Learning to cite a law can seem like cracking a secret code, but a proper legal citation is actually a clear map that guides your reader straight to the exact statute you’re talking about, and it’s all about clarity and credibility, basically. Let’s get this straight, so to speak, and take the mystery out of citing both federal and state laws.
Citing Federal Laws: The United States Code
Most of the time, when you need to cite a federal law, it’s the US Code you’ll be dealing with – think of it as a really big, very well-organised library of all the current, general, and permanent federal laws. When Congress passes a new law, it eventually gets added to this collection.
To build a citation for a law in the US Code, you need these key pieces of information:
- The Official Name of the Act: The formal name, like the “Americans with Disabilities Act.”
- The Title Number: The U.S.C. is divided into 54 broad subject areas called titles.
- The Abbreviation for the Code: This is “U.S.C.”
- The Section Number: This points to the specific provision within the title, marked with a section symbol (§).
- The Year: The year the code was published, not when the law was enacted or amended.
Quick Tip: You can find the section symbol (§) in your word processor’s insert menu under “special characters.”
Here’s an example in APA style:
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 (1990).
When a law affects loads of consecutive sections, use ‘et seq’ – that’s Latin for ‘and the next bits too’. This lets the reader know that the law keeps on going in the following sections.
When a Law Is Not in the United States Code
But what happens if a law is too new to be included in the US Code or is scattered all over the place in the US Code? In those sorts of cases, you need to use the public law number assigned by Congress. Your citation will also need to include a reference to the United States Statutes at Large, abbreviated ‘Stat’ for short, which is the official record of all the laws that Congress has passed – you’ll also need the volume and page number where the law is to be found.
Here is an example of a public law citation:
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010).
The public law number here (111-148) shows it was the 148th public law from the 111th Congress. This method ensures a reader can find the original text.
Finding the Right Information: A Practical Step
How do you locate the title number or public law number? The best place to start is an official government source, like the GovInfo website or the Office of the Law Revision Counsel’s U.S. Code website. These sites are searchable databases of federal laws. You can search for an act by its popular name, and the results will typically provide the citation directly. These official sites are the most reliable starting point for any federal statute.
How to Cite State Laws and Statutes
Citing state laws follows a similar set of rules as citing federal laws, but there are key differences. Each state has its own way of putting its laws together, which is often called a state statute or a state code. Your citation has to reflect the way the state’s code is organised. Some state codes use chapter numbers rather than title numbers, and the abbreviation for the state code is unique – e.g., ‘Va Code Ann’ is what you usually see for the Code of Virginia, Annotated.
Here’s an example of how to cite a state law:
Tex. Agric. Code Ann. § 12.001 (West 2021).
The “(West 2021)” indicates the publisher of the code and the year, a detail that can vary between state codes.
Pro Tip: When you’re stuck on state codes, using a good citation generator can be a lifesaver. It helps format these tricky sources correctly.
Comparing Major Citation Styles
The way you format your citations for legal sources will depend on the style guide you’re using – while the core info is the same, APA, MLA, and Chicago all have slightly different rules. The differences are mostly about punctuation and the order in which things are done.
| Style | Format for a Federal Statute | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| APA Style | Name of Act, Title Number U.S.C. § Section Number (Year). | Focuses on the name of the act and the year of the code. See this Introduction to APA Style Legal References. |
| MLA Style | Name of the Act. Title Number, United States Code, section Section Number. Year ed. | Italicizes the act’s and code’s names. MLA has guidance on how to cite a state law. |
| Chicago Style | Name of Act, U.S. Code, title Title Number, sec. Section Number (Year). | Uses abbreviations like “sec.” and often uses footnotes. See these Chicago Style legal citation examples. |
Ultimately, why bother learning to cite a law? It’s because the law is a really important foundation of our society, and when we interact with it, we need to do it with precision – each citation is a nod to the authority of the law.
If you have more specific citation questions, exploring resources can provide clarity.