Kara Sears
The Bluebook Legal Citation provides the standards for legal citation formatting and is used by lawyers, law students, and academics. The Bluebook outlines that case names are generally italicized or underlined in court documents such as briefs and motions. However, in academic legal writing, full case names are typically not underlined or italicized. Case names in footnotes should be italicized when they are grammatically part of the sentence. The short form of case citations also uses italics.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Case names in full citations | Should be in ordinary plain text except for procedural phrases like "ex rel.," which are italicized |
| Case names in court documents | Usually italicized or underlined |
| Case names in academic legal writing | Generally not underlined or italicized |
| Case names in footnotes | Italicized when they are grammatically part of the sentence |
| Case names in law review articles | Italicized |
| Case names in briefs and memos | Italicized |
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What You'll Learn
Case names in footnotes
The Bluebook provides rules and guidelines for legal citation. The precise format of a case citation depends on several factors, including the jurisdiction, court, and type of case.
In court documents (such as briefs and motions) and legal memoranda, full case names are usually italicized or underlined. However, in academic legal writing, such as a law review article, full case names are generally not underlined or italicized. The main text of a law review article will not contain citations, and most of the text will appear in ordinary type.
Case names should be italicized in the text of a law review article. Case names appearing in footnotes should be italicized when they are grammatically part of the sentence. For example, "One noteworthy pre-Brown case was Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S 1 (1948), which held unconstitutional state judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants." However, if the case name is not part of the sentence grammatically but is used as a citation embedded in the footnote text, then the typeface convention for citations should be followed, and the case name should not be italicized.
Additionally, italics may be used for emphasis in the text or in original quoted material. Commas, semicolons, and other punctuation marks should only be italicized when they are part of the italicized material and not when they are simply elements of the sentence or citation.
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Case names in academic legal writing
The Bluebook is a style guide that prescribes how to format legal citations. According to The Bluebook, the way case names are presented in academic legal writing depends on the context in which they appear.
In academic legal writing, full case names are generally not underlined or italicized. However, the short form of case citations should be italicized. Case names should also be italicized when they are part of a sentence grammatically. For example, "One noteworthy pre-Brown case was Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S 1 (1948), which held unconstitutional state judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants."
Additionally, case names should be italicized in footnotes when they are grammatically part of the sentence. For example, "One noteworthy pre-Brown case was Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S 1 (1948), which held unconstitutional state judicial enforcement of racially restrictive covenants." However, when a case name is not part of the sentence grammatically but is used as a citation embedded in a footnote, the case name should be in regular typeface.
It is important to note that commas, semicolons, and other punctuation marks should only be italicized when they are part of the italicized material. They should not be italicized when they are simply elements of the sentence or citation.
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Short form case citations
Short-form case citations are acceptable as long as it is clear which case is being cited. For example, Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001) could be shortened to Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d at 435, assuming you are referencing text on page 435 of the case.
Short-form citations may be used to identify a case that has been previously cited in full. Typically, the court and date are omitted and a pinpoint citation is given. However, the shortened name must be unambiguous and readily identify the case being referred to.
If only one party name is used in a short-form case citation, the name is italicized. Generally, one party's name or a shorter version of the name may be used if the reference is unambiguous. If only one name is used, the name is italicized. For example, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. at 585 could be shortened to Youngstown, 343 U.S. at 585, or even Id. at 585. When using only one party name, avoid using a geographical name or common litigant. For example, NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449, 464 (1958) could be shortened to Patterson, 357 U.S. at 464, but not to NAACP, 357 U.S. at 464.
Law review text and footnotes are considered separately for short-form citation purposes. Only refer to a case name by its short form in a textual sentence if the full case citation has been given within the same general discussion. Short forms may only be used for a case cited within the same footnote or one of the five previous footnotes.
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Case names in court documents
The Bluebook outlines the rules for legal citation and provides guidance on how to cite cases in court documents and academic legal writing. According to The Bluebook, the way case names are presented in court documents (such as briefs, motions, and legal memoranda) differs from their presentation in academic legal writing (such as law review articles).
In court documents, the full case name is typically italicized or underlined. For example, the case name in "Alderson v. Fatlan, 898 N.E.2d 595 (Ill. 2008)" would be italicized or underlined in a court brief or motion. This is also true for memos, as outlined in Bluebook Rule B10 (or the relevant jurisdiction's rules). Italics are generally preferred over underlining.
However, when it comes to academic legal writing, such as law review articles, the approach is slightly different. In this context, full case names are generally not underlined or italicized in the main text. Instead, they are presented in ordinary plain text. For example, in a law review article, the case name "Alderson v. Fatlan" would not be italicized or underlined.
It is worth noting that case names appearing in footnotes or as part of a grammatically constructed sentence within academic legal writing should be italicized. This includes the "v." and procedural phrases associated with the case. For instance, in the sentence "One noteworthy pre-Brown case was Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948)...", the case name "Shelley v. Kraemer" is italicized as it is part of the sentence's grammar.
Additionally, when using the short form of case citations in academic legal writing, italics are typically used. For example, when citing "Sabine Towing & Transp. Co. v. Zapata Ugland Drilling, Inc. (In re M/V Vulcan), 553 F.2d 489 (5th Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 855 (1977)", the case name "Sabine Towing & Transp. Co. v. Zapata Ugland Drilling, Inc." would be italicized.
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Case names in introductory signals
According to the Bluebook Legal Citation guide, introductory signals appear at the beginning of citation sentences and indicate how a cited authority relates to the text. This relation could be supportive, comparative, or contradictory. Introductory signals also inform the reader of the inferential degree between the text and the cited source.
There are six supporting signals, with "See", "See also", and "E.g." being the most frequently used. "See" is used when the cited authority clearly supports a proposition, but there is an inferential step between the stated proposition and the cited authority. "See also" is used to cite additional materials and authority that support a proposition when other authorities have already been cited using either "See" or no signal. "E.g." is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase "exempli gratia", meaning "good example".
"Compare" is used to offer a comparison between two or more cited authorities, while "Cf." may be used to compare a single authority with the textual proposition. "Contra" is used when the cited authority directly states a contradictory proposition.
Case names appearing in footnotes should be italicized when they are grammatically part of the sentence. The main body text of law review articles should be in ordinary typeface, except for case names, which should be italicized.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, case names are italicized in the main body text of a law review article. However, case names in footnotes are only italicized when they are grammatically part of the sentence.
The Bluebook is a style guide that provides rules and guidelines for legal citation. It covers various aspects of legal writing, including typeface conventions and citation formats for different types of legal documents.
The basic format for citing a case depends on factors such as jurisdiction, court, and type of case. Generally, a case citation includes the full case name (which may be italicized or underlined), the court, the year the case was decided, and the relevant reporter information.
