AGLC4 Rule 25.1.5.2: State Courts
State court decisions give the state abbreviation and the usual court abbreviation, except that the state is omitted when the report series name already reveals it and the court is omitted when it is the highest court of the state. When both exceptions apply the bracket holds only the year.
AGLC4 page 268
Formatting
- State abbreviation, a space and the court abbreviation, with no punctuation between them, then a comma and the year.
- Omit the state where the report series title already identifies it (for example the California Reporter).
- Omit the court where it is the highest court of the state, even where its name is Court of Appeals or Supreme Judicial Court.
- Several states are not abbreviated at all (Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Ohio, Utah).
- No full stops in any abbreviation.
Examples
Quoted from the Guide, page 268- 21Brogdon v State, 467 SE 2d 598 (Ga Ct App, 1996).
- 22Poire v CL Peck/Jones Brothers Construction Corporation Inc, 46 Cal Rptr 2d 631 (Ct App, 1995).
- 23Burr v Maclay Rancho Water Co, 98 P 260 (Cal, 1908).
States, their highest courts and state abbreviations
Quoted from the Guide, page 268| State | Highest Court | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Supreme Court | Ala |
| Alaska | Supreme Court | Alaska |
| Arizona | Supreme Court | Ariz |
| Arkansas | Supreme Court | Ark |
| California | Supreme Court | Cal |
| Colorado | Supreme Court | Colo |
| Connecticut | Supreme Court | Conn |
| Delaware | Supreme Court | Del |
| Florida | Supreme Court | Fla |
| Georgia | Supreme Court | Ga |
| Hawaii | Supreme Court | Haw |
| Idaho | Supreme Court | Idaho |
| Illinois | Supreme Court | Ill |
| Indiana | Supreme Court | Ind |
| Iowa | Supreme Court | Iowa |
| Kansas | Supreme Court | Kan |
| Kentucky | Supreme Court | Ky |
| Louisiana | Supreme Court | La |
| Maine | Supreme Judicial Court | Me |
| Maryland | Court of Appeals | Md |
| Massachusetts | Supreme Judicial Court | Mass |
| Michigan | Supreme Court | Mich |
| Minnesota | Supreme Court | Minn |
| Mississippi | Supreme Court | Miss |
| Missouri | Supreme Court | Mo |
| Montana | Supreme Court | Mont |
| Nebraska | Supreme Court | Neb |
| Nevada | Supreme Court | Nev |
| New Hampshire | Supreme Court | NH |
| New Jersey | Supreme Court | NJ |
| New Mexico | Supreme Court | NM |
| New York | Court of Appeals | NY |
| North Carolina | Supreme Court | NC |
| North Dakota | Supreme Court | ND |
| Ohio | Supreme Court | Ohio |
| Oklahoma | Supreme Court | Okla |
| Oregon | Supreme Court | Or |
| Pennsylvania | Supreme Court | Pa |
| Rhode Island | Supreme Court | RI |
| South Carolina | Supreme Court | SC |
| South Dakota | Supreme Court | SD |
| Tennessee | Supreme Court | Tenn |
| Texas | Supreme Court | Tex |
| Utah | Supreme Court | Utah |
| Vermont | Supreme Court | Vt |
| Virginia | Supreme Court | Va |
| Washington | Supreme Court | Wash |
| West Virginia | Supreme Court of Appeals | W Va |
| Wisconsin | Supreme Court | Wis |
| Wyoming | Supreme Court | Wyo |
See also
Check your footnotes against these rules
Paste your paper into the free AGLC4 checker and each footnote is graded against the Guide, with the rule it breaks. To write a citation from scratch, use the AGLC4 citation generator.
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.