California Style Manual Quick Reference Guide

Office of Reporter of Decisions    June 2018

California Style Manual citation examples

Cases (CSM § 1 et seq.)

Incept cite —first full citation of case

(Loeffler v. Target Corp. (2013) 58 Cal.4th 1081, 1104, fn. 5.)

(Perez v. Public Utilities Com. (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 1411.)

(Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm’n (2010) 558 U.S. 310.)

(Kucana v. Mukasey (7th Cir. 2008) 533 F.2d 534.) [2d Cir., 3d Cir.]

(Jones v. U.S. (C.D.Cal. 2014) 31 F.Supp.3d 1050.)

(State v. Seering (Iowa Ct.App. 2004) 678 N.W.2d 655, 667–669.)

(In re Greka Energy (Cal. O.S.H.A., Dec. 3, 2003, No. 03-R4D5-9248)

2003 WL 23111209, pp. *1 - *2.)

(D.R. Horton (Jan. 3, 2012) 357 NLRB No. 1 84, p. 2 [2012 NLRB

Lexis 11, p. *6].)

Subsequent cite, same paragraph

(Loeffler v. Target Corp., supra, 58 Cal.4th at p. 1104.) [or]

(Loeffler, supra, 58 Cal.4th at p. 1104.) [or]

(Loeffler, supra, at p. 1104.) [or]

(Loeffler, at p. 1104.) [most common] [or]

(Ibid.) [no intervening cite or fn.] [or]

(Id. at p. 1105.) [no intervening cite or fn.] [with or without comma]

(Id. at p. 1105, fn. 4.) [no intervening cite or fn.]

Subsequent cite, new paragraph (full supra cite)

(Loeffler, supra, 58 Cal.4th at p. 1104.) [If Loeffler short cite adopted –

note: short cites cannot be acronyms]

[or] In Loeffler, supra, 58 Cal.4th at page 1104 . . . [if not in parentheses]

(Aggrenox, supra, ___ F.Supp.3d at p. ___ [2015 U.S.Dist. Lexis 35634

at pp. *38-*39].) [If Aggrenox short cite adopted]

Parts of opinions, same case

(Maj. opn., ante, at p. 28.)

(Conc. & dis. opn. of Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., post, at pp. 4-5.)

Parts of opinions, different case

(Loeffler, supra, 58 Cal.4th at p. 1135 (dis. opn. of Liu, J.).)

(Citizens United, supra, 558 U.S. at p. 401 (conc. & dis. opn. of Stevens,

J.).) [assumes Citizens United short cite was adopted]

Just filed (date parenthetical with forum, file date & docket no.)

(In re Aggrenox Antitrust Litigation (D.Conn., Mar. 23, 2015, No. 3:14-

md-2516 (SRU)) ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, ___ [2015 U.S.Dist. Lexis

35634, *38].)

(Glossip v. Gross (2015) 576 U.S. ___, ___ [135 S.Ct. 2726, 2736].)

[forced blanks]

Order of “tags”

(Case A, supra, 50 Cal.4th at p. 10, italics added, quoting Case B, supra,

40 Cal.4th at p. 111.)

(People v. Paul (2010) 50 Cal.4th 6, 30 (dis. opn. of Black, J.), italics

added (Paul).)

(People v. Paul (2010) 50 Cal.4th 6, 8 [“blah blah” (italics added)].)

(People v. Paul, supra, 50 Cal.4th at p. 8 (Paul) [“blah blah”].)

(People v. Paul, supra, at p. 8 (Paul) [“blah”], overruled on another

ground in People v. Brown, supra, 60 Cal.4th 10.)

Caps (CSM § 4:1 et seq.)

Headings Was the Felony-murder Evidence All In?

Cap first and last words; lowercase word after hyphen

Lowercase and, but, a, an, the

Lowercase short prepositions (4 letters) (with, to, from)

Other lowercase: apartment 3, department 202, title VII, patrol unit,

count 2, section, division, chapter, part, court, appellate court, master

contract, state, county (unless a defined term or the County/State of . . .)

Codes, Statutes, and Rules (CSM § 2 et seq.)

Codes

(Code Civ. Proc., §§ 632, 633, subds. (d) & (e).)

(See id., § 635, subds. (f), (g); Civ. Code, §51, subd. (a)(1), (2).)

(Pen. Code, §§ 27 [blah], 28, subd. 1 [blah], 190.3 factor (b).)

(Cal. Law Revision Com. com., 29B pt. 3B West’s Ann. Evid. Code

(2009 ed.) foll. § 1101, p. 221.)

(Welf. & Inst. Code, former § 361.5, subd. (b)(4), added by Stats. 1987,

ch. 1485, § 39, p. 5624.)

(42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) [no subds.]

Acts & Stats.

. . . under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Pub.L. 101-336,

104 Stat. 327, enacted July 26, 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.) we . . .

. . . under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA; Pen.

Code, § 11164 et seq.) [or] (CANRA) (Pen. Code, § 11164 et seq.)

[if no defined term created, “The act states . . .” – not the Act]

(Stats. 2009, 3d Ex. Sess. 2007-2008, ch. 7, § 2, p. 6038, amending Sts.

& Hy. Code, § 2105.)

Regulations

(Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15000 et seq.; id., §§ 15091, subd. (a)(3)

[findings], 15093 [statement of considerations].)

(15 C.F.R. § 5000 (2010).) [“parts” in text]

Rules (no subds.)

(Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.810(a), (b) & (d).)

(Ct. App., First Dist., Policy Statement A, Assignment of writ petitions.)

(Fed. Rules Civ.Proc., rule 12(a)(1), 28 U.S.C.)

Legislative history (no AB or SB as short cite)

(Pen. Code, § 11165.7, as amended by Stats. 2000, ch. 916, § 5, p. 6813;

see Legis. Counsel’s Dig., Assem. Bill No. 1241 (1999-2000 Reg.

Sess.) 6 Stats. 2000, Summary Dig., p. 422.)

(Assem. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 678 (2005–2006

Reg. Sess.) as amended Aug. 14, 2006, p. 1.)

Assembly Bill No. 5 (2015-2016 Reg. Sess.) was supported by . . .

Senate Bill No. 3X 18 (2009-2010 3d Ex. Sess.) was supported by . . . .

(Voter Information Guide, Primary Elec. (Mar. 7, 2012) analysis of Prop.

36 by Legis. Analyst, pp. 46-47.) [consider adopting short cite]

[in 2000, ballot pamphlets started being called voter information guides]

Secondary authority (CSM § 3 et seq.)

(1 Jefferson, Cal. Evidence Benchbook (Cont.Ed.Bar 4th ed. 2015)

Hearsay and Nonhearsay Evidence, § 1.9, pp. 1-7 to 1-8 (rev. 3/14).)

(1 Witkin, Cal. Evidence (2015 supp.) Hearsay, § 36, p. 150.)

(Wegner et al., Cal. Practice Guide: Civil Trials & Evidence (The Rutter

Group 2014) ¶ 8:565, p. 8C-60.) [et al. used if more than 2 authors]

(Oxford English Dict. Online (2014) <http://www.oed.com> [as of Feb.

26, 2015].)

(Esty, Revitalizing Environmental Federalism (1996) 95 Mich. L.Rev.

570, 575–597.) [law reviews—Bluebook + CSM spacing]

Quotes (CSM § 4:12 et seq.) Is it quotable?

“[A] party who has lost money . . . has suffered injury . . . .”

Three dots for midquote omission, four dots for end

No dots for start-of-sentence omission or for fragments

To omit one or more paragraphs: [¶] . . . [¶]

Use brackets to adjust quote to your sentence’s syntax