How to Properly Cite Legal Cases According to The Bluebook Standards
What is the correct citation format for referring to a page of a case immediately after it has been cited, without an intervening citation?
a) 473 U.S. 616 (1985)
b) Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 616 U.S. 473 (1985)
c) 473 U.S. 614, 616 (1985)
d) Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. v. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., 616 U.S. 473 (1985)
Correct Answer:
The proper citation form for referring to a page of a case immediately after it has been cited, without an intervening citation, is to list the volume, the reporter, and the page number, such as '473 U.S. at 616' according to The Bluebook citation standards.
When citing to page 616 of the Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614 (1985) case immediately after the case has been previously cited without an intervening cite, the correct format is 473 U.S. at 616. This is according to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, which provides guidelines for legal citation formats. Because the case name was mentioned in the preceding sentence, there's no need to repeat it; simply providing the volume, the reporter, and the specific page suffices.
In legal citations, the case name is followed by the volume number, the abbreviated name of the reporter, and the page number where the case can be found. The year in parentheses represents the year the case was decided. So, in this case, '473 U.S.' refers to the 473rd volume of the United States Reports, which is the official reporter for U.S. Supreme Court cases, and '616' refers to page 616.