Bluebook Guide - MSLR Membership Competition
Although this is not a comprehensive outline of all the key Bluebook rules, it is provided to be a quick refresher of some of the errors that may be found in the Bluebook stage of the competition. (Please note that there may be other Bluebook errors involved in the text and footnotes of the competition that are not outlined here)
Rule 1 – Law Review Citations
R. 1.2 – Introductory Signals
Make sure each of the introductory signals are used correctly and are italicized.
Ex: See Nat’l Football League v. Crimson, 623 F.2d 154 (6th Cir. 1982).
But see Crimson v. Orange, 122 F.2d 618 (3rd Cir. 1997).
Note: Signals that are used as verbs in textual sentences should not be italicized.
Ex: To learn more about the history of the team’s fight against the NFL, see Morgan Thompson, THE HISTORY OF SUPPRESSION, 62 Ariz. L. Rev. 124 (2000).
R 1.5 – Parenthetical Information
When the parenthetical phrase is not quoting authority, it should never begin with a present participial and should never begin with a capital letter.
Ex: See Marktown v. Bishop, 72 F. Supp. 2d 622, 645 (1980) (holding that the parties were not adequately compensated by the settlement).
When the parenthetical phrase is quoting authority it should begin with a capital letter and include the appropriate closing punctuation.
Ex: Hunttington Press v. Writers Assoc., 301 F. Supp. 2d 722, 734-35 (D.N.J. 2009)
(“The writer’s association was clearly wrong in their response to the paper and should have never attempted to receive a prior restraint against the newspaper.”).
Rule 2– Typeface for Law Reviews
The Bluebook addresses two types of typeface conventions – one for text and one for citations.
R 2.1 - The following examples are typeface for footnotes and citations.
Cases:
Ex: Morgan v. Piper, 255 U.S. 30, 42 (2012).
Not: Morgan v. Piper, 255 U.S. 30, 42 (2012).
Books: Use small caps for the author and the title. (Control + Shift + K)
EX: MARGARET TIMES, A HISTORY OF SPORT 226 (1994).
Not: Margaret Times, A HISTORY OF SPORT 226 (1994).
Periodicals: Use regular font for the author, italicize the article name, and use small caps for the periodical name.
Ex: Tim Rutheford, The Truth About Football, 15 VILL. SPORTS ENT. L.J. 229 (1992).
R 2.2 - For in-text typeface, adhere to the following rules:
Main Text: Main text, containing no citations, receives ordinary roman and italics. Case names receive italicized names and procedural phrases.
Ex: In the case of Sorenson v. State, the plaintiff argued the State had failed the students by failing to provide adequate instruction.
Footnote text may include citations, but for case names that are not grammatically part of a sentence, then you must use typeface conventions for that citation.
Rule 5 – Quotations - To format quotations follow R. 5.1.
R 5.1(a) – Quotations of fifty words or more that are provided in the text (this rule does not apply to quotations in the footnotes, but only in the main text):
• Indented on both sides
• Text justified
• No quotation marks (unless it is to indicate internal quotations within the quote)
• Line breaks above and below
• Indent the first line of each paragraph only if indented in the original and the first
words in the quotation is also the first word in the original paragraph
• Footnote number should appear after the final punctuation of the quotation
R 5.1(b) – Quotations of forty-nine or fewer words:
• The quotation should be enclosed in quotation marks and not off set from the
rest of the text
• The footnote number should immediate follow after the closing quotation mark,
unless it is more accurate to place it elsewhere shortly before or after the
quotation
• Always place commas and periods inside the quotation marks
• Place other punctuation inside the quotation marks if they are part of the
original text
Other Common Rules - Generally
Rule 10 – Cases
[Be aware of interplay of Rules 6 (Abbreviation) and 8 (Capitalization), along with T 6 (Case Names and Institutional Authors in Citations)]
Rule 12 – Statutes
Rule 15 – Books, Reports, and other Non-periodic Materials
Rule 16 – Periodicals (Newspapers and Law Review Articles)
[Utilize T12 (Month Abbreviations) and T13 (Periodical Abbreviations)]
Rule 18 – The Internet, Electronic Media, and Other Nonprint Resources
Previous Five-Footnote Rule
For law review footnotes, a short form may be used only if the authority was cited in one of the preceding five footnotes. Otherwise a full citation is required. The rules do not apply to books and periodicals.
(See the following rules for each form - cases (10.9(a)), statutes (12.10(b)), legislative materials (13.8(b)), Admin. And Exec. Materials (14.4(c)))