Citations
A citation is a reference to a legal authority which may serve as a precedent such as a statute, a case, a regulation, or a law review article. Citations are used to establish or support the propositions argued.
Citations to legal materials follow a standard format which make it possible for anyone using a law library or legal research database to easily find cited cases, statutes, regulations, and law review articles.
Case citations always use the case name (parties), volume, reporter, page, and year:
Example: Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 318 (1993).
For lower courts, we also add the name of the court:
Example: Curry v. State, 228 S.W.3d 292 (Tex. App.—Waco 2007).
Court opinions are published in sets of books called reporters. Reporters include all court opinions in chronological order. Note that many cases have several "parallel citations," (i.e. cases from a particular court may appear in 2 or 3 separate reporters). You only need one citation to find a case. Databases like LexisNexis will find the case no matter which reporter was originally cited.
Statutes are published in books called codes, which present laws for a particular jurisdiction arranged by subject.
Many codes are published in two editions – the official edition and an annotated edition with notes about related cases and articles.
Statute citations have a volume, the name of the cited code, a section, and a date:
Example: 42 U.S.C. § 7706(a) (1994).
United States and Texas Statutes:
UNITED STATES CODE
42 U.S.C. § 7706(a) (1994).
UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED (WEST GROUP)
42 U.S.C.A. § 7706(a) (West 2006).
TEXAS STATUTES
Tex. Penal Code § 19.02 (1994).
Tex. Bus. & Com. § 9.109 (2001).
Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. § 1446.01 (1997)
VERNON’S TEXAS CODES ANNOTATED (WEST GROUP)
Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.02 (Vernon 2003).
Tex. Bus. & Com. Ann. § 9.109 (Vernon 2002).
Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. § 1446.01 (Vernon 2003).
Texas cases are published in the South Western Reporter, 1st edition (S.W.), 2nd edition (S.W.2d), or 3rd edition (S.W.3d).
TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS (Tex. App.)
Curry v. State, 228 S.W.3d 292 (Tex. App.—Waco 2007).
Villarreal v. State, 893 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. App. – Houston [1st Dist.] 1994).
TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS (Tex. Crim. App.)
Mendez v. State, 138 S.W.3d 334 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004).
TEXAS SUPREME COURT (Tex.)
City of Dallas v. Jennings, 142 S.W.3d 310 (Tex. 2004).
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