A citation (or cite) in legal terminology is a reference to a specific legal source, such as a constitution, a statute, a reported case, a treatise, or a law review article. A standard citation includes first the volume number, then the title of the source, (usually abbreviated) and lastly, a page or section number.
The Bluebook by 
The Bluebook Uncovered by Knowing how to read and write case citations is an important skill for everyone studying criminal justice. The figure below and the comments that follow may help with your understanding of the basic elements.
Below are the parts of a standard case citation. The citation tells us that a case called Furman versus Georgia was decided in 1972 and can be found in Volume 408 of the United States Reports, starting on page 238.
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 240 (1972)
OR
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. at 240 (1972)
Cooper v. Pate, 382 F.2d 443 (7th Cir. 1967)
Howard v. United States, 864 F.Supp. 1019 (D. Colo. 1994)
There are typically two names for a case. Usually, the first name identifies who is bringing the court action and the second name is the person against whom action is being brought. In a criminal law case action is almost always brought by the state (e.g., People or State) against a person (e.g., Joe) as in People v. Joe or State v. Joe.
However, the “defendant” may not always stay the same. In the Furman v. Georgia case, Furman was originally the defendant in a murder case being prosecuted in Georgia. However, Furman appealed his conviction and in doing so he became the person taking action against the state.
This is the year in which the decision was delivered by the court. It may not be (and in appellate cases, probably isn’t) the year in which the case was heard.
A “reporter” is a multi-volume publication where court decisions are found. The full name and abbreviations for the reporters you are most likely to encounter as undergraduates are:
| Full Name | Official Abbreviation | Type of Case Reported |
| United States Reports | U.S. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Supreme Court Reporter | S.Ct. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Federal Reporter (First through third series) | F., F.2d, and F.3d | Federal Appeals Courts |
| Federal Supplement (First and second series) | F.Supp, F.Supp2 | Important decisions from Federal District Courts |
|
Georgia Reports (official) South Eastern Reporter |
Ga. S.E. or S.E.2d
|
Appellate level state court cases appear in one of the various state or regional reporters. |
Without knowing what volume of the reporter to look in, and what page the case starts on, it would be very difficult to track the case down. Not impossible, however, as you can use the table of cases in digests like West’s United States Supreme Court Digest or, for very recent cases, U.S. Law Week. Similar digests exist for other federal and state cases.
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