To cite a statute, give the name of the act (if there is one), the title or chapter number, the abbreviated name of the code, the section symbol and number, and the year, then adjust the punctuation and order to match MLA, APA, or Bluebook rules. A federal law such as the Clean Air Act, for example, becomes Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (1970) in APA, while Bluebook drops the act name entirely: 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (2018). The style guide you’re writing for decides the exact order.
Comparing MLA, APA, and Bluebook Statute Citations
Most students only need one of these three formats, so start by checking your assignment sheet. The table below lines up the same statute, the Clean Air Act, in each style so you can see how the pieces move.
| Style | General pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| MLA (9th ed.) | Title of Act. Public Law No., volume Stat. page, Year. | Clean Air Act. Pub. L. No. 91-604, 84 Stat. 1676, 1970. |
| APA (7th ed.) | Name of Act, Title source § Section (Year). | Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (1970). |
| Bluebook (Rule 12) | Title # Source § Section (Year). | 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (2018). |
How to Cite a Statute in MLA Style
MLA 9 doesn’t have a dedicated statute rule in the core handbook, so the MLA Style Center recommends treating a law like any other government document: name the governing body, the act, and where it was published. For a federal statute, list the United States as the author, then the act’s title, the public law number, the Statutes at Large volume and page, and the year it was enacted.
Works Cited entry: United States, Congress. Clean Air Act. Public Law 91-604, 31 Dec. 1970. Statutes at Large, vol. 84, 1970, pp. 1676-1713.
Avoid: “Clean Air Act” (1970). Leaving out the public law number and Statutes at Large volume makes the citation impossible to verify.
For a state law, follow the same shape but swap in the state’s official session laws or codified statutes, and check the MLA Style Center’s guidance on citing state laws for the handful of state-specific variations. If you’re building a full Works Cited page, the MLA citation generator can format the entry for you once you have the public law number.
How to Cite a Statute in APA Style
APA 7 does have a dedicated legal reference format, and it’s shorter than MLA’s. The in-text citation is just the act’s short name and year: (Clean Air Act, 1970). The reference list entry adds the codified location: the act’s name, the code volume, the § mark, the year, and a retrievable URL when one exists.
Reference list entry: Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (1970). https://uscode.house.gov/
Avoid: Clean Air Act. (1970). Retrieved from the internet. Skipping the code volume and § mark means a reader can’t locate the actual statute.
APA cites the current, in-force version of the code unless you’re specifically discussing an older or repealed version, in which case add “(current version at…)” after the citation. USC’s library guide has a fuller walkthrough of APA legal reference formatting, and the APA citation generator handles the punctuation for you.
How to Cite a Statute in Bluebook (Legal) Style
Bluebook Rule 12 is what law reviews, court filings, and most law school papers require, and it’s the most compact of the three. A basic Bluebook statute citation has four parts, shown in the table below.
| Part | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Title number | The numbered title of the code (1-54 for the U.S. Code) | 42 |
| Code abbreviation | The official or unofficial code being cited | U.S.C. |
| Section symbol + number | The § symbol followed by the section | § 7401 |
| Year | The year of the code edition, not the enactment date | (2018) |
Put together, that’s 42 U.S.C. § 7401 (2018). Cite the official code first if the provision has been codified there. Only cite one of the unofficial codes, such as the U.S.C.A. or U.S.C.S., when the official version hasn’t caught up yet. State statutes follow the same four-part logic but swap in that state’s own official code and abbreviation, listed in Bluebook Table T1 alongside every other state code. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute keeps a searchable, current copy of the United States Code if you need to confirm the § before you cite it.
Citing a Statute That Has Been Amended, Repealed, or Renumbered
Statutes change more often than most other sources you’ll cite, so check the code section against its current status before you finalize the citation. Three situations come up often:
Amended: cite the current § and year of the code edition you consulted, not the year the amendment passed. The amendment itself doesn’t get a separate citation unless you’re specifically discussing the amending act.
Repealed: add “(repealed 2020)” or the relevant year after the citation so a reader knows the law is no longer in force. Historical statutes still need a citation even after repeal, especially in a paper analyzing legal history.
Renumbered: the United States Code renumbers its provisions when Congress restructures a code volume. If your source cites an outdated §, verify the current one through the official code before submitting your paper. An outdated citation is one of the most common errors instructors flag in legal work.
If you accessed the current text on a government website rather than a print volume of the United States Code, follow the URL and access-date rules in our guide to citing a website in an essay and layer them on top of the statute format above.
When you quote the exact wording of a provision rather than paraphrasing it, put the text in quotation marks and cite the same code, §, and year you’d use for a paraphrase. Our guide on how to introduce quotations covers the signal phrases and punctuation that make a direct quote from a statute read smoothly inside your own sentence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I italicize the name of a statute?
No. Unlike book or journal titles, statute names are set in regular (roman) text in MLA, APA, and Bluebook alike. Only the case names of court decisions get italicized.
What if the statute isn’t codified in the U.S. Code yet?
Cite it by its public law number and Statutes at Large location instead: for example, Pub. L. No. 117-58, 135 Stat. 429 (2021). Once Congress codifies it, switch to the U.S.C. citation.
Can I use MLA or APA instead of Bluebook for a legal paper?
For a law school assignment or anything citing case law extensively, use Bluebook. For a general research paper, essay, or social science assignment that references a statute in passing, MLA or APA is fine, follow whichever your instructor assigned. If you’re also citing law review commentary about the statute rather than the statute itself, see our guide to citing an article in an essay for the secondary-source format.
Do I cite the same way for federal and state statutes?
The structure is the same, code, §, year, but the abbreviation changes. Federal statutes cite to the United States Code (U.S.C.), while state statutes cite to that state’s own official code (for example, Cal. Penal Code or N.Y. Penal Law), listed in Bluebook Table T1 with every other state’s codes.
Related Citation Guides
- Full citation style guide hub
- How to cite a journal article
- How to cite a newspaper article
- How to cite a speech
- How to cite the Federalist Papers
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Terry is a Chicago-based writer and editor who creates practical, student-friendly guides on essay writing, research, and citation styles (APA, MLA, and Chicago). He’s spent 15+ years editing educational content and building clear examples that help readers apply rules without guessing. When he’s not revising drafts, he’s usually turning messy notes into clean outlines and hunting down the one detail everyone skips.