What about states?

State statute citation follows similar principles to federal statute citation, but may look very different.

Check out the state's entry in T1.3 to determine the right way to cite the statute.

What year?

The Bluebook requires you to provide the year your source was published. This can be a little tricky to find, especially if you access the statute through Lexis or Westlaw.

If you are citing to the official United States Code, you should know that it is only published every six years. To figure out what year the last official version was published, visit the Office of Law Revision Counsel's website.

If you are citing to the USCS on Lexis Advance, you can find what date the online database is current through by clicking the "i" icon next to the name of the source and looking for information under "coverage."

Similarly, if you are citing to the USCA on Westlaw, scroll down to the very bottom of the page to see a message like "Current through P.L. 112-3 approved 2-25-11"

In reality, you will usually be able to list the current year in your citations to Lexis and Westlaw. Just pay special attention in January and February.

Additional help with the bluebook

Blue Tips
Provides tips on using the Bluebook, from the Bluebook's official webpage www.legalbluebook.com.
Bluebook Guide: Introduction
A LibGuide created by the Georgetown Law Library which introduces The Bluebook and basic concepts of legal citation to new law students.
Cornell's LII: Basic Legal Citation (online) The online book was recently revised in the summer of 2016 to reflect the release of a new, free citation guide, The Indigo Book, and the publication of The Supreme Court's Style Guide. Like all prior revisions this one also included a thorough review of the relevant rules of appellate practice of federal and state courts, and the latest edition of The Bluebook, released in 2015. It is linked to the new Indigo Book. As has been true of all editions released since 2010, it is also indexed to the The Bluebook and the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation.
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Importantly, however, it documents the many respects in which contemporary legal writing, very often following guidelines set out in court rules or style guides, diverges from the citation formats specified by those academic texts. The current online format, released in early 2016, was created with the assistance of a team of students enrolled in a graduate software engineering course at Cornell.

The content of this guide is also available in three e-book formats: 1) a PDF version that can be printed out in whole or part and also used with hyperlink navigation on an iPad or other tablet, indeed, on any computer (Be aware that not all PDF readers allow the user to follow links. You'll want one, like Adobe's, which does.); 2) a version designed specifically for use on the full range of Kindles as well as other ereaders or apps using the Mobi format; and 3) a version in ePub format for ereaders or apps that work with it. To access any of them, select “eBooks” at the top of the page. (Over 50,000 copies of the 2015 edition were downloaded.)

Since the guide is online, its further revision is not tied to a rigid publication cycle. Any user seeing a need for clarification, correction, or other improvement is encouraged to “speak up.” What doesn't work, isn't clear, is missing, appears to be in error? Has a change occurred in one of the fifty states that should be reported? Comments of these and other kinds can be sent by email addressed to peter.martin@cornell.edu. (Please include "Citation" in the subject line.) Many of the features and some of the coverage of this reference are the direct result of past user questions and advice.

Interactive Citation Workbook for The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citiation by Tracy L. McGaugh, Christine Hurt
Call Number: KF245 .M34 2010
This book, available in the Law Library's Practical Skills collection, will help you learn Bluebook citation. It is especially helpful when used with Lexis' Interactive Citation Workstation.

Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
Lexis provides an interactive citation workshop which can be accessed by selecting the left topmost drop down menu and picking "Interactive Citation Workstation."
This subscription is available by login and password and limited to College of Law students and Faculty.

Recent College of Law faculty publications
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View the most recent accomplishments, including publications and citations, of College of Law faculty in this area of law.

Statute citation: B12

The statute citation rules in the bluepages start at B12 on page 18 of your bluebook. Statutes, rules, and regulations all follow a similar citation format.

Follow the step by step instructions below to create a citation to a federal statute.

Full Citation: B 12.1

Let's start by assuming you are citing to an entire federal statute as codified in the U.S. Code. To learn more about how laws are published, see this description from the Library of Congress.

Example: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675 (2012).

created from this:

TITLE 42. THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
CHAPTER 103. COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND LIABILITY
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES, LIABILITY, COMPENSATION

42 USCS § 9601

A full citation has three elements:

the official name of the act
the published source in which the act may be found:
1. the Bluepages encourage you to cite to the current official code, see T1 to find the recommended source and the correct abbreviation
2. U.S. Code citation follows the form: (title number) U.S.C. § (section number). Note that you leave out the chapter number.
a parenthetical indicating the year the source was published (see the sidebar on this page)

Just citing to a particular section of the code? You can drop the name of the act: 42 U.S.C. § 9601 (2012).

USCA and USCS

In legal research, you learned that annotated codes are a very helpful research tool. Indeed, it is very rewarding to use an annotated code...until it comes time to cite it.

According to the Bluebook, you really should cite to the official U.S. Code, published every six years and available for free online in its official version in a couple of places: FDSys, Office of Law Revision Counsel.

What if you're going to skip that and cite to the annotated code anyway?

Give the correct abbreviation for the code and include the name of the publisher in the parenthetical with the year.- B12.1.1

ex. 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (West 2012).

The same rule applies to unofficial state codes. Look at T1 for more information on what's official and unofficial in your state.

Short form citation: B 12.2

When can you use a short form? If you have already provided a full citation to the authority, you can switch to a short form for later citations if the full citation falls in the same general discussion, for example in the legislative history subsection of the argument section of your appellate brief, and if the reader will be able to tell what authority you're referring to, and find the full citation for herself. When in doubt, give the full citation.

Three basic short forms for statutes:

Title Number, Abbreviated Code Name, and Section Number. Example: 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Section Number. Example: § 1983
Id. (use only when referring to the immediately preceding authority)

Rule 12.2 points you to R12.10 for more guidance on short forms for statutes. Remember, when you are applying a rule from the whitepages, you must always follow the typeface conventions for non-academic legal documents. See B1.

UIUC Bluebook LibGuide