AGLC4 Rule 25.1.3: Report Series and Series Number

Abbreviate the report series as appendix A does, keeping the series number exactly as appendix A shows it. Federal decisions should be cited to an authorised series where one exists, and state decisions preferably to a regional reporter, falling back to the state authorised series or an unofficial series. Supreme Court decisions reported before 1875 add the early nominate reporter in brackets after US.

AGLC4 page 265

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 265
Volume in US Series US (Volume in Early American Reporter Name of Early American Reporter) Starting Page

A boxed element is filled in with the source's details; everything outside a box is written exactly as shown.

Formatting

  • Series abbreviations are roman with no full stops (for example F 3d, F Supp 2d, So 2d, Kan).
  • The series number is written exactly as appendix A gives it: 2d and 3d have no superscript, while ordinals such as 4th are written with a superscript ending.
  • For pre 1875 Supreme Court decisions the early reporter volume and abbreviated reporter name sit in round brackets immediately after US, followed by a space and the shared starting page.
  • Where a state authorised series is used its abbreviation is normally the state abbreviation from the rule 25.1.5.2 table.
  • Regional reporter names are italic when written out in full but their abbreviations in a citation are roman.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 265
  1. 4
    Bush v Gore, 531 US 98 (2000). [Not: Bush v Gore, 121 S Ct 525 (2000).]
  2. 5
    Loveladies Harbor Inc v United States, 28 F 3d 1171 (Fed Cir, 1994).
  3. 6
    Stevenson v Shalcross, 205 F 286 (3rd Cir, 1913).
  4. 7
    Tracy v Beaufort County Board of Education, 335 F Supp 2d 675 (D SC, 2004).
  5. 8
    Freightliner LLC v Whatley Contract Carriers LLC, 932 So 2d 883 (Ala, 2005).
  6. 9
    City of Sedan v Church, 29 Kan 190 (1883).
  7. 10
    Winchester v Hackley, 6 US (2 Cranch) 342 (1805).

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 265
  • Bush v Gore, 121 S Ct 525 (2000).
    the unofficial Supreme Court Reporter must not be cited where the official US series reports the decision

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 265
  • 17 US (4 Wheat) 316

West regional reporters and their abbreviations

Quoted from the Guide, page 265
ReporterAbbreviation
Atlantic ReporterA
North Eastern ReporterNE
North Western ReporterNW
Pacific ReporterP
South Eastern ReporterSE
Southern ReporterSo
South Western ReporterSW

See also

Check your footnotes against these rules

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Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.