Legal Citation Guide: Statutes

In-text citation: (Name of Act, Year). Every Student Succeeds Act. Reference list: Every Student Succeeds Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2015). chatloading... SkiptoMainContent Itlookslikeyou'reusingInternetExplorer11orolder.ThiswebsiteworksbestwithmodernbrowserssuchasthelatestversionsofChrome,Firefox,Safari,andEdge.Ifyoucontinuewiththisbrowser,youmayseeunexpectedresults. HPULibrariesLibGuidesLegalCitationGuideStatutes SearchthisGuide Search LegalCitationGuide:Statutes OverviewU.S.ConstitutionCaseLawStatutesLawReviewArticles   Statutes (alsocalled'acts')arelawsenactedbylegislativebodies,includingthoseofeachofthefiftystatesortheU.S.Congress.Theselawsarepublished intheU.S.Code,andcanalsobefoundusingHPULibraries'HeinOnlinedatabase. Format AnatomyofaStatuteCitation   Examples:MLAandAPAstyle BecausetheChicagostylefootnoteforstatutesisthesameaswhatisdescribedintheAnatomyofaStatuteCitation exampleabove,thefollowingexamplesfocusonstylesthatuse parentheticalin-textcitations. Referencelist:NameofAct,U.S.CodeTitleNumber §SectionNumber(Year).URL In-textcitation:(NameofAct,Year)   EveryStudentSucceedsAct Referencelist:EveryStudentSucceedsAct,20U.S.C. §6301(2015). congress.gov/114/plaws/publ95/PLAW-114publ95.pdf In-text:(EveryStudentSucceedsAct,2015)   AmericansWithDisabilitiesActof1990 Referencelist:AmericansWithDisabilitiesActof1990,42U.S.C. §12101et.seq.(1990). www.ada.gov/archive/adastat91.htm In-text:(AmericansWithDisabilitiesAct,1990)   (statestatute) FloridaMentalHealthAct Referencelist:FloridaMentalHealthAct,Fla.Stat. §394(1971&rev.2009). www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0394/0394.html In-text:(FloridaMentalHealthAct,1971/2009) TipsandFAQs HowtoreadasectionoftheU.S.Code: Example: 42U.S.C.§ 1981 42 referstothe Title; § 1981 referstothespecific section withinthattitle,notthedate.  Youmayalsobeabletolocateastatutebyitscommonname,suchas"AmericansWithDisabilitiesAct."    Q:ThecodeabbreviationonmydocumentisnotU.S.C.(UnitedStatesCode)? A:Youmayseeabbreviationsforunofficialfederalcodes,suchasthe United StatesCodeAnnotated (U.S.C.A)orthe UnitedStatesCodeService (U.S.C.S.).Therearealsoofficialandunofficialcodesforeachstate (see boxatthebottomofthepage forexamples).   Q:DoIneedtoknowthefullnameofmystatute'scode?  A:No,notunlessyouareanaspiringattorney.Thelistofabbreviationsatthebottomofthispageis justmeanttoclarifyunfamiliarpiecesofyourcitation.   Q.Mystatutehas 'Pub.L.'inthecitation? A.ThislikelymeansthestatutehasnotyetbeenpublishedinacodeliketheU.S.C..Hereishowtociteitasasessionlaw: NameofAct,PublicLawNumber(abbreviated'Pub.L.No.'),SectionNumber,VolumeNumber followedby'Stat.'andthePageNumberoftheAct(YeartheStatutewasPassed). Ex.DepartmentofTransportationAct,Pub.L.No.89-670, §9,80Stat.931 (1966). Nothingisunderlinedinastatutecitation. Omitthedateinparenthesisifthenameofthestatuteincludesitsyearofenactment. Ex.HealthProfessionsEducationExtensionAmendmentsof1992   Onthetreatmentofreferencelist/bibliographyentries: APAandMLAstylebothrequire referencelistentriesandin-textcitationsforstatutes. Whenusingonlyahandfuloflegalcitations,Chicago stylerecommendslimitinglegalcitationstothetextitself,usingnarrativetoincludeinformationthatwouldhavegoneinthe footnotes.However,whenusingseverallegaldocumentsinChicagostyle,supplementwithfootnotes. Chicagostyleonlyrequiresfootnotecitationsforlegaldocuments.Thedocumentsdonotneedtobelistedinthebibliography. CommonAbbreviations §=section §§=sections U.S.C.= UnitedStates Code U.S.C.S.=UnitedStatesCodeService U.S.C.A.= UnitedStatesCodeAnnotated N.C.GEN.STAT.=GeneralStatutesofNorthCarolina N.C.Sess.Laws=SessionLawsofNorthCarolina <>