COMMON BLUEBOOK CITATION ERRORS    

Prof. D. A. Hughes                                                                 Capital University Law School

1.  Do not capitalize all of the letters in a case name.        (B5.1.1 & Rule 10.2)

2.  Underline or italicize case names in textual sentences.  (B5.1.1 & Rule 10.2)  

3.  Do not use a capital "C" in the word "court" unless you are referring to the U.S.
     Supreme Court, writing out the whole name of a court as a proper noun, or
     referring to the court to which the specific document will be submitted.
                                                                                      (B10.6.1 & Rule 8)     

4.  Provide a pinpoint cite for every legal assertion.         (B5.1.2 & Rule 3.2(a))

5. Do not use id. when there has been an intervening citation.  (B5.2 & Rule 4.1)

6.  Use a "short-form" citation when there has been an intervening cite.
                                                                                   (B5.2 & Rule 4.1)

7.  Do not use supra or infra with primary authority.     (Rule 4.2)

8.  Quotations of 50 or more words must be single-spaced, indented,
     and justified on both left and right sides.  Do not include quotation marks
     in such "block quotes."  When citing to the source of the block quote,
     skip a line and put the cite at the left margin.        (Rule 5.1)

9.  Use  brackets when altering a quotation to fit your sentence.    (Rule 5.2)

10.  Do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quotation.       (Rule 5.3)

11.  Close up free-standing capital letters (and 2d & 3d) in citations  (Rule 6.1(a))

12.  Use the section symbol in citations but not as the first "word" in a citation
       sentence.                                                           (Rules 3.3 & 6.2(c))

13.  Abbreviate case names correctly--first in textual sentences
       and then further in citations.                         (Rules 10.2.1 &10.2.2)

14.  Include the court and jurisdiction in a full case citation (except where
       unambiguously conveyed by other abbreviations).    (Rule 10.4)

15.  Include the date (year) of decision in a case citation.   (Rule 10.5)

16.  Always give the required subsequent history of a case in the first full
       citation to that case.                      (Rule 10.7)

17.  Cite to statutes through current code if possible.    (Rule 12.2.1)

18.  Include the date (year) in the first full citation to a code section.  (Rule 12.3.2)  

19.  Cite to administrative materials in the current administrative code if possible.
                                                                                                      (Rule 14.2)

20.  Citations to a treatise or a book require the author's name as it appears
       on the publication.                         (Rule 15.1)

21.  For "signed" law reviews, use the author's name as it appears on the
       publication.                                    (Rule 16.1)

22.  "The Bluebook requires the use and citation of traditional printed sources
       unless (1) the information cited is unavailable in a traditional printed source;
       or (2) a copy of the source cannot be located because it is so obscure that
       it is practically unavailable."         (Rule 18 (emphasis omitted))

23.  When citing to online materials, citations to Westlaw and Lexis are preferred
       to other sources.                 (Rule 18.1)

24.  Note, however, that even when you are using Lexis or Westlaw, the format
      for various citations is still requires references to the printed sources when
      possible. In practical terms this means that we now only use individual Westlaw
      or Lexis numbers with unreported cases.              (Rule 18.1.1)