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Zaphod Beeblebrox
President of the Galaxy
Joined: 16 Mar 2003
Posts: 1901
Location: Betelgeuse
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 Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:42 pm Post subject: Legal citations |
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I wasn't sure where this belonged, but I figured those who would know the answer would be more likely to frequent this forum. ;)
I'm writing a paper (actually, expanding on a previous paper) on government regulation of market competition, and, at one point, I discuss the Microsoft antitrust case. My question is... how do you cite a case (specifically a court of appeals case, in this instance)? I've been Googling this and found many helpful websites, but terms like "volume number" and "case ID" still baffle me.
Basically, I want something to put in the footnotes that looks kind of like: Kootenai Envtl. Alliance, Inc. v. Panhandle Yacht Club, Inc., 671 P.2d 1085 (Idaho 1983). The specific case that I'm looking at is this one, although I'm also hoping to look at United States v. IBM and other Microsoft cases as examples as well. |
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Coralfish
Town Hall Judge
Joined: 17 Dec 2002
Posts: 1790
Location: Southern Academia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: Re: Legal citations |
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*Chuckles*
I'm trying to draw desperately from my legal research and writing course, but if I don't get it all, feel free to shoot me. 
First of all, you have to look in the right place to find your case. Cases from the Supreme Court of the United States are officially printed in the United States Reports (U.S.). Similarily, lower court cases such as the U.S. Appellate Court are printed in the Federal Reporter (F2d or F3d, respectively) and district court cases are printed in the Federal Suppliment (F. Supp. or F. Supp. 2d). A handy thing to keep in mind is that any "official" case citation is a primary source while books, law journals, encyclopedias and law reviews fall under secondary sources. Whether or not your source is primary or secondary is important to keep in mind when citing cases for particular purposes. Generally, primary sources are the "meat" of the argument whilst secondary sources back up the argument you are attempting to make.
This link provides a useful table for all of the primary sources and most of the major secondary ones.
| The Great Scott wrote: | | I've been Googling this and found many helpful websites, but terms like "volume number" and "case ID" still baffle me. |
Volume number refers to the actual case book itself. Say, for instance, you wish to quote something out of the U.S. Code volume 96. That relavant part of the citation would read 96 U.S.C. This same format (the volume preceeded by the volume number) is used across the board for both primary and secondary sources.
Following the volume number and the volume is the page number of the case, (for instance, 96 U.S.C. 664). This indicates that, if you find volume 96 and look on page 664, you will find the beginning of the cited case. Following this, you'll see a date. Using the same example, a citation that reads 96 U.S.C. 664 (1992) indicates that the case was decided on that particular date.
Perhaps you actually are looking for a secondary source like a book or a journal article. They're a little different in form, but not much. For example, if I'm looking for a particular article in volume 112 of the Harvard Law Review, my citation would read, [Title of Article] 112 Harv. L Rev. Following this will be the page number followed by the date of publication.
(As a side note for certain state reporters, you may see a state name preceeding the year the article/entry was published, a common practice depending on the source).
Getting back to primary source citations, sometimes, subsequent rulings follow the original citations, such as a situation wherein the case was appealed. These citaitons follow after the initial case citation along with a short abbreviation indicating whether or not the case was affirmed or denied.
Other rules follow for such things as parallell citations and the like, but that's the "really basic" form of a general, primary and secondary source citation (which I hope is what you were looking for ).
If you have access to resources such as WestLaw or LexisNexis, both will prove quite useful in providing not only the cases but the corresponding citations, parallell citations and citations to any other related cases.
Finally, since the case you indicated was a U.S. Court of Appeals case, I would venture to say it will be located in either F2d or F3d. Generally, going right to the source is an easy way to formulate a citation as you have both the volume number, volume itself, page and date. Sadly, FindLaw.com sometimes neglects to specify such things (something which has personally irratated me at times when I haven't wanted to go through the trouble of finding a "hard copy" of the case).
In any event, once you know the basic formula for citations, they all tend to be quite similar. Provided that you have the necessary infomation present in the book or case text, you can piece together an accurate citation on the spot. I'd do a bit of searching, if I were you, to find either a copy of the Federal Reporter or a source that will list the volume and page number. After that, you should be set to take on any set of cases you are given.
Hope that helped. |
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