still good law.
What are legal citations used for?
What is “legal citation”? It is a standard language that
allows one writer to refer to legal authorities with sufficient precision and generality that others can follow the references
. Because writing by lawyers and judges is so dependent on such references, it is a language of abbreviations and special terms.
What must a citation include?
- the author, editor, translator, or other person responsible for the content.
- the date of publication.
- the title of the portion of the work being cited if relevant (for example, the book chapter or section, etc.)
How do you cite a legal citation from a website?
A citation to an internet web page generally contains the following information: (1) the author, (2) the title of the web page, (3) the title of the website, (4) the date and time, and (5) the URL.
How do you cite the New York Law Journal?
When citing to the New York Law Journal, practitioners include: (i) the case name; (ii) the abbreviation “N.Y.L.J.”; (iii) the date of the Journal; (iv) the first page in which the case appears preceded by “at”; (v) the column number; and (vi) court and date parenthetical, including the date of the decision.
How do you cite a New York Slip opinion?
- The purpose for which the copies will be used.
- The number of copies to be made.
- The time period in which the copies will be used.
How do I cite the New York Constitution?
(The name consists of the abbreviation of the jurisdiction—e.g.,
U.S. for United States, N.Y. for New York (§ 4-500)—and “Const.”) «e.g.» U.S. Const. art.
How do you cite a case in two reporters?
Cite the state reporter first, then the regional reporter
. 2. If the citation is in public domain format, give both the public domain citation and the regional reporter citation (Rule 10.3. 3).
What is meant by official citation?
Usually, the first citation given is to the official reports for a particular court, and is called the “official citation”. This is
the publisher with which the court has contracted to publish cases
. Other publishers may produce sets of court cases as well. These are the “unofficial ” or “parallel” citations.
What is the California reporter 2d?
The California Reporter of Decisions is
a reporter of decisions supervised by the Supreme Court of California responsible for editing and publishing the published opinions of the judiciary of California
.
Headnotes appear before the judicial opinion and are generally written by a publisher's editors. Headnotes are a great research tool but are not considered legal authority and
should never be cited to
.
What is the difference between the federal reporter and the Federal Supplement?
Although
the Federal Supplement is an unofficial reporter
and West is a private company that does not have a legal monopoly over the court opinions it publishes, it has so dominated the industry in the U.S. that legal professionals uniformly cite the Federal Supplement for included decisions.
What is considered bad law?
Bad law, or a bad law includes
law that is oppressive or that causes injustice
. It may also include a proposition of law that is erroneous, or an attempted statement of the law that is inaccurate. A precedent that has been overruled may be bad law.
Can you cite a case with a red flag?
Red flags or stop signs do not necessarily mean that a case is bad law. For instance, the case might be bad law on a different issue, the case itself might have been overturned, or the case may simply be unpublished (
in some jurisdictions, court rules indicate that you cannot cite unpublished opinions
).
What are some examples of bad laws?
- Nuisance Laws. …
- Jaywalking Laws. …
- Fines for Minor Infractions. …
- Privatizing Water. …
- Occupancy Standards for Rental Housing. …
- Criminalizing Food Sharing.
How do you cite a case without a citation?
- The components of a typical case citation without a neutral citation (ie prior to 2001) are:
- case name | [year] OR (year) | volume | report abbreviation | first page | (court). Page v Smith [1996] AC 155 (HL).
- NB: put the court abbreviation in brackets at the end of the citation.
What is case law citation?
STRUCTURE OF LEGAL CITATION
A Legal Citation refers to
a specific legal source, such as a constitution, a statute, reported cases, a regulation, a treatise, or a law review article
. The basic format includes the volume number, abbreviated titles of the source, and beginning page or section numbers(s).
