REFERENCE CITATIONS 1

APA 6th Edition Guidelines: References to Legal Materials

Academic Disclaimer: In the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

there is a discussion of rules for references to legal materials as well as several examples. This
document presents several of the more common citations. For more examples see Appendix 7.1:
References to Legal Materials in the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual. The Publication
Manual is the final authority. Note: Reference page citations must be double spaced. Due to
space restrictions, the provided examples are single spaced.

In-Text Citations of Legal Materials

In-text citations of legal materials follow the same format as all other materials: (author, year).
When the author is not evident, give the first few words of the reference list entry and the date.
Court Decision:
(Name v. Name, Year)
(Leonard v. Schmidt, 1972)

Legislative Report:
(Name of report, Year)
(S. Rep. No. 102-114, 1991)

Administrative Rule or Regulation:

(Name of Rule, Year)
(FDA Prescription Drug Advertising Rule, 2006)

Patents:
(U.S. Patent number, Year)
(U.S. Patent No. 123,445, 1988)

Reference Citations of Legal Materials

Court Decisions (Bluebook Rule 10)

Case:
Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date)
Lessard v. Schmist, 349 F. Supp. 1078 (E.D. Wis. 1972).

Appealed Case:
Name v. Name, Volume Source Page, ruling, Volume Source Page
Durflinger v. Artiles, 563 F. Supp. 322 (D. Kan. 1981), aff’d, 727 F.2d 888 (10th cir. 1984).
REFERENCE CITATIONS 2

Unpublished Cases:
Unreported Decisions

Slip opinion:
Name v. Name, No. docket number (Court Month Day, Year).
Gilliard v. Oswald, No. 76-2109 (2d Cir. Mar. 16, 1977).

Unreported cases found on electronic databases (ie, LEXIS and Westlaw)

With record number:

Name v. Name, No. docket number, Year Court Database record number, at *screen
page number (court Month Day, Year).
Dougherty v. Royal Zenith Corp., No. 88-8666, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10807, at *2 (E.D. Pa.
July 31, 1991).

With no record number:

Name v. Name, No. docket number (court Month Day, Year) (Database, Database
library, Database file).
Gustin v. Mathews, No. 76-7-C5 (D. Kan. Jan. 31, 1977) (LEXIS, Genfed library, Dist. File).

Court Cases at the Trial Level:

State Trial Court Opinion:
Name v. Name, Volume Court Page (Court Year).
Casey v. Pennsylvania-American Water Co., 12 Pa. D. & C. 4th 168 (C.P. Washington County
1991).

Federal District Court Opinion:

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (District Year).
Davis v. Monsanto Co., 627 F. Supp. 418 (S.D. W. Va. 1986).

Case Appealed to a State Supreme Court:

Name v. Name, Volume State Reporter Page, Volume Regional Reporter Page (Year).
Compton v. Commonwealth, 239 Va. 312, 389 S.E.2d 460 (1990).

Case Appealed to a State Court of Appeals

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (Court Year).
Texas v. Morales, 826 S.W.2d 201 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court:

Name v. Name, Volume Reporter Page (Year).
Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Maryland v. Craig, 110 S. Ct. 3160 (1990).

REFERENCE CITATIONS 3

Statutes (Bluebook Rule 12)

Statute in the Federal Code:

Name of Act, Volume Code § section number (Year).
Mental Health Systems Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9401 (1988).

Statute in an annotated Federal Code:

Name of Act, Volume Code § section number (Publisher Year).
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C.A. § 12101 et seq. (West 1993).

(note: et seq. is Latin for “and following” and is a shorthand way of showing that the act covers
not just the initial section cited but others that follow the section as well.)

Statute in an annotated State Code (multiple consecutive sections):

Name of Act, Volume Code §§ section number – section number (date & supplement
date).
Mental Care and Treatment Act, 4 Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 59-2901-2941 (1983 & Supp. 1992).

Legislative Materials (Bluebook Rule 13)

Federal Testimony
Title, xxx Cong. (date) (testimony of First Name Last Name).
RU486: The import ban and its effect on medical research: Hearings before the Subcommittee
on Regulation, Business Opportunities, and Energy, of the House Committee on Small
Business, 101st Cong. 35 (1990) (testimony of Ronald Chesemore).

Full Federal Hearing

Title, xxx Cong. (date).
Urban America’s need for social services to strengthen families: Hearing before the
Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of
Representatives, 102d Cong. 1 (1992).

Unenacted Federal Bills and Resolutions

Title [if relevant], bill or resolution number, xxx Cong. (Year).
S. 5936, 102d Cong. § 4 (1992).

Unenacted Federal Bills

Equitable Health Care for Severe Mental Illness Act of 1993, H.R. 1563, 103d Cong. (1993).
Equitable Health Care for Severe Mental Illness Act of 1993, S. 671, 103d Cong. (1993).

Note: The first example is to a bill created in the House of Representatives during the 103d
Congress; it was assigned bill number 1563. The second example is the Senate’s version of the
same bill and was assigned bill number 671.
REFERENCE CITATIONS 4

Enacted Federal Bills and Resolutions

xx. Res. xxx, xxx Cong., Volume Source page (Year) (enacted).
S. Res. 107, 103d Cong., Rec. 5826 (1993) (enacted).

Federal Reports (Rep.) and Documents (Doc.)

xx. Rep. No. xx-xxx (Year).
S. Rep. No. 102-144, at 7 (1991).

Administrative and Executive Materials (Bluebook Rule 14)

Federal Regulation
Title/Number, Volume Source § xxx (Year).
FDA Prescription Drug Advertising Rule, 21 C.F.R. § 202.1 (2006).

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 73 Fed. Reg. § 82,082 (proposed
Jan. 11, 2008) (to be codified at 45 C.F.R. pt. 1355).

Note: The first citation is for a regulation that has already been codified and has been published
in the Code of Federal Regulation. The second has been published in the Federal Register but
has yet to be codified.

Executive Order
Exec. Order No. xxxxx, 3 C.F.R. Page (Year).
Exec. Order No. 11,609, 3 C.F.R. 586 (1971-1975), reprinted as amended in 3 U.S.C. 301 app.
at 404-07 (1994).

Patents
Inventor (Year). Official Source from which patent information can be retrieved.
Smith, I. M. (1988) U.S. Patent No. 123,445. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.