They trace the origin of The Bluebook to a 1920 publication by Karl N. However, according to a 2016 study by two Yale librarians, Harvard's claim is incorrect. Electronic media and other nonprint resourcesĪccording 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.Books, reports, and other nonperiodic materials.Titles of judges, officials, and terms of court.Italicization for style and in unique circumstances.A mobile version was launched in 2012 within the rulebook app, an app that allows lawyers, scholars, judges, law students, paralegals, and others involved in the legal profession to reference federal- and state-court rules, codes, and style manuals on iPad and other mobile devices. Īn online-subscription version of The Bluebook was launched in 2008. California has allowed citations in Bluebook as well as the state's own style manual, but many practitioners and courts continue recommending the California Style Manual. Attorneys in those states must be able to switch seamlessly between citation styles depending upon whether their work product is intended for a federal or state court. In other states, the local rules are different from The Bluebook in that they use their own style guides. Delaware's Supreme Court has promulgated rules of citation for unreported cases markedly different from its standards, and custom in that state as to the citation format of the Delaware Code also differs from it. Some of the local rules are simple modifications to The Bluebook system. Furthermore, many state courts have their own citation rules that take precedence over the guide for documents filed with those courts. The Supreme Court uses its own unique citation style in its opinions, even though most of the justices and their law clerks obtained their legal education at law schools that use The Bluebook. Currently, it is in its 21st edition (published July 2020). The Bluebook is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal. There are also several 'house' citation styles used by legal publishers in their works. law schools, and is also used in a majority of federal courts. It is taught and used at a majority of U.S. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is a style guide that prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States.

The bluebook 20th edition pdf