Case citation is a system used by legal professionals to identify past court case decisions, either in series of books called reporters or law reports , or in a neutral style that identifies a decision regardless of where it is reported. Case citations are formatted differently in different jurisdictions , but generally contain the same key information.
48-543: The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations , D.C. Cir. ) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals . It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, and it covers only the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia . It meets at the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, DC . The D.C. Circuit
96-535: A serial number . Citations to these reporters use the serial number in place of a page number. If a decision has not been published in a reporter, more identifying information is needed. Generally, citations to unreported cases involve the name of the court , the date of the decision and the case number assigned by the court. For example: Sø- og Handelsrettens dom af 3. maj 2018 i sag nr. V-17-17 (The Maritime and Commercial Court 's judgment of May 3 in case no. V-17-17). Certain authors format these citations to mimic
144-436: A circuit judge. When the office was created in 1948, the chief judge was the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire, on what has since 1958 been known as senior status , or declined to serve as chief judge. After August 6, 1959, judges could not become or remain chief after turning 70 years old. The current rules have been in operation since October 1, 1982. The court has eleven seats for active judges after
192-410: A judge be annually certified by the chief judge as having met at least one of three criteria: In addition, §371(e)(1)(e) provides that a judge not meeting any of these criteria may be certified as being in senior status by the chief judge if the criteria were not met "because of a temporary or permanent disability". The United States Code does not refer to senior status in its body text, although
240-669: A retired justice no longer participates in the work of the Supreme Court itself. That same year, Willis Van Devanter became the first Supreme Court justice to exercise the option. Since this option became available to Supreme Court justices, only ten have died while still in active service, the most recent being Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, 2020. In 1954, Congress revised requirements for senior status. Federal judges or justices could still assume senior status at seventy with ten years of service, but they could also assume senior status at 65 with fifteen years of service. In 1984,
288-452: A term of seven years, or until age 70, whichever occurs first. If no judge qualifies to be chief, the youngest judge over the age of 65 who has served on the court for at least one year shall act as chief until another judge qualifies. If no judge has served on the court for more than a year, the most senior judge shall act as chief. Judges can forfeit or resign their chief judgeship or acting chief judgeship while retaining their active status as
336-467: Is either the chief judge or the circuit justice of the circuit. For any other court, this supervisor is the chief judge of the court. Retired justices can be assigned to any court (except the Supreme Court) that the justice is willing to accept. Theoretically, a retired justice could also be assigned to act as circuit justice for a circuit, but this has never occurred. In 1919, Congress created
384-614: Is filled by the next circuit judge appointed by the president . Case citation A legal citation is a "reference to a legal precedent or authority, such as a case, statute, or treatise, that either substantiates or contradicts a given position." Where cases are published on paper, the citation usually contains the following information: In some report series, for example in England, Australia and some in Canada, volumes are not numbered independently of
432-588: Is italicized as in all other countries and the party names are separated by v (English) or c (French). Prior to 1984 the appellant party would always be named first. However, since then case names do not switch order when the case is appealed. Undisclosed parties to a case are represented by initials (e.g., R v RDS ). Criminal cases are prosecuted by the Crown, which is always represented by R for Regina (queen) or Rex (king). Reference questions (advisory opinions) are always entitled Reference re followed by
480-477: Is made, either in section 371 or in section 294 (which does address the assignment of retired justices), of senior justice . In practice, when a circuit or district judge on senior status sits on an inferior court case, the judge is referred to as "Senior Judge" in the opinion, while a retired justice is referred to as "Associate Justice" when doing so. The rules governing assignment of senior judges are laid out in 28 U.S.C. § 294. In essence, under normal conditions,
528-479: Is now [2005] 1 SCR 791. Most full stops are also removed from styles of cause. The seventh edition also further highlights the significance of neutral citations (i.e., tribunal-assigned citations that are publisher-independent). In 1999 the Canadian Judicial Council adopted a neutral citation standard for case law. The format provides a naming system that does not depend on the publication of
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#1732773358009576-415: Is often considered to be second only to the U.S. Supreme Court in status and prestige, and it is sometimes unofficially termed "the second highest court in the land". Because its jurisdiction covers the District of Columbia, it tends to be the main federal appellate court for issues of U.S. administrative law and constitutional law . Four of the nine current Supreme Court justices were previously judges on
624-445: Is specifically nominated to be chief, the office of chief judge rotates among the circuit judges. To be chief, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as chief judge. A vacancy is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges, with seniority determined first by commission date, then by age. The chief judge serves for
672-687: Is the citation by using the European Case Law Identifier , a ″neutral″ citation system introduced by the Council of the European Union in 2011, which Germany is participating in. The most important cases of the Federal Constitutional Court are published by the court in its official collection. This collection is abbreviated BVerfGE , whereas BVerfG is short for Bundesverfassungsgericht ,
720-1115: Is the necessary consequence of Roe vee Wade. Legal citation in Australia generally mirrors the methods of citation used in England . A widely used guide to Australian legal citation is the Australian Guide to Legal Citation , commonly known as AGLC, published jointly by the Melbourne University Law Review and the Melbourne Journal of International Law . The standard case citation format in Australia is: As in Canada , there has been divergence among citation styles. There exist commercial citation guides published by Butterworths and other legal publishing companies, academic citation styles and court citation styles. Each court in Australia may cite
768-593: The Federal Social Court ( Bundessozialgericht , BSG) is abbreviated BSGE [ de ] . The official collection of the Federal Fiscal Court ( Bundesfinanzhof , BFH) is BFHE [ de ] . Senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges . To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and have served at least 10 years, and
816-503: The "short citation" of published cases. The Danish Court Administration is currently working on a public database which will make all judgments available to the public (currently only the Supreme Court as well as the Maritime and Commercial Court do this). The database is expected to implement the European Case Law Identifier , which will make uniform, neutral citations of decisions possible. In Germany there are two types of citation:
864-511: The Courts of Appeals for the other geographical districts, as home-state senators have historically been able to hold up confirmation through the blue slip process. As of January 16, 2024: When Congress established this court in 1893 as the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, it had a chief justice, and the other judges were called associate justices, which was similar to
912-539: The D.C. Circuit: Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Clarence Thomas , Brett Kavanaugh , and Ketanji Brown Jackson . Past justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg , Antonin Scalia , Warren E. Burger , Fred M. Vinson , and Wiley Blount Rutledge also served on the D.C. Circuit before their appointments to the Supreme Court. Because the D.C. Circuit does not represent any state, confirmation of nominees can be procedurally and practically easier than for nominees to
960-513: The German article . If decisions are not yet published by the court, or will not be published at all, law journals can be cited, e.g., Where NJW stands for the law journal Neue Juristische Wochenschrift , 2009 is the year, 1234 the page of the beginning and 1235 the cited page(s) – "f." stands for "seq.". In general, citations of the official collections are preferred. The Federal Court of Justice ( Bundesgerichtshof , short BGH) publishes
1008-509: The German court name, and E stands for Entscheidung (decision). Starting in 2004, the court also publishes the BVerfGK collection, containing decisions made only by a Kammer , a specific panel of the court. The so-called Volkszählungsurteil [ de ] for example could be cited in full and in short. For the meaning of the different case numbers of the BVerfG see
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#17327733580091056-678: The U.S. ) of the Latin word versus , which means against . When case titles are read out loud, the v can be pronounced, depending on the context, as and , against , versus , or vee . Most Commonwealth countries follow English legal style: In the United States , there is no consensus on the pronunciation of the abbreviation v. This has led to much confusion about the pronunciation and spelling of court cases: During oral arguments in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992),
1104-424: The bench for ten years and six months and was 75 years old. In 1937, the option was extended to Supreme Court justices, although justices so electing are generally referred to as "retired" justices rather than having senior status. A senior justice is essentially an at-large senior judge, able to be assigned to any inferior federal court by the chief justice , but receiving the salary of a retired justice. However,
1152-415: The case in a law report. The standard format looks like this: There is a unique court identifier code for most courts. Denmark has no official standard or style guide governing case citation. However, most case citations include the same elements. Citations of decisions published in a reporter usually consist of the name or abbreviation of the reporter , the year or volume , the page number where
1200-439: The chief judge of that court can assign a senior judge of that court to perform any duty within the circuit that the judge is willing and able to perform. In special cases, the chief justice can assign a senior judge to any court. This is referred to as an assignment by designation , and requires that a certification of necessity be issued by the appropriate supervisor of the court. For a circuit or district court, this supervisor
1248-487: The chief judge or judicial council of a circuit may assign a senior judge belonging to that circuit to perform any duty within the circuit that the judge is willing and able to perform. A senior district judge can be assigned to an appellate case, and a circuit judge can be assigned to preside over a trial. For courts that do not fall within a circuit, such as the United States Court of International Trade ,
1296-483: The decision begin (sometimes followed by an identifying number if more than one judgment is on a page), as well as the name or abbreviation of the court which decided the case . As an example, the "Aalborg Kloster-judgment", a precedent-setting Supreme Court judgment regarding strict liability , is published in Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen volume 1968 as the second judgment on page 84. A citation of this case could take
1344-489: The elimination of Seat 8 under the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007. The seat that was originally the chief justiceship is numbered as Seat 1; the other seats are numbered in order of their creation. If seats were established simultaneously, they are numbered in the order in which they were filled. Judges who retire into senior status remain on the bench but leave their seat vacant. That seat
1392-490: The following information: Rather than utilizing page numbers for pinpoint references, which would depend upon particular printers and browsers , pinpoint quotations refer to paragraph numbers. In common law countries with an adversarial system of justice, the names of the opposing parties are separated in the case title by the abbreviation v (usually written as v in Commonwealth countries and usually as v. in
1440-509: The form U.1968.84/2H , UfR 1968 84/2 H , Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen 1968, p. 84/2 , or something similar. In this case U , UfR and Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen identify the reporter, 1968 identifies the year or volume, 84 identifies the starting page, /2 indicates that the judgment is the second one on that particular page, and H identifies the court which decided the case. Certain reporters, such as Tidsskrift for Skatter og Afgifter, do not identify published decisions by page number, but by
1488-419: The full citation of a case and its shortened form. In e.g. scientific articles, the full citation of a particular case is only used at its first occurrence; after that, its shortened form is used. In most law journals, the articles themselves only use the shortened form; the full citations for all articles sometimes are summarized at the beginning of that journals edition. A third type (yet not too widely spread)
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1536-546: The late 1990s, however, much of the legal community has converged to a single standard—formulated in The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation / Manuel canadien de la référence juridique , commonly known as the " McGill Guide " after the McGill Law Journal , which first published it. The following format reflects this standard: Broken into its component parts, the format is: The Style of Cause
1584-608: The most seniority in a given court. After 1948, the most senior judge was given the title "chief judge". In 1958, the term "senior judge" was given its current meaning of a judge who had assumed senior status. In a 2007 article in the Cornell Law Review , David Stras and Ryan Scott suggested that senior status may be unconstitutional . In the United Kingdom, retired justices of the Supreme Court of
1632-406: The official collections BGHSt [ de ] for its criminal law decisions and BGHZ [ de ] for those in private law . The Katzenkönigfall [ de ] e.g. would be cited in full and in short (in this example, the page cited is not specifically page 347 but that and those which follow, as indicated by the abbreviation "ff."). The official collection of
1680-509: The opportunity for courts to publish their decisions on websites and most published court decisions now appear in that way. They can be found through many national and other websites, such as WorldLII and AfricanLII , that are operated by members of the Free Access to Law Movement . The resulting flood of non-paginated information has led to numbering of paragraphs and the adoption of a medium-neutral citation system. This usually contains
1728-602: The participants demonstrated the lack of consensus on the pronunciation of " v. ", using different pronunciations. Solicitor General Ken Starr even managed to use all three of the most common American pronunciations interchangeably: This is the process of analysis that is quite familiar to the Court, very lengthily laid out by Justice Harlan in his dissent in Poe versus Ullman, and then adumbrated in his concurring opinion in Griswold against Connecticut. ... Well, I think that that
1776-562: The print citation. For example, This format was adopted as the standard in 2006, in the sixth edition of the McGill Guide. Prior to this format, the opposite order of parallel citation was used. The seventh edition of the McGill Guide, published 2010-08-20, removes most full stop/period (".") characters from the citations, e.g., a citation to the Supreme Court Reports that previously would have been [2005] 1 S.C.R. 791,
1824-504: The publication of the case in a law report. Most cases are now published on AustLII using neutral citations. The standard format looks like this: So the above-mentioned Mabo case would then be cited like this: Mabo v Queensland (No 2) [1992] HCA 23. There is a unique court identifier code for most courts. The court and tribunal identifiers include: There are a number of citation standards in Canada. Many legal publishing companies and schools have their own standard for citation. Since
1872-413: The requirements were further revised to what is often called the "Rule of 80": once a judge or justice reached age 65, if the sum of years of age and years of service on the federal bench is eighty or more, the judge is entitled to senior status. The "senior status" option was referred to as "retired judge" in 1919, when it was created. The title of "senior judge" was used to refer to the active judge with
1920-501: The same case slightly differently. There is presently a movement in convergence to the comprehensive academic citation style of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation published jointly by the Melbourne University Law Review and the Melbourne Journal of International Law . Australian courts and tribunals have now adopted a neutral citation standard for case law. The format provides a naming system that does not depend on
1968-442: The senior status option for inferior court judges. Before that, a judge who reached the age of seventy with at least ten years of service as a federal judge was allowed to retire and receive a pension for the rest of their life; afterward, a judge who qualified for retirement could assume senior status. John Wesley Warrington became the first federal judge to exercise this option on October 6, 1919. At that time, Warrington had been on
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2016-413: The structure of the Supreme Court. The chief justiceship was a separate seat: the president would appoint the chief justice, and that person would stay chief justice until he left the court. On June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 869 and 62 Stat. 985 became law. These acts made the chief justice a chief judge. In 1954, another law, 68 Stat. 1245, clarified what was implicit in those laws: that the chief judgeship
2064-413: The subject title. If the year of decision is the same as the year of the report and the date is a part of the reporter's citation, then the date need not be listed after the style of cause . If the date of the decision is different from the year of the report, then both should be shown. Where available, cases should be cited with their neutral citation immediately after the style of cause and preceding
2112-444: The sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at least 80 years. As long as senior judges carry at least a 25 percent caseload or meet other criteria for activity, they remain entitled to maintain a staffed office and chambers, including a secretary and their normal complement of law clerks , and they continue to receive annual cost-of-living increases. The president may appoint new full-time judges to fill
2160-422: The title of 28 U.S.C. § 371 is "Retirement on salary; retirement in senior status." The term senior judge is explicitly defined by 28 U.S.C. § 294 to mean an inferior court judge who is in senior status. A justice of the Supreme Court who (after meeting the age and length of service requirements prescribed in 28 U.S.C. § 371) retires is thereafter referred to as a "retired justice". No mention
2208-593: The vacancies in full-time judgeships caused by senior status. Some U.S. states have similar systems for senior judges. State courts with a similar system include Iowa (for judges on the Iowa Court of Appeals ), Pennsylvania , and Virginia (for justices of the Virginia Supreme Court ). Senior status at the federal level is defined by statute: 28 U.S.C. § 371 . To qualify for senior status, § 371(e)(1) requires that
2256-501: The year: thus the year and volume number (usually no greater than 4) are required to identify which book of the series has the case reported within its covers. In such citations, it is usual in these jurisdictions to apply square brackets "[year]" to the publication year (which may not be the year that the case was decided: for example, a case decided in December 2001 may have been reported in 2002). The Internet brought with it
2304-416: Was not a mere renaming of the position but a change in its status that made it the same as the chief judge of other inferior courts. Chief judges have administrative responsibilities with respect to their circuits, and preside over any panel on which they serve, unless the circuit justice (the Supreme Court justice responsible for the circuit) is also on the panel. Unlike the Supreme Court, where one justice
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