In legal citation terminology, the “reporter” is the volume of books in which the court decision is printed. This will be the alphabetic abbreviation in the middle of the citation. You will need to get used to some of the most common ones, and be able to look up the rest.For the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the reporters will be either the official United States Reporter, abbreviated as U.S.; the Supreme Court Reporter, abbreviated as S.Ct.; or the Lawyer’s Edition reporter, abbreviated as L.Ed. In most law libraries, these volumes will generally appear near each other.
For decisions from lower federal courts, including the Circuit Courts of Appeal and some Federal District Courts, the reporters will likely be the Federal Reporter, abbreviated F., or F.2d or F.3rd, or the Federal Supplement Reporter, abbreviated F.Supp.
For decisions of the highest court of most states, the reporter will often be some abbreviation of the state’s name. For example, the reporter for the highest court in Massachusetts is Mass.; the reporter for the highest court in New York is N.Y.S.; the reporter for the highest court in California is Cal.;
, Some reporters have reached the point where they decided to start their numbering system over again. In these cases, they start a new series of volumes and call it the “2nd Series” or “3rd Series” or even “4th Series.” The reference to “2nd,” “3rd,” or “4th,” as appropriate, will appear immediately following the abbreviation of the name of the reporter.For example, the highest court in California is up to the 4th Series, so the reporter name will appear as “Cal.,” “Cal. 2nd,” “Cal. 3rd,” or “Cal. 4th.” You must make note of the proper series number, if there is one, or you will find the wrong information.
 The number that leads off the legal citation is the volume number within the named reporter.For example, if you have a legal citation of “384 U.S. 436,” the number 384 tells you that you want volume 384 of the United States Reporter.
If you have a citation of “42 Cal. 4th 254,” the number 42 tells you that you want volume 42 of the 4th Series of the California Reporter.
 The page number will be the number that immediately follows the reporter abbreviation. If there is a series reference, then the page number will immediately follow the series reference.For example, in the citation “384 U.S. 436,” you are looking for a case that begins on page 436 in volume 384 of the United States Reporter.
In the citation “42 Cal. 4th 254,” you are looking for a case that begins on page 254 of volume 42 of the 4th Series of the California Reporter.
 Sometimes, a legal citation to a court decision will include an extra number at the end, separated by a comma. This is a reference to a page within the written decision, leading you directly to the page where a quotation or reference can be found.For example, if your citation reads “384 U.S. 436, 440,” the specific quotation or reference you are looking for will appear on page 440. The decision actually began on page 436 of volume 384 of the U.S. Reporter.
If your citation reads “42 Cal. 4th 254, 260,” the specific quotation or reference you are looking for will begin on page 260, of a case that began on page 254 of volume 42 of the 4th Series of the California Reporter.
 Some states do not have a reporter designated to that state alone. For those states, the written decisions of the state’s highest court, as well as some lower courts, will be printed in what is called a regional reporter. This is a series of books that cover a region of the United States. There are seven different regional reporters.The Atlantic Reporter and Atlantic Reporter 2nd and 3rd Series are abbreviated A., A.2nd, and A3rd, respectively, and include decisions from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.The Northeastern Reporter and Northeastern Reporter 2nd Series are abbreviated N.E. and N.E.2nd, respectively, and include decisions from Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio.The Northwestern Reporter and Northwestern Reporter 2nd Series are abbreviated N.W. and N.W.2nd, respectively, and include decisions from Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin.The Pacific Reporter and Pacific Reporter 2nd and 3rd Series are abbreviated P., P.2nd, and P.3rd, respectively, and include decisions from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.The Southeastern Reporter and Southeastern Reporter 2nd Series are abbreviated S.E. and S.E.2nd, respectively, and include decisions from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.The Southwestern Reporter and Southwestern Reporter 2nd and 3rd Series are abbreviated S.W., S.W.2nd, and S.W.3rd, respectively, and include decisions from Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas.The Southern Reporter and Southern Reporter 2nd and 3rd Series are abbreviated So., So.2nd, and So.3rd, respectively, and include decisions from Alabama. Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi., For reports of court decisions, the date of the case will appear in parentheses at the end of the citation. The actual printing date of the book in which the case appears is considered irrelevant for most uses.


An example is the case of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). This case is often referred to even today, but regardless of what current publication may print a reference to it, the date is always 1966, which is when it was decided.
 When you are reading citation references to individual laws or statutes that have been passed by the U.S. Congress, you will look for the abbreviation U.S.C.
 Each state will have its own name for its set of laws. Some states will have more than one, with a separate code for separate types of laws.


For example, the laws of the state of Maryland are reported in the Maryland Code Annotated, which is abbreviated Md. Code Ann.
The laws of the state of Missouri are reported in the Missouri Revised Statutes, which is abbreviated Mo. Rev. Stat.
 Most sets of statutes are subdivided by topic or category. These subdivisions are usually referred to as either “Titles” or “chapters.” Some states may use other designations.


The United States Code is subdivided into Titles, which are arranged by subject. The first number in a citation to the U.S. Code is the title number. For example, a reference to 20 U.S.C. §1681 refers to Title 20 of the United States Code.
In Massachusetts, the laws are subdivided into chapters, so you may have a reference to M.G.L. (Massachusetts General Laws), c.209, sec. 12. This will be chapter 209.
 Usually the final number in the statutory citation will be the specific section number for the law that is being referenced.


For the U.S.Code, the citation will look like, 20 U.S.C. §1681. The § symbol stands for the word “section.” In this case, it indicates that you are looking for section 1681 within title 20 of the U.S. Code., Some states will have only a section number, which may be divided into multiple parts. These parts will indicate further subdivisions, which the state may call chapter, title, article, section, or something else. Each state has its own system of categorizing its laws.


For example, a statute in Indiana will be referred to as “Ind. Code (Indiana Code) §26-1-1-101.” This means that within the Indiana Code, the laws are broken up into multiple parts. This particular reference is to Title 26, Chapter 1, Article 1, Section 101.A statute in Alabama, for example, will appear as AL Code, §10-5-2. These numbers refer to Title 10, Chapter 5, Section 2., Each state uses a different system, and the title or chapter numbers from one state do not mean the same thing in another state.


For example, Title 10 in Alabama is about Corporations, Partnerships and Associations, while Title 10 in Indiana refers to laws about Public Safety.
Identify the name of the reporter.
Look for a series reference after the reporter abbreviation.
Identify the volume number.
Find the page number.
Look at the additional page number for a specific reference within a case.
Learn to identify regional reporters as well.
Find the date of publication at the end of the citation.
Recognize the United States Code as the source of federal statutes.
Look for each state’s individual abbreviation for its laws.
Find the Title or Chapter number, if one is given.
Find the section number of federal laws at the end of the citation.
Be flexible when reading citations to state laws.
Understand that each state has its own system of subdividing its statutes.
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