Bluebook Citation 21st Edition: Complete Guide for Indian Legal Citations

General rules for Bluebook citation

1. Times New Roman, Size 10, 1 line spacing, Justified.
2. Add full stop after every footnote.
3. Months should be written in abbreviated forms: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
4. Tables given at the end of the Bluebook should be referred to for abbreviated forms. Eg. Abbreviations of geographical terms, periodicals, publishing terms etc.
5. Citation Sentence begin with a Capital letter and end with a Period. One Citation may contain multiple citations separated by semicolon (;).
6. Quotation should contain the original text. It should be covered by “double-inverted commas”.

Primary Sources

Case law

The following way of citing case law using bluebook 21^st edition:

Citation format: <case name>, (<year of reporter>) <volume number> <reporter abbreviation> <first page> (<year of decision if different from the year of reporter>) (per <name of judge to cite dissenting or concurring opinion>) (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Note, there are several authorized and unauthorized reporters for the Supreme Court, state high courts, district courts, tribunals, and industry specific reporters. The tables below are a non-exhaustive list of reporters and the citation formats of other reporters may depart from the standard format, as illustrated below.

Union Carbide Corporation v. Union of India, AIR 1990 SC 273 (1989) (India).

Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 684, 751 (per Bhagwati, I., dissenting) (India).

A.D.M. Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla, (1976) 2 SCC 521, 644 (per Chandrachud, J., concurring) (India).

Refer T2.18 of Bluebook for more details of citing case.

Constitution

The Constitution of India can be cited as follows:

India Const. art. 19, cl. 1(a).

India Const. art. 269, amended by The Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000.

Legislation, Ordinance and Bills

The legislation can be cited as follows:

A government publication is preferred over other sources. The Gazette of India, published by the Government of India, must be the primary source of citation for central legislation. Each state has its own separate gazette for state legislation.

Citation format: <act/ordinance name>, <year of act/ordinance>, § <section number> (<if ordinance, date of ordinance>) (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Example:

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, §6(2)(a).

The National Food Security Ordinance, 2013, §3 (July 5, 2013).

Bills can be cited as follows:

Citation format: <bill name>, <year of Bill>, Bill No. <bill number> of <year of bill>, § <section number> (<date of bill>) (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>)

The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2013, Bill No. 112 of 2013, §3 (August 5, 2013).

Circulars, Directions and Guidelines

The following can be cited as follows:

A government publication is preferred over other sources. The gazette published by the Government of India or state government, as applicable, must be the primary source of citation.

Citation format: <name of issuing authority>, <circular/direction/guideline name>, <circulation/direction/guideline number, if available> (Issued on <date of circular/direction/guideline> (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Securities and Exchange Board of India, Master Circular for Depositories, SEBI/HO/MRD/DP/CIR/P/118 (Issued on October 25, 2019).

Reserve Bank of India, Master Directions on Relief/Savings Bonds, RBI/IDMD/2018-19/61 (Issued on July 2, 2018).

Reserve Bank of India, Guidelines for Licensing of “Payments Banks,” (Issued on November 27, 2014).

Rules and Regulations

The Rules and Regulations can be cited as follows:

Citation format: <rule/regulation name>, <year of rule/regulation>, Rule/Reg. <rule/regulation number> (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Income Tax Rules, 1962, Rule 5.

SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, Reg. 3.

Notification and Executive Order

The Notification and Executive Order can be cited as follows:

Citation format: <name of issuing authority>, <notification/executive order name, if available>, <notification/executive order number> (Issued/Notified on <date of notification/executive order> (<country abbreviation if not evident from context>).

Ministry of Finance, S.O. 387(E) (Notified on January 27, 2020).

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, CAB Order, F.No. 52/26/Cab-2010 (Issued on June 30, 2011).

Secondary Sources

Books

The Books can be cited as follows:

Volume No. (if any) NAME OF AUTHOR, TITLE OF THE BOOK pg. cited (Editors/Translators Name, edition cited year).

Example:

2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic William Maitland, The History of English Law 205-06 (2d ed. 1911).

Charles Dickens, Bleak House 49-55 (Norman Page ed., Penguin Books 1971) (1853).

Rules & Exceptions

For two authors, write both their names separated by „&‟.

For more than two authors write the name of the author that appears first followed by “et al.”

Journal Articles

a) For consecutively paginated journals (Where the periodical is organized by volume and page numbers continue throughout the volume, it is a consecutively paginated periodical)

Name of Author, Title of Article, Journal volume no. ABBREVIATION OF JOURNAL Page on which Article Begins, Page Cited (Year).

Example:

Charles A. Reich, The New Property, 73 YALE L.J. 733, 737-38 (1964).

Rules & Exceptions

For two authors, write both their names separated by „&‟.

For more than two authors write the name of the author that appears first followed by “et al.”

b) For non-consecutively paginated journals (works appearing in periodicals that are separately paginated within each issue)

Name of Author, Title of Article, ABBREVIATION OF JOURNAL, date of issue as appears in the cover, at first page of work, page cited.

Example:

Barbara Ward, Progress for a Small Planet, HARV. BUS. REV., Sept.-Oct. 1979, at 89, 90.

Newspaper Article

Author’s name, Name of Article/ news report, Abbreviation of Newspaper, Month Date, Year, at pg. no.

Example:

Ari L. Goldman, O’Connor Warns Politicians Risk Excommunication over Abortion, N.Y. TIMES, June 15, 1990, at A1.

Internet Sources

Name of the Author, Name of article, Name of Domain (Month date, year, time), URL.

Example:

Eric Posner, More on Section 7 of the Torture Convention, THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY (Jan. 29, 2009, 10:04 AM), http://www.volokh.com/posts/1233241458.html.

All these citations are used in writing a research paper or drafting a moot memorial or other academic work in India. You can refer to the bluebook website for more information if you want more details on the bluebook citation.

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