Citing Legal Documents - Assignment

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The Elements of a Legal Citation

Name:

Please complete the following assignments during your library session. You may complete the assignments in any order.

1. CITING LEGAL CASES

In the course of your legal research, you will see individual court cases cited in a specific format. An example is as follows:

Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)

For this case, identify each of the elements in the case citation.
Miranda refers to the:
Arizona refers to the:
384 refers to the:
U.S. refers to the:
436 refers to the:
1966 refers to the:

Using the FindLaw website, locate the Roe v. Wade decision and write the complete citation.


2. CITING STATUTES

Statutes are also cited in the legal literature using a similar format. An example is as follows:

Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. c.15A S. 22

Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. refers to the:
c.15A refers to the:
S.22 refers to the:

What issue does this statute address?:

For a detailed explanation of the rules of legal citation you can go to the following website at Cornell University:

http://www.law.corn ell.edu/citation/citation.table.html

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (1999-2000 ed.)

HOW TO CITE JOURNAL MATERIAL by Peter W. Martin


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Last updated January 30, 2001

Last reviewed January 30, 2001