Bluebook

The 21st edition of The Bluebook governs the style and formatting of various references and elements of a legal publication, including:

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• Structure and use of citations
• Typefaces for law reviews
• Subdivisions
• Short citation forms (for use when a document makes multiple references to the same case)Georgetown Law Library, [https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=261289&p=2339389 Bluebook Guide: Short Citation Forms], accessed on 28 December 2024
• Quotations
• Abbreviations, numerals, and symbols
• Italicization for style and in unique circumstances
• Capitalization
• Titles of judges, officials, and terms of court
• Cases
• Constitutions
• Statutes
• Legislative materials
• Administrative and executive materials
• Books, reports, and other nonperiodic materials
• Periodical materials
• Unpublished and forthcoming sources
• Electronic media and other nonprint resources
• Services
• Foreign materials
• International materials

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While the legal citation manuals go as far back as 15th century (Modus Legendi Abbreviaturas in Utroque Iure, {{circa|1475}}), there were very few examples prior to the 20th century; law professor Byron D. Cooper mentions only few short articles "Rules for Citation" (The American Law Review, 1896) and "Methods of Citing Statute Law" (Ruppenthal, Law Library Journal, 1919).{{sfn | Cooper | 1982 | pp=20-21}} The Uniform System of Citations thus became a "pioneer" manual.{{sfn | Cooper | 1982 | p=21}}

According to Harvard, the origin of The Bluebook was a pamphlet for proper citation forms for articles in the Harvard Law Review written by its editor, Erwin Griswold.Christine Hurt, The Bluebook at Eighteen: Reflecting and Ratifying Current Trends in Legal Scholarship, 82 {{smallcaps|Ind. L.J.}} 49, 51–52 (2007). However, according to a 2016 study by two Yale librarians,Fred R. Shapiro & Julie Graves Krishnaswami, The Secret History of the Bluebook, [http://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ShapiroKrishnaswami_ONLINEPDF.pdf 100 {{smallcaps|Minn. L. Rev.}} 1563] (2016). Harvard's claim is incorrect. They trace the origin of The Bluebook to a 1920 publication by Karl N. Llewellyn at Yale on how to write law journal materials for the Yale Law Journal.{{smallcaps|Karl N. Llewellyn, The Writing of a Case Note}} (1920). This booklet had a blue cover, which Shapiro and Krishnaswami point out is "appropriate for its University," whose official color is blue. The authors point out that some of the material in the 1926 first edition of The Bluebook (as well as that in a 1922 Harvard precursor to it published as Instructions for Editorial Work) duplicate material in the 1920 Llewellen booklet and its 1921 successor, a blue pamphlet that the Yale Law Journal published as Abbreviations and Form of Citation.According to Shapiro and Krishnaswami:

Bluebook 1 (1926) has approximately 30 sentences in common with Yale Law Journal ’s Abbreviations and Form of Citation (1921), as well as many of the sample citations, all of the proofreading signs, and virtually all of the items in the long list of abbreviations. They both begin with the same sentence: “This pamphlet does not pretend to include a complete list of abbreviations or all the necessary data as to form.” The subtitle of the Bluebook is “Abbreviations and Form of Citation.” The Jones v. Smith Connecticut citation that is the basic case citation example used by the Yale precursors back to Llewellyn-Field is the basic case example used in Bluebook 1. The Haines Yale Law Journal citation that is the basic periodical citation example used by the Yale precursors back to Llewellyn-Field is the basic periodical example used in Bluebook 1. Most of the section on treatises is identical between 1921 and 1926.

For several years before the first edition of The Bluebook appeared, Yale, Columbia, and several other law journals "worked out a tentative citation plan", but Harvard initially opposed it "because of skepticism as to the results to be attained and in part because of a desire not to deviate from our forms especially at the solicitation of other Reviews". Eventually, Harvard "reversed course" and joined the coalition by 1926. According to Judge Henry J. Friendly, "Attorney General [Herbert] Brownell, whom I had known ever since law school—he was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal the year I was at the Harvard Law Review and he and I and two others [from Columbia and Pennsylvania] were the authors of the first edition of the Bluebook."David M. Dorsen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z9ctStY3580C&pg=PA71 {{smallcaps|Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era}}] 71 (2012).

The cover of the 1926 A Uniform System of Citation was green. The color was "brown from the second (1928) edition through the fifth (1936) edition. It was only with the sixth (1939) edition that it became blue."Shapiro and Krishnaswami. In 1939, the cover of the book was changed from brown to a "more patriotic blue", allegedly to avoid comparison with a color associated with Nazi Germany.A. Darby Dickerson, An Un-Uniform System of Citation: Surviving with the New Bluebook, 26 {{smallcaps|Stetson L. Rev.}} 53, 58–60 (1996). According to Shapiro and Krishnaswami, however, "The abandonment of brown is often attributed to the association of that color with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, but that idea appears to trace to a joke by Alan Strasser," in [http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?men_tab=srchresults&handle=hein.journals/hcrcl12&id=515&size=2&collection=journals&terms=Alan%20Strasser&termtype=phrase&set_as_cursor=10 Technical Due Process: ?], 12 {{smallcaps|Harv. C.R.-C.L. Rev.}} 507, 508 (1977). Strasser states, referring to the eleventh edition's change of cover color to white with a blue border promising a "new life," that "the 1939 Blue Book had electrified the nation by parading patriotic blue covers instead of the Germanic brown ones that had disgraced the 1936 edition." Id. (footnote omitted). The eleventh edition, published in 1967, was actually white with a blue border.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160302144344/http://blawg.law.sc.edu/2015/07/13/all-the-fun-facts-about-the-bluebook/ All the Fun Facts about the Bluebook]. The cover color returned to blue in the twelfth edition of 1976.Strasser, at 508. Strasser states that the first printing was a "timid" blue-gray but later printings were a "more self-assured" navy blue. Id. n.9.

The full text of the first (1926) through the fifteenth (1991) editions is available on the official website.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120716192512/https://www.legalbluebook.com/public/introduction.aspx Introduction], {{smallcaps|Bluebook.com}}, (2010), (archived from the [https://www.legalbluebook.com/public/introduction.aspx original] June 24, 2013).

The Bluebook uses two different styles. Practitioners use the first in preparing court documents and memoranda, while the second is used primarily in academic settings, such as law reviews and journals.{{smallcaps|Deborah E. Bouchoux}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RJ4vlBrWu0MC&dq=cite+checker+bouchoux&pg=PR4 {{smallcaps|Cite-Checker: A Hands-on Guide to Learning Citation Form}}] 9 (2001). The latter uses specific formatting to identify types of references, such as the use of small caps for books, newspapers, and law reviews.{{smallcaps|Bouchoux}}, at 9–10. A rule of thumb used by many is to see if the formatting can be reproduced on a typewriter—if so, practitioners use it, if it requires typesetting, it is used for academic articles.{{smallcaps|Bouchoux}}, at 10.

By 2011, The Bluebook was "the main guide and source of authority" on legal references for the past 90 years.{{smallcaps|William H. Putman}}, {{smallcaps|Legal Research, Analysis, and Writing}} 468 (4th ed. 2011). It is recognized as the "gold standard" for legal references in the United States, even though it was originally designed only to help teach law students how to cite cases and other legal material.{{smallcaps|Bouchoux}}, at 1–2. Although other citation systems exist, they have limited acceptance, and in general, The Bluebook is followed in the legal citation as the most widely accepted citation style,{{smallcaps|Putman}}, at 468; {{smallcaps|Bouchoux}}, at 2; Kroski, at 263. called the "Bible", the "final arbiter", even the legal citation "Kama Sutra".{{sfn | Cooper | 1982 | p=21}} Some states have adopted The Bluebook in full, while others have partially adopted The Bluebook.{{smallcaps|Putman}}, at 468–69. States such as Texas have supplements, such as The Greenbook, that merely address citation issues unique to Texas and otherwise follow The Bluebook.{{smallcaps|Brandon D. Quarles & Matthew C. Cordon}}, {{smallcaps|Legal Research for the Texas Practitioner}} 16 (2003); {{smallcaps|The Greenbook: Texas Rules of Form}} iv (12th ed. 2010).

The Solicitor General issues a style guide that is designed to supplement The Bluebook.{{smallcaps|The Solicitor General's Style Guide}} 1 (Jack Metzler ed. 2007). This guide focuses on citation for practitioners, so as an example, only two typefaces are used for law reviews, normal and italics.Metzler, at 14. Other changes are also minor, such as moving supra from before the page referenced to after the page number.Metzler, at 20. The guide does state that unless explicitly specified otherwise, The Bluebook rule takes precedence in the event of conflict.Metzler, at 1.

California used to require use of the California Style Manual.{{smallcaps|Edward W. Jessen}}, {{smallcaps|California Style Manual}} 1 (4th ed. 2000). In 2008, the California Supreme Court issued a rule giving an option of using either the California Style Manual or The Bluebook.2013 Calif. R. of Ct. 1.200; {{smallcaps|The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation}} 30 (Mary Miles Prince ed., 19th ed. 2010). The two styles are significantly different in citing cases, in use of ibid. or id. (for {{lang|la|idem}}), and in citing books and journals.[http://libguides.law.ucla.edu/loader.php?type=d&id=92912 Legal Research and Writing Manual]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, {{smallcaps|UCLA School of Law}} (2013). Michigan uses a separate official citation system issued as an administrative order of the Michigan Supreme Court.Elan S. Nichols, Checklists for Drafting, Formatting, and Submitting Litigation and Other Documents: Instructive Material for Law Students Practicing in Law School Clinics, and Reminders for the Practicing Attorney and Her Staff, 15 {{smallcaps|T.M. Cooley J. Prac. & Clinical L.}} 57, 58 (2013). The primary difference is that the Michigan system "omits all periods in citations, uses italics somewhat differently, and does not use 'small caps.'"Nichols, at 58 n.3. As noted, Texas merely supplements The Bluebook with items that are unique to Texas courts, such as citing cases when Texas was an independent republic,{{smallcaps|The Greenbook}}, at 101. petition and writ history,{{smallcaps|The Greenbook}}, at 20–26. Attorney General Opinions,{{smallcaps|The Greenbook}}, at 76–78. and similar issues.

At over 500 pages for the 19th edition, The Bluebook is significantly more complicated than the citation systems used by most other fields. Legal scholars have called for its replacement with a simpler system.Richard A. Posner, [http://www.yalelawjournal.org/review/the-bluebook-blues The Bluebook Blues], 120 {{smallcaps|Yale L.J.}} 850–861 (2011). The University of Chicago uses the simplified "Maroonbook",80 {{smallcaps|[http://lawreview.uchicago.edu/page/maroonbook The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation]}} 1 (Bradley G. Hubbard, Taylor A.R. Meehan, & Kenneth A. Young eds. 2013). and even simpler systems are in use by other parties.

Judge Richard Posner is "one of the founding fathers of Bluebook abolitionism, having advocated it for almost twenty-five years, ever since his 1986 University of Chicago Law Review articleRichard A. Posner, [http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2797&context=journal_articles Goodbye to the Bluebook], 53 {{smallcaps|Chi. L. Rev.}} 1343 (1986). on the subject." In a 2011 Yale Law Journal article, he wrote:

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation exemplifies hypertrophy in the anthropological sense. It is a monstrous growth, remote from the functional need for legal citation forms, that serves obscure needs of the legal culture and its student subculture.

He wrote that a cursory look at the Nineteenth Edition "put [him] in mind of Mr. Kurtz's dying words in Heart of Darkness—'The horror! The horror!'"David Post called it "the most boring piece of intellectual property imaginable." Adam Liptak described it as "a comically elaborate thicket of random and counterintuitive rules about how to cite judicial decisions, law review articles and the like [that] is both grotesque and indispensable." [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/02/09/the-new-and-much-improved-bluebook-caught-in-the-copyright-cross-hairs/ The new (and much improved) 'Bluebook' caught in the copyright cross-hairs], {{smallcaps|Washington Post}}, The Volokh Conspiracy (Feb. 9, 2016).

Posner personally uses a far simpler citation system based largely on the First Edition of the Bluebook. This system, which he includes in a manual he provides for his law clerks, was reprinted in the aforementioned Yale Law Journal article. At the time of the article, his citation system was 885 words long, or about two printed pages—far shorter than the 511 pages of the Nineteenth Edition, the 640 pages of the then-current ALWD Citation Manual, or the over 1,000 pages of the Chicago Manual of Style.

File:Cover of Baby Blue's Manual of Legal Citation.jpg]]

File:The Indigo Book cover.png cover]]

Another dispute is over the copyright status of The Bluebook. Open-source advocates claim that The Bluebook is not protected under copyright because it is a critical piece of legal infrastructure.In addition, according to NYU Professor Christopher Sprigman, "the copyright for the 10th edition of the tome, published in 1958, was never renewed, and ... that means it is in the public domain." See [http://abovethelaw.com/2016/02/yale-law-students-support-the-end-of-the-bluebook/?rf=1 Yale Law Students Support The End Of The Bluebook], {{smallcaps|Above the Law}} (February 9, 2016). Lawyers who represent the Bluebook publishing consortium claim that the "carefully curated examples, explanations and other textual materials" are protected by copyright.{{cite web | publisher=American Bar Association | title=Legal minds differ on whether The Bluebook is subject to copyright protection | date=February 1, 2015 | author=Leslie A. Gordon | url=http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/legal_minds_differ_on_whether_the_bluebook_is_subject_to_copyright_protecti | access-date=July 30, 2015}}

A group led by Professor Christopher J. Sprigman at NYU Law School prepared a "public-domain implementation of the Bluebook{{'s}} Uniform System of Citation," which his group calls BabyBlue. However, a law firm (Ropes & Gray) representing the Harvard Law Review Association (HLRA) sent him a letter stating:

{{blockquote|[W]e believe that BabyBlue may include content identical or substantially similar to content or other aspects of The Bluebook that constitute original works of authorship protected by copyright, and which are covered by various United States copyright registrations. ...

[M]y client has been and remains concerned that the publication and promotion of such a work may infringe the Reviews' copyright rights in The Bluebook and The Bluebook Online, and may cause substantial, irreparable harm to the Reviews and their rights and interests in those works. ...

[I]t is our client's position that the title BabyBlue, or any title consisting of or comprising the word "Blue", when used on or in connection with your work, would so resemble the BLUEBOOK Marks as to be likely, to cause confusion, mistake, and/or deception…Accordingly, and to avoid any risk of consumer confusion, my client respectfully demands that you agree (i) not to use the title or name BabyBlue, or any other title or name including the word "blue", for your work.Letter quoted in Jacob Gershman, [https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/12/28/bluebook-critics-incite-copyright-clash/?mod=WSJBlog Bluebook Critics Incite Copyright Clash], {{smallcaps|Wall Street Journal Law Blog}} (December 28, 2015), and in Mike Masnick, Harvard Law Review Freaks Out, Sends Christmas Eve Threat Over Public Domain Citation Guide], in {{smallcaps|Techdirt}} (December 28, 2015).}}

In response to the HLRA letter to Sprigman, over 150 students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Harvard Law School signed a petition supporting BabyBlue. Yale and NYU students added their separate petitions supporting BabyBlue.[http://hlrecord.org/2016/02/harvard-law-review-should-welcome-free-citation-manual-not-threaten-lawsuits/ Harvard Law Review Should Welcome Free Citation Manual, Not Threaten Lawsuits], {{smallcaps|Harvard Law Record}} (February 16, 2016). A posting in the Harvard Law Record commented:

{{blockquote|The intellectual property claims that the HLR Association made may or may not be spurious. But independent of that, the tactics employed by the HLR Association's counsel in dealing with Mr. Malamud and Prof. Sprigman are deplorable. The Harvard Law Review claims to be an organization that promotes knowledge and access to legal scholarship. It is a venerated part of the traditions of Harvard Law School. But these actions by the Harvard Law Review speak of competition and not of justice.}}

The posting also suggested that HLRA should "redirect the money it spends on legal fees ($185,664 in 2013)" to a more worthy purpose.

David Post commented: "It's copyright nonsense, and Harvard should be ashamed of itself for loosing its legal hounds to dispense it in order to protect its (apparently fairly lucrative) publication monopoly."[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/02/09/the-new-and-much-improved-bluebook-caught-in-the-copyright-cross-hairs/ The new (and much improved) 'Bluebook' caught in the copyright cross-hairs], {{smallcaps|Washington Post}}, The Volokh Conspiracy (February 9, 2016).

On March 31, 2016, it was announced that the project had changed its name to the Indigo Book.{{cite web|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Michael|title=Response|url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2806393/Harvard-Response-20160331.pdf|publisher=public.resource.org|access-date=21 April 2016}}

For the first 50 years of the Bluebook's history, the Harvard Law Review kept 100 percent of the revenues.{{Bluebook journal|first=Fred R.|last=Shapiro|first2=Julie Graves|last2=Krishnaswami|title=The Secret History of the Bluebook|volume=100|issue=4|journal=Minnesota Law Review|page=222|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2697068|year=2016 |punct=}}, Yale Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 560 In 1974, the editors of the Columbia and University of Pennsylvania Law Reviews and the Yale Law Journal apparently discovered this, due to an indiscretion.According to Joan G. Wexler, Dean and then President of Brooklyn Law School, some members of the Harvard Law Review disclosed to her at a lunch one day in San Francisco where they were all summer associates "[w]hat a cash cow" the Bluebook was for their review. She consulted Professor Ralph S. Brown at Yale Law School, who taught copyright, and he said, "sue them!" See Shapiro and Krishnaswami. They complained that Harvard was illegally keeping all profits from the first eleven editions, estimated to total $20,000 per year.W. Duane Benton, Developments in the Law – Legal Citation, 86 {{smallcaps|Yale}} L.J. 197, 202 (1976). After they threatened to sue, and considerable wrangling, Harvard agreed with them to split the revenue: 40 percent for Harvard, 20 percent each for Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Yale; Harvard would continue to provide the production and distribution services.

The law reviews have not disclosed the revenues of the Bluebook themselves, but revenues from the sale of the Bluebook have been estimated "in the millions of dollars".

A 2022 review of the Harvard Law Review's non-profit disclosures found that the Bluebook had made $1.2 million in profits in 2020, with The Harvard Law Review taking an 8.5% cut of profits for administrative services and the remainder split equally among the four law reviews. Profits from the Bluebook totaled $16 million between 2011 and 2020. Excluding the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the law review's endowments total $59.4 million.{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Daniel |title=Harvard-led Citation Cartel Rakes in Millions from Bluebook Manual Monopoly, Masks Profits |url=https://danielstone.substack.com/p/legal-bluebook-profits-havard-yale-columbia-penn |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=danielstone.substack.com |date=9 June 2022 |language=en}}

• Case citation
• Legal citation signals
• Australian Guide to Legal Citation
• Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation
• Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA; UK)

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite journal | last=Cooper | first=Byron D. | title=Anglo-American Legal Citation: Historical Development and Library Implications | journal=Law Library Journal | date=1982 | volume = 75 | issue=3 | url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/1745/ | access-date=2024-03-19 | pages = 1745–}}

• [https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/blue/IndigoBook.html The Indigo Book: An Open and Compatible Implementation of a Uniform System of Citation], a public-domain implementation of the Bluebook rules
• [https://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/ Introduction to legal citation], by Peter W. Martin
• [http://www.suffolk.edu/law/library/19543.php A Bluebook Guide for Law Students], by Scott Akehurst-Moore

Category:American law journals

Category:Bibliography

Category:Legal citation guides