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Legal resources: Cite Sources

Tips on finding Supreme Court decisions, other case law, law journals, statutes, administrative code and other law related material

Understanding Legal Citations

Examples

U.S. Supreme Court Decision

Roe v. Wade, 410  U.S. 113 (1973)
[name] [vol#] [reporter] [page #case begins] [year of decision]

Federal District Court or Federal Court of Appeals

Edgewater Foundation v. Thompson 350 F.3d 694 (7th Cir. 2003)
[name] [vol#] [reporter] [page# case begins] [court info + year of decision]

State Supreme Court

TV Azteca v. Ruiz 490 S.W.3d 29 (Tex. 2016)
[name] [vol#] [reporter] [page# case begins] [state of case abbreviated + year of decision]

State Cases

Valadez v. Avitia, 238 S.W.3d 843 (Tex.App.-- El Paso 2007)
[name] [vol#] [reporter] [page# case begins] [court info & location + year of decision]

 

Citation Abbreviations

Citation Abbreviation Name of Source Source Location
CFR Code of Federal Regulations (Annual Edition) Online
CJS Corpus Juris Secundum
F Federal Reporter (West) Vol. 1-300 (pub dates: 1880 - 1924)
F.2nd Federal Reporter, second series (West), U.S. Court of Appeals from 1924 - 1993 and the U.S. District Court from 1924 - 1932
F.3rd Federal Reporter, third series (West) (pub dates: 1993 - present)
F.Supp Federal Supplement (West), U.S. District Court (pub dates: 1932 - present)
S.Ct Supreme Court Reporter (West) Online 1882 - 1926; OR In Print, 1883 - 1988
SW South Western Reporter (pub dates: 1887 - 1928) (West)
SW2nd South Western Reporter, second series (pub dates: 1928 - present) (West)
Tex. Code Ann Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated
U.S. United States Reports (official) HeinOnline 1882 - 2013; OR online at supremecourt.gov 1991 - 2016
USC United States Code (official) Online
USCA United States Code Annotated (West)

 

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