How to Read a Case
Citation
Knowing how to read and write case citations is
an important skill for everyone studying criminal
justice. The figure below and the comments that
follow may help with your understanding of the basic
elements. Those of you going on to law school will
become aware of greater complexity than is shown
here. But this level of understanding is sufficient
for most of us.
Above are the parts of a standard case citation.
The citation tells us that a case called Furman
versus Georgia was decided in 1972 and can be found
in Volume 408 of the United States Reports,
starting on page 238.
Some Variations
- When using a direct quote from the case, it
is important to provide the specific page on
which that quote is found. In that case, the
citation would have the page added as follows:
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S.
238, 240 (1972)
OR
Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. at 240 (1972)
- Because federal appeals courts (circuit
courts) are found in one of twelve different
districts, the specific district is typically
added as follows:
Cooper v. Pate, 382 F.2d
443 (7th Cir. 1967)
- Ninety-four federal district courts are
spread throughout the country (there is at least
one in every state and the more populated states
have as many as four). The specific district
should be identified:
Howard v. United States,
864 F.Supp. 1019 (D. Colo. 1994)
Case Name
There are typically two names for a case.
Usually, the first name identifies who is bringing
the court action and the second name is the person
against whom action is being brought. In a criminal
law case action is almost always brought by the
state (e.g., People or State) against a person
(e.g., Joe) as in People v. Joe or State
v. Joe.
However, the “defendant” may not always stay the
same. In the Furman v. Georgia case, Furman
was originally the defendant in a murder case being
prosecuted in Georgia. However, Furman appealed his
conviction and in doing so he became the person
taking action against the state.
Year
This is the year in which the decision was
delivered by the court. It may not be (and in
appellate cases, probably isn’t) the year in which
the case was heard.
Name of Reporter
A “reporter” is a multi-volume publication where
court decisions are found. The full name and
abbreviations for the reporters you are most likely
to encounter as undergraduates are:
|
Full Name |
Official Abbreviation |
Type of Case Reported |
|
United States Reports |
U.S. |
U.S. Supreme Court |
|
Supreme Court Reporter |
S.Ct. |
U.S. Supreme Court |
|
Federal Reporter (First through third
series) |
F., F.2d, and F.3d |
Federal Appeals Courts |
|
Federal Supplement (First and second series) |
F.Supp, F.Supp2 |
Important decisions from Federal District
Courts |
|
Atlantic Reporter, California Reporter,
Northeastern Reporter, Pacific Reporter,
etc. |
A., Cal. Rptr., N.E., P. |
Appellate level state court cases appear in
one of the various state or regional
reporters. |
Volume Number and Beginning Page
Without knowing what volume of the reporter to
look in, and what page the case starts on, it would
be very difficult to track the case down. Not
impossible, however, as you can use the table of
cases in digests like West’s United States
Supreme Court Digest or, for very recent cases,
U.S. Law Week. Similar digests exist for
other federal and state cases.
The information for this handout was gleaned from
several sources. Especially useful were, Legal
Research: How to Find & Understand the Law, by
Elias and Levinkind, and from Ferdico’s Criminal
Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional. |
