Understanding Citations to Cases, Statutory Codes & Legal Periodicals

Case Citation Elements 

There are several elements to a case citation.

• Case name
• Volume
• Abbreviation for the reporter and series designation
• Beginning page number of the opinion
• Jurisdiction and court
• Date

These elements are labeled in the example below:

In some case citations, the parallel citation is included.  In these situations, there is citation to the official reporter and there is also a citation to the unofficial reporter (West Reporter).  Here is a citation with the parallel citation in the example listed below: