University of Missouri School of Law: Law Library Research Guides: Common Abbreviations Used in Legal Citations

Research Guides: Common Abbreviations Used in Legal Citations

Case Reporters

I. Citations for case reporters will normally be in the following form:

volume	page
\|	\|
359 SW2d 851
\|
abbreviation for reporter

II. The following are some of the most common abbreviations, which reporters they refer to, and the location(s) where each begins:

Abbreviation	Reporter	Courts	1st Floor Location
U.S.	United States Reports	U.S Supreme Court	Bank 4
SCT	Supreme Ct Reporter	same	Bank 4
L.Ed	Lawyer's Edition	same	Bank 4
F2d	Federal Reporter (F3d, etc.)	U.S. Ct of Appeals	Bank 4
F.Supp	Federal Supplement	U.S. District Court	Bank 4
A2d	Atlantic Reporter, second series	regional compilation of state reports	Bank 3
NE2d	Northeastern Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
NW2d	Northwestern Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
P2d	Pacific Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
SE2d	Southeastern Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
SO2d	Southern Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
SW2d	Southwestern Reporter, second series	same as above	Bank 3
NY2d	New York Supplement, second series	compilation of NY state reports	Bank 3
Cal Rptr	California Reporter	compilation of Cal. state reports	Bank 3
Mo	Missouri Reports	Missouri Supreme Court	Bank 1
Mo App	Missouri Appeal Reports	Missouri Appellate Courts	Bank 1

Statutes & Regulations

I. Citations to Statutes may take one of two general formats:

A. Federal:

volume or title	section
\|	\|
42 USCA 816
\|
abbreviation of source

B. State:

	section number
	\|
V.A.M.S.	558.040
\|
abbreviation of source

Abbreviation	Title	Location(s)
PL	Public Law (Statutes at Large)	1st Fl, Range 161b
Stat.	Statutes at Large	1st Fl, Range 161a - 161b
USC	U.S. Code (unannot.)	1st Fl, Range 162a
USCA	U.S. Code Annotated	1st Fl, Range 161a; 157a
USCCAN	U.S. Code Congresnl & Administrative News	1st Fl, Range 161b; 157a
FR	Federal Register	1st Fl, Range 154a - 156b
CFR	Code of Federal Regulations	1st Fl, Range 151a - 153b
L. or Laws	Laws of Missouri	MO REF
RSMo	Revised Statutes of Missouri	MO REF, Reserve, DOC MO
VAMS	Vernon's Annotated Missouri Statutes	MO REF, Reserve, DOC MO
Mo Reg	Missouri Register	1st Fl, Range 102a
CSR	Code of State Regs.	1st Fl, Range 102a

Encyclopedias and Annotations

I. The two most prominent legal encyclopedias are Corpus Juris Secundum and American Jurisprudence. They are abbreviated CJS and AmJur, respectively. The citation format is similar for both:

	abbreviation for encyclopedia		section number
	\|		\|
1	Am Jur 2d,	Abandoned, Lost and Unclaimed Property	112
\|		\|
volume number		topic

American Jurisprudence is located in Bank 1 on the first floor (Plaza Level).
Corpus Juris Secundum is no longer owned by the library.

II. The most popular series of annotations is the American Law Reports Anotated. There are currently six series, all located in Bank 3 on the first floor (Plaza Level):

ALR	ALR 3d	ALR 5th
ALR 2d	ALR 4th	ALR Federal (Fed)

They are all cited as follows:

volume		page
\|		\|
25	ALR 2d	677
	\|
abbreviation for series


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