Learn what each part of a case citation means and how the pieces are punctuated.
01
A citation is an address
A case citation tells the reader exactly where to find a decision. Each part answers a question: which case, which book of reports, which page, which court, and when.
Read the citation below from left to right. The case name comes first, then the volume number, the reporter abbreviation, and the page where the opinion begins. A pinpoint page, if any, points to the exact page you rely on. The parenthetical at the end gives the court and the year.
Full citation
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966)
Case name
Miranda v. Arizona
Volume · Reporter · First page
384 · U.S. · 436
Pinpoint page
444
Court and year
(1966): no court is named because the U.S. Reports publishes only Supreme Court decisions
02
The parenthetical names the court when the reporter does not
Many reporters publish decisions from several courts. When the reporter alone does not tell the reader which court decided the case, put the court's abbreviation in the parenthetical before the year.
For the highest court of a state, the state's abbreviation is enough. For a federal court of appeals, name the circuit. For a federal district court, name the district.
State supreme court
Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co., 162 N.E. 99 (N.Y. 1928)
Write "v." in lowercase with a period. Put a comma after the case name, and another comma between the first page and the pinpoint page. Do not put a comma before the parenthetical.
A citation that supports a whole sentence is written as its own sentence and ends with a period. A citation that supports only part of a sentence is a citation clause, set off from the text with commas.
Citation sentence
The Court required warnings before custodial interrogation. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966).
Citation clause
Warnings are required before custodial interrogation, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966), but they may be waived.
Practice level 1
10 exercises with instant feedback. Score 80% or higher to pass.
