LibGuides: SOCW 5014: Law & Ethics in Social Work: Citing Sources

Citing Legal Sources in APA Style

In Text Citations

Any time a law or a court case is mentioned in the text of a paper, include an appropriate “in-text citation” (usually in parentheses). For court cases, that includes the main party names as well as the year – e.g. (Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965). For laws (statutes), the preferred form includes the name of the law and the year – e.g. (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974). The APA style manual indicates anything cited in the text should also have a complete listing in the References list.

Court cases:

(Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965)

For court cases, in the text include party name v. party name and the year.

Statutes (named):

(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010)

(Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974)

For statutes (bills passed by Congress or a state legislature and signed into law), in the text of your paper list the name of the law and the year. The name of the law can sometimes be found at the beginning of the bill as signed into a law and/or the beginning of the appropriate section of the codified version. The year is sometimes included in the law's name.

Statutes (no name):

(18 U.S.C. § 2258)

It is not always possible to find the name of a law, especially if the citation is to the codified version (published in the U.S. Code or one of the California / state codes). To cite existing law without a name, often a section of the USC or a California code, some authors simply include the legal citation in the text, e.g. (18 U.S.C. § 2258), and omit the entry from the References list.

References List format:

Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)

Example Entries:

Christopher S. v. Stanislaus County Office of Education, 384 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir., 2004)
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
People v. Stockton Pregnancy Control Medical Clinic, 203 Cal. App. 3d 225 (Cal. App. 3d 1988)
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (Cal. 1976)

Part of the legal citation for a court case:

volume #
Reporter Abbreviation
page number

Example:

384 = volume 384
F.3d = Federal Supplement 3rd Series
225 = page 225

Note: The issuing court abbreviation is not always included (especially for Supreme and Appellate Court cases).

Reporters and Legal Citations:

Reporters:

Federal and state supreme and appellate court decisions are usually gathered from the official court releases, and reprinted in commercial sources known as "reporters." Each reporter will provide a "legal citation" to a case, which usually includes a volume or year, reporter abbreviation, and a page number.

140 P. 3d 775 - California supreme court case republished in the 3rd series of the Pacific Reporter (P. 3d), in volume 140 and starting on page 775.

References List format:

Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)

Example Entries:

Christopher S. v. Stanislaus County Office of Education, 384 F.3d 1205 (9th Cir., 2004)
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)

Issuing Court:
Use abbreviations for court that issued ruling (Skip this if you are unable to find the abbreviation but be sure to include the year.)

U.S. Supreme Court = U.S.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the nth Circuit = 1st Cir., 2nd Cir., etc.
U.S. District Court for California

Central District of California = C.D. Cal.
Eastern District of California = E.D. Cal.
Northern District of California = N.D. Cal.
Southern District of California = S.D. Cal.

References List format:
Party v. Party, Legal Citation (Issuing court abbreviation year)/

Example Entries:

People v. Stockton Pregnancy Control Medical Clinic, 203 Cal. App. 3d 225 (Cal. App. 3d 1988)
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14 (Cal. 1976).

Notes:

Party names are displayed at top of court opinion in legal research tools like Lexis or Westlaw. (If the list of party names is overly long, often only the first name or institution is used.)
Legal Citation = volume # Reporter Abbreviation starting page #
Issuing Court: Abbreviation for court that issued ruling (Skip this if you are unable to find the abbreviation but be sure to include the year.)

Abbreviations for Issuing Courts in California:

California Supreme Court = Cal.
Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District = Cal. 1d.
Court of Appeal of California, First Appellate District = Cal. 2d.
Court of Appeal of California, Third Appellate District = Cal. 3d.

Format for in-text citations:

Name of the law, year

If the name of the law is not available, some authors use the Legal Citation (e.g. to the US Code section) only:

# U.S.C. § #

Examples for in-text citations:

(Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974)

(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010)

:(18 U.S.C. § 2258).

References list:

Format 1 – law name with US Code citation
Name of law, title # U.S.C. § section #.
Example Entry:
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, 42 USC §§5101–5106.

Format 2 – law name with Public Law and/or Statutes at Large information included
Name of law, Pub. L. ##-##, volume Stat. page, codified as amended at title U.S.C. § section #.
Example Entry:
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, Pub. L. 93-247, 88 Stat. 4, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§5101–5106.

Format 1 - Code (usually preferred format, using citation to California Codes):
Name of law (if available), State Abbreviation Code Abbreviation § section number(s) (Year if available).
Example Entry:
Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, Cal. Penal Code § 11164 et seq.

Format 2 – Bill/Chapter (use if new law updates many code sections instead of one):
Name of law, State Abbreviation Branch (Assemb. or S.) Bill number, Chapter number (Cal. Stat. Year).
Example Entry:
California Fostering Connections to Success Act, Cal. Assemb. B. 12 (2010-2011), Chapter 559 (Cal. Stat. 2010).

Common Legal Citations

This table defines U.S. Supreme Court citations.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
US	546 U.S. 189	U.S. Supreme Court opinions	United States Reports
Sup. Ct.	127 S. Ct. 2738	U.S. Supreme Court opinions	Supreme Court Reports

This table defines citations for other federal cases.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
F. F. 2d. F. 3d.	22 F. 354	U.S. Appellate Court opinions	Federal Reporter (2nd series) (3rd series)
F. Supp. F. Supp. 2d. F. Supp. 3d.	246 F. Supp. 780	U.S. District Court opinions	Federal Supplement (2nd series) (3rd series)

This table defines citations for California cases.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
Cal. Cal. 2d.	39 Cal. 4th 970	California Supreme Court opinions	California Reports (2nd series)
P. P. 2d.	140 P. 3d 775	State supreme court opinions - western states (including CA)	Pacific Reporter (2nd series)
Cal. Rptr. Cal. Rptr. 2d.	47 Cal. Rptr. 3d 467	California Supreme and Appellate Court opinions	California Reporter (2nd series)
Cal. App. Cal. App. 2d. Cal. App. 3d. Cal. App. 4th.	39 Cal. App. 4th 970	California Appellate Court opinions	California Appellate Reports (2nd series) (3rd series) (4th series)

This table defines citations for federal statutes.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
USC	42 USC § 5106	Codified statutes	United States Code
USCA	42 USCA § 5106	Codified statutes (with annotations)	United States Code Annotated
Stat.	49 Stat. 153	Statutes as written when passed into law	United States Statutes at large

This table defines citations for federal regulations.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
FR	49 FR 10395	Proposed or final new regulations	Federal Register
CFR	8 CFR § 327.35	Codified regulations	Code of Federal Regulations

This table defines citations for California statutes.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
Educ. Code	Educ. Code § 3423	Codified Statutes	California Codes
Cal. Edu. Code	CAL Edu. Code § 3423	Codified Statutes with Annotations	Deering's California Codes

This table defines citations for California regulations.
Abbreviation	Example	Type	Source
Cal. Reg. Notice Register	2003 Cal. Reg. Notice Register 685	Proposed regulations	California Regulatory Notice Register
CCR	8 CCR § 327.35	Codified regulations	California Code of Regulations

This table defines citations for secondary sources.
Abbreviation	Type	Source
Cal. Jur.	California law by topic	California Jurisprudence
CJS	Federal law by topic	Corpus Juris Secundum
L. Rev.	Law review article	Harvard Law Review

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