Legal Citation Abbreviations
87 abbreviations · part of Legal Abbreviations
Abbreviations used in legal citation, mainly following The Bluebook: case reporters such as U.S., F.3d and A.3d, statutory and regulatory sources such as U.S.C. and C.F.R., and citation signals and history phrases such as Id., supra, aff'd and cert. denied. A reporter abbreviation sits between a volume number and a page number (347 U.S. 483), so knowing what each reporter covers tells a reader which court decided a case and roughly when. Leading English law report series are included as well.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A.2d | Atlantic Reporter, Second Series | The Atlantic Reporter's second series, covering appellate decisions from the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states between 1938 and 2010. |
| A.3d | Atlantic Reporter, Third Series | Regional reporter for ten northeastern and mid-Atlantic jurisdictions: Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey… |
| A.D.3d | Appellate Division Reports, Third Series | Official reports of decisions of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, the state's intermediate appellate court; the third series began in 2003. |
| A.L.R. | American Law Reports | Annotated reporter, now published by Thomson Reuters, that selects a leading case on a narrow issue and adds a lengthy annotation surveying how courts nationwide have… |
| AC | Appeal Cases | Series of the Law Reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, covering decisions of the UK Supreme Court, the former House of… |
| aff'd | Affirmed | Subsequent-history phrase showing that a higher court affirmed the decision being cited, followed by the citation of the affirming decision, as in "aff'd, 99 F.3d 1… |
| aff'g | Affirming | Prior-history phrase used when citing an appellate decision to show which lower-court decision it affirmed, as in "aff'g 300 F. |
| All ER | All England Law Reports | Commercial English law report series published by LexisNexis, originally Butterworths, since 1936, covering significant decisions of the UK Supreme Court, Court of… |
| Am. Jur. 2d | American Jurisprudence, Second Edition | Comprehensive legal encyclopedia published by Thomson Reuters that summarizes American state and federal law in alphabetically arranged topics such as Contracts… |
| amend. | Amendment | Shortened form of "amendment" in constitutional citations, followed by a Roman numeral, as in "U.S. |
| art. | Article | Abbreviation for an article of a constitution, treaty or uniform code in citations, as in "U.S. |
| Ass'n | Association | Bluebook Table T6 abbreviation for "Association" in case names and citations, using an apostrophe in place of omitted letters. |
| B.R. | Bankruptcy Reporter | Bankruptcy decisions from the US bankruptcy courts, bankruptcy appellate panels and district courts fill this West reporter, begun in 1979 when the Bankruptcy Code took… |
| C.F.R. | Code of Federal Regulations | Codification of the general and permanent rules issued by federal executive agencies, organized into 50 titles by subject, such as Title 21 (Food and Drugs) and Title… |
| C.J.S. | Corpus Juris Secundum | National legal encyclopedia published by West that states general principles of American law by topic, with footnotes to supporting cases. |
| Cal. 5th | California Reports, Fifth Series | Official reports of the California Supreme Court, published under the direction of the state's Reporter of Decisions; the fifth series began with opinions issued in 2016. |
| Cal. App. 5th | California Appellate Reports, Fifth Series | Official reports of published California Court of Appeal opinions; the fifth series began in 2016. |
| Cal. Rptr. 3d | California Reporter, Third Series | West reporter for California appellate decisions, covering the California Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal and the appellate divisions of the superior courts. |
| cert. denied | Certiorari denied | Subsequent-history phrase showing that the US Supreme Court declined to review the cited decision. |
| cert. granted | Certiorari granted | Citation phrase showing that the US Supreme Court has agreed to review the cited decision, which therefore remains open to reversal. |
| cl. | Clause | Pinpoint for a clause of a constitutional provision, used after the article and section, as in "U.S. |
| cmt. | Comment | Citation abbreviation for an official comment accompanying a section of a Restatement, uniform act, model code or the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. |
| Cnty. | County | Table T6 abbreviation for "County" in case names and citations, frequent in suits involving county governments, sheriffs, school districts and local officials. |
| Comm'n | Commission | Table T6 form for "Commission" in case names, as when an agency name such as the Federal Election Commission appears in a citation. |
| Comm'r | Commissioner | Shortened form of "Commissioner" in case names, most often seen in federal tax cases, where the government party is the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. |
| Cong. Rec. | Congressional Record | Official record of the proceedings and debates of the US Congress, published daily when either chamber is in session and later in a permanently paginated bound edition. |
| et seq. | Et sequentes (and the following) | Signals that a citation refers to a section and those that follow it, typically to cite an entire statute or chapter, as in "42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq." for Title VII of… |
| F. | Federal Reporter | West reporter publishing decisions of the federal courts of appeals; its first series, cited simply as F., covers 1880 to 1924 and also printed many opinions of the old… |
| F. App'x | Federal Appendix | Printed collection of "unpublished" or nonprecedential opinions of the federal courts of appeals, issued by West from 2001 until it ceased publication in 2021. |
| F. Cas. | Federal Cases | Thirty-volume compilation published by West in the 1890s gathering lower federal court decisions from 1789 to 1880. |
| F. Supp. | Federal Supplement | West reporter for selected decisions of the US district courts, created in 1932 so that trial-court opinions would no longer be mixed with appellate cases in the… |
| F. Supp. 2d | Federal Supplement, Second Series | Selected US district court opinions from 1998 to 2014 fill this second series of West's Federal Supplement, which ran to 999 volumes. |
| F. Supp. 3d | Federal Supplement, Third Series | Current series of the Federal Supplement, begun in 2014, publishing selected opinions of the US district courts. |
| F.2d | Federal Reporter, Second Series | Covering federal appellate decisions from 1924 to 1993 in 999 volumes, this series also printed opinions of specialized courts such as the Court of Customs and Patent… |
| F.3d | Federal Reporter, Third Series | Third series of West's Federal Reporter, publishing precedential opinions of the US courts of appeals from 1993 until 2021, when it closed at volume 999. |
| F.4th | Federal Reporter, Fourth Series | Current series of West's Federal Reporter, which began in 2021 after F.3d reached volume 999. |
| F.R.D. | Federal Rules Decisions | Specialized West reporter, begun in 1940, that publishes federal district court opinions interpreting the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure, along… |
| Fed. Cl. | Federal Claims Reporter | Reporter of opinions from the United States Court of Federal Claims, covering government contract disputes, bid protests, takings, military pay and vaccine injury cases. |
| Fed. R. App. P. | Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure | Rules governing appeals in the US courts of appeals, including deadlines for notices of appeal, the format and length of briefs, oral argument and rehearing. |
| Fed. R. Civ. P. | Federal Rules of Civil Procedure | Rules governing civil lawsuits in US district courts, from pleadings and joinder through discovery, trial and judgment, cited in this form in briefs and opinions. |
| Fed. R. Crim. P. | Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure | Rules governing federal criminal prosecutions, from complaints, arrests and grand jury proceedings through pleas, discovery, trial and sentencing. |
| Fed. R. Evid. | Federal Rules of Evidence | Rules governing what evidence is admissible in federal court proceedings, covering relevance, character evidence, privileges, witnesses, expert testimony, hearsay and… |
| Fed. Reg. | Federal Register | Daily publication of the US government, issued each business day since March 14, 1936, that prints proposed rules, final rules, agency notices and presidential… |
| H.R. Rep. | House Report | Committee report of the US House of Representatives accompanying a bill, explaining its purpose, section-by-section effect and the committee's reasoning. |
| I.R.C. | Internal Revenue Code | Body of federal tax law codified as Title 26 of the United States Code, covering income, estate, gift, employment and excise taxes. |
| Id. | Idem (the same) | Short-form citation pointing to the authority cited immediately before, used to avoid repeating a full citation. |
| infra | Infra (below) | Internal cross-reference showing that material appears later in the same document, as in "see infra Part III" or "infra note 40". |
| L. Ed. | Lawyers' Edition | Unofficial reporter of Supreme Court decisions, originally published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing and now by LexisNexis, covering every case from the Court's… |
| L. Rev. | Law Review | Element of law journal titles in citations, as in Harv. |
| L.J. | Law Journal | Element of law journal titles in citations, as in Yale L.J. for the Yale Law Journal or Duke L.J. for the Duke Law Journal. |
| LEXIS | Lexis citation | Database citation format for decisions available on the LexisNexis service, giving the year, a database name and a document number, as in 2023 U.S. |
| M.J. | Military Justice Reporter | West reporter, begun in 1975, that publishes decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the military services' Courts of Criminal Appeals… |
| mem. | Memorandum decision | Citation abbreviation marking a decision issued without a full opinion, or with only a brief unsigned explanation, as in "aff'd mem., 400 U.S. 1 (1970)". |
| n. | Note | Refers to a footnote or endnote in a citation or index, usually combined with a page number, as in "p. 45 n. 3." Indexes use it to show that a topic is discussed only… |
| N.E.3d | North Eastern Reporter, Third Series | Current series of West's North Eastern Reporter, covering appellate decisions from Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio and the New York Court of Appeals. |
| N.W.2d | North Western Reporter, Second Series | Upper Midwest appellate decisions from Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin appear in this series, begun in 1941 after the… |
| N.Y.3d | New York Reports, Third Series | Official reports of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court; the third series began in 2003. |
| N.Y.S.3d | New York Supplement, Third Series | West reporter covering decisions of New York's appellate courts and selected trial courts, including the Court of Appeals, the Appellate Division and the Supreme Court… |
| P.2d | Pacific Reporter, Second Series | Pacific Reporter series covering western state appellate decisions from 1931 to 2000. |
| P.3d | Pacific Reporter, Third Series | Fifteen western states' appellate decisions appear in this West reporter: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico… |
| Pub. L. | Public Law | Designation for a federal statute of general application, numbered by Congress and order of enactment, so Pub. |
| reh'g | Rehearing | Citation abbreviation in phrases such as "reh'g denied" and "reh'g en banc granted", showing that a court was asked to reconsider its own decision. |
| rev'd | Reversed | Subsequent-history phrase showing that a higher court reversed the decision being cited, as in "rev'd, 550 U.S. 1 (2007)". |
| Rev. Proc. | Revenue Procedure | Official IRS statement of procedures affecting taxpayers' rights or duties, such as how to request a ruling, make an election or qualify for a safe harbor. |
| Rev. Rul. | Revenue Ruling | Official IRS interpretation of how the tax law applies to a specific set of facts, published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin. |
| S. Ct. | Supreme Court Reporter | Unofficial reporter of Supreme Court decisions published by West (Thomson Reuters), covering cases from the October 1882 term onward with editorial headnotes and Key… |
| S.E.2d | South Eastern Reporter, Second Series | Regional reporter series for Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia appellate decisions, begun in 1939 after the first series reached… |
| S.W.2d | South Western Reporter, Second Series | South Western Reporter series covering 1928 to 1999, with appellate decisions from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. |
| S.W.3d | South Western Reporter, Third Series | Appellate decisions from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas appear in this series, begun in 1999. |
| Sec'y | Secretary | Bluebook abbreviation for "Secretary" in case names and citations, common in suits against Cabinet officers and state secretaries of state. |
| slip op. | Slip opinion | Individual opinion released by a court on the day of decision, before it receives a page in a reporter. |
| So. 2d | Southern Reporter, Second Series | Southern Reporter series spanning 1941 to 2008, covering appellate decisions from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. |
| So. 3d | Southern Reporter, Third Series | Covering Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, this West reporter's third series begins with decisions from 2008, after So. 2d closed. |
| Stat. | United States Statutes at Large | Official chronological compilation of every law and concurrent resolution enacted by Congress, along with proclamations and reorganization plans, published by the… |
| supra | Supra (above) | Short-form citation signal showing that a source was fully cited earlier in the document, used for books, articles and legislative materials, as in "Smith, supra note… |
| Treas. Reg. | Treasury Regulation | Regulation issued by the Treasury Department and the IRS interpreting the Internal Revenue Code, published in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations. |
| U.L.A. | Uniform Laws Annotated | West publication collecting the uniform and model acts drafted by the Uniform Law Commission, with the drafters' official comments, lists of adopting states and… |
| U.S. | United States Reports | Official reporter of Supreme Court of the United States decisions, printed by the Government Publishing Office from opinions prepared by the Court's Reporter of… |
| U.S. Const. | United States Constitution | Bluebook form for citing the Constitution of the United States, followed by the article, section and clause or by the amendment number. |
| U.S.C. | United States Code | Official codification of the general and permanent federal statutes, arranged by subject into 54 titles such as Title 18 (Crimes), Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code) and… |
| U.S.C.A. | United States Code Annotated | Thomson Reuters (West) edition of the federal code that adds case annotations, cross-references to West Key Numbers, and historical and statutory notes under each… |
| U.S.C.S. | United States Code Service | LexisNexis's annotated edition of the federal code, first published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing as a companion to the Lawyers' Edition of Supreme Court reports. |
| U.S.L.W. | United States Law Week | Weekly legal publication from Bloomberg Industry Group, formerly BNA, issued since 1933, that reports new Supreme Court opinions, orders and docket activity along with… |
| v. | Versus | Separates the names of opposing parties in a case name, as in Brown v. |
| Vet. App. | Veterans Appeals Reporter | Decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims fill this West reporter, covering disability compensation, service connection, effective dates and… |
| WL | Westlaw | Database citation format for court decisions available on Thomson Reuters' Westlaw service but not printed in a reporter. |
| WLR | Weekly Law Reports | English law report series published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting since 1953, appearing quickly in weekly parts. |