UNIFORM RULES OF CITATION FOR THE MOOT CIRCUIT
COURT OF APPEAL
If you have not already noticed it, you soon will. There are several different
citation formats out there for you to use, each supported by some authority
be it the ALWD manual, the Bluebook, the Louisiana Law Review
Streamlined Citation Manual (SCM) or sheer court custom, which custom
often varies from judge to judge. The Bluebook and the SCM are targeted at
scholarship publications, not at the legal practitioner. The ALWD manual
has attempted to fill the void for the practitioner, but does little to fill the gap
for Louisiana practitioners as it does not address our body of codal
provisions well. Clearly, there is a need for consistency and uniformity in
the manner in which legal authorities should be cited by the practitioner in
court documents. To make the citation aspect of your brief and this class
easier, this set of Uniform Rules of Citation for the Moot Circuit Court of
Appeal has been developed. You are to use these rules to govern the citation
of authorities in your appellate briefs for this course. For your knowledge,
bracketed references to the sources of the particular citation format required
by these uniform rules have been included. FOR ANYTHING NOT
COVERED IN THIS MANUAL, CONSULT YOUR ALWD MANUAL.
Of course, when you emerge in the real world, if uniform rules of citation
for practitioners do not exist by then, you should choose “a source” (look
first to local court rules or custom and then to firm custom) to govern your
citation and be consistent throughout your document.
A.
THE FOLLOWING RULES OF CITATION OF LOUISIANA
APPELLATE COURT DECISIONS SHALL APPLY:
I.
For Louisiana Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal
opinions and actions issued before January 1, 1994, the citation shall
consist of the following:
case name,•reporter volume•reporter•initial page,•pinpoint
page•(court year),•subsequent history if applicable.
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
1
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
For example:
Rosell•v.•ESCO,•549•So.•2d•840,•842•(La.•1989).
[This format is consistent in ALWD, the Bluebook and the SCM.]
Saban•v.•Carroll,•443•So.•2d•205,•208•(La.•App.•2d•Cir.•1991),•rev
’d•on•other•grounds,•445•So.•2d•538•(1992).
[The court of appeal parenthetical information format is based on ALWD.
Minor changes would occur if it was based on the Bluebook (La. Ct. App.)
or the SCM (La. App. 2nd Cir. 1991). The ordinal contractions (1st, 2d, 3d,
etc.) used are consistent with both the ALWD manual and the Bluebook. See
note below regarding the content of the supreme court parenthetical in this
example.
Collins•v.•Matherne,•400•So.•2d•65•(La.•App.•1st•Cir.),•writ•
denied,•400•So.•2d•500•(1990).
[Omit the date in the first parenthetical when the subsequent history
occurred in the same year. The date parenthetical information format is
based on the Bluebook and the SCM. The ALWD manual would require the
date to be placed in both parentheticals.]
Notes:
Use ordinal contractions (1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th) when referring to the
different circuits of the Courts of Appeal. [ALWD & Bluebook] Do not put
only the numeral (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) to refer to the different circuits of the Court
of Appeal. Thus, use “(La. App. 3d Cir.),” not “(La. App. 3 Cir.).”
When the jurisdiction is clearly identified in one part of the cite, you
do not need to repeat the jurisdiction in a latter part of the cite. [SCM]
Thus, when you are noting a “writ denied,” you do not need to include “La.”
before the year in the court and date parenthetical of the supreme court
decision because the parenthetical for the appellate court decision will
identify Louisiana as the jurisdiction. This is based on the SCM rule that the
reviewing court’s identity should not appear in the parenthetical where its
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
2
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
identity is obvious from the previous court’s citation. See Saban and Collins
examples above.
II.
For Louisiana Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal
opinions and actions issued after December 31, 1993, the citation shall
be in the uniform public domain citation form and shall be followed by
a parallel citation to West’s Southern Reporter. Thus, this citation
format consists of the following:
case name,•docket number,•pinpoint page to the slip opinion•(court
and complete date),•reporter volume•reporter•initial page,•pinpoint page.
[The latter four components make up the parallel citation to West’s Southern
Reporter.]
For example:
1) Louisiana Supreme Court opinions:
Swat•24•Shreveport•Bossier,•Inc.•v.•Bond,•001695,•p.•3•(La.•6/29/01),•808•So.•2d•294,•296.
[This public domain citation form is mandated by Section 8 of the Louisiana
Supreme Court General Administrative Rules, Part G. The only difference
between this format and the Section 8 rule is the comma used to separate the
public domain form of the cite from the parallel cite to West’s Southern
Reporter. Section 8 was recently changed to require a semi-colon instead of
a comma. However, because commas are the appropriate punctuation to
separate parallel cites to the same authority (semi-colons are used to separate
different authorities from one another per ALWD, the Bluebook and the
SCM), the Moot Circuit Court of Appeal will continue to use the comma in
this situation.]
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
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Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
2)
Louisiana Courts of Appeal opinions:
Petroleum•Helicopters,•Inc.•v.•Untereker,•981816,•p.•4•(La.•App.•3d•Cir.•3/31/99),•731•So.•2d•965,•967,•writ•
denied,•99-1739•(La.•8/5/99),•747•So.•2d•40.
[The examples provided in Section 8 of the Louisiana Supreme Court
General Administrative Rules, Part G contain ordinals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) instead
of ordinal contractions (1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th). While the rule requires the
public domain citation form to include “court abbreviation[s],” it does not
mandate the specific type of abbreviation. Neither ALWD, the Bluebook,
nor the SCM utilize a plain ordinal as part of a court abbreviation. Thus, the
Moot Circuit will use ordinal contractions in the public domain citation
form.]
Swat•24•Shreveport•Bossier,•Inc.•v.•Bond,•33,328,•p.•5•(La.•
App.•2d•Cir.•5/10/00),•759•So.•2d•1047,•1052,•rev’d,•001695•(La.•6/29/01),•808•So.•2d•294.
Notes:
The case name is followed by extracts from the docket number
assigned to the case by the deciding court. This docket number generally
consists of a year, letters (which identify the nature of the action being
sought) and a number reflecting the filing order of the cases. In the public
domain format, the letters are dropped from the docket number, leaving only
the year, a dash and the filing order number. [Section 8 of Part G] The first
two numbers of the year may be omitted, provided they are consistently
omitted. Thus, docket number 2004-CA-580 becomes “04-580” and docket
number 1999-KA-348 becomes “99-348.” [Court Custom] One exception
to the form of docket numbers exists in the Louisiana Second Circuit Court
of Appeal. Its docket number system is different, so for cases from the
second circuit, the docket number will be a number without a year and dash.
E.g. “33,328” exemplifies a docket number from the second circuit. [Court
Custom]
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
4
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
When providing subsequent history, it must also be in public domain
form if the subsequent history was issued after December 31, 1993.
Include a space between the “p.” and the actual page number.
[Section 8 of Part G, Court Custom, ALWD by analogy to cites to
footnotes].
The form for the date is numerals representing the month, the day and
the year. These components of the date are separated by backslashes.
[Section 8 of Part G, Court Custom].
The public domain citation rules do not apply to federal cases or to
cases from courts outside of the state of Louisiana. Cites to these cases shall
include the following:
case name,•reporter volume•reporter abbreviation•initial page
number,•pinpoint page number•(Court and year),•subsequent history if any.
Do not include parallel cites to the Supreme Court and Lawyers
Edition reporters for United States Supreme Court cases.
For example:
Bertman•v.•Dubuois,•803•U.S.•890,• 892•(2003).
Goobers,•Inc.•v.•Gautreau,•689•F.3d•399,•401•(5th•Cir.•1999).
Constantine•v.•Welsh,•544•F.•Supp.•2d•488,•490•(E.D.•La.•
2004).
III. Short form citations for cases decided after December 31,
1993 need only include the West reporter cite. Thus, a public domain
citation form is not required where a short form citation is appropriate.
For example:
Petroleum•Helicopters,•731•So.•2d•at•968.
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
5
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
IV. For cases decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court before
1972, cite to the official Louisiana Reports and to the Southern
Reporter.
V.
Introductory Signals are words that tell the reader about
the purpose for which the citation is made and the level of support or
contradiction the cited authority provides for the accompanying text.
[ALWD, Bluebook].
Notes:
DO NOT use a signal if the cited authority directly supports the
stated proposition, [ALWD], or identifies the source of a quotation,
[Bluebook]. Use the signal “See” when the cited authority either supports
the stated proposition implicitly or contains dicta that support the
proposition. [ALWD. However, the Bluebook, designed to govern
scholarly publications, requires the “See” signal when the cited authority
directly states or clearly supports the proposition.] Signals used in citations
should be emphasized in the same manner used to emphasize the case names
(italics or underscored). [ALWD, Bluebook, SCM and Court Custom]
B.
THE FOLLOWING RULES OF CITATION OF LOUISIANA
STATUTORY AND CODAL PROVISIONS SHALL APPLY:
I.
Citations to the Louisiana codal provisions shall include the
following:
Louisiana•codal source abbreviation•art.•article number.
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
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Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
Codal source abbreviations are as follows:
Use “La.•Civ.•Code•art.” for the Louisiana Civil Code. [SCM]
Use “La.•Code•Civ.•P.•art.” for the Louisiana Code of Civil
Procedure. [SCM]
Use “La.•Code•Evid.•art.” for the Louisiana Code of Evidence.
[SCM]
Use “La.•Code•Crim.•P.•art.” for the Louisiana Code of Criminal
Procedure. [SCM]
Notes: The Bluebook would require “Ann.” to be inserted after the code
reference. ALWD would seem to require the abbreviation for the type of
code to precede “Code.” Thus, the Code of Evidence would be
“La.•Evid.•Code•Ann.•art.” Both the Bluebook and ALWD would include
the date parenthetical after the article number, whereas the SCM generally
omits the date parenthetical for codal provisions. Court custom varies and
includes the forms: “LSA-C.C.•art.” and “La.•C.C.•art” for a citation to a
Civil Code article. Court custom generally does not include a date
parenthetical.
II.
Citations to Louisiana Revised Statutes shall include the
following:
La.•R.S.•title:section•year.
For example: La.•R.S.•23:921•(20xx).
Notes: The source of this citation form is the SCM. The Bluebook would
be “La.•Rev.•Stat.•Ann.•§•23:921•(West•20xx).” The ALWD form would
be “La.•Stat.•Ann.•§•23:921•(20xx).” Court custom uses both “LSAR.S.•23:921” and “La.•R.S.•23:921,” and typically omits a date
parenthetical.
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
7
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006
If the codal provision or the statute is found in the pocket part,
“Supp.” shall precede the year.
For example: La.•R.S.•23:921•(Supp.•2005).
III. Do not use the citation form when making textual references to
statutes and codal provisions.
Notes:
The correct form for textual references to Louisiana Revised Statutes
is “Louisiana Revised Statutes 23:921.” [SCM] It is also permissible to use
“Revised Statutes 23:921.” [Court Custom] Note that statutes is always
plural, even when referencing only one statute. When making a textual
reference to a codal provision, it is permissible to include only “Article
2034” as long as it will not result in confusion to the reader as to which code
is the source of the article. [SCM] If confusion is likely, the textual
reference should be “Louisiana Civil Code article 2034.” [SCM]
Created by Heidi Howat Thompson
8
Assistant Professor – Professional Practice
Louisiana State University
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Revised January 6, 2006