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Citrus
Automatic Bluebook Citations to State Statutes
This page will show you how to use Citrus to automatically generate correct Bluebook citations to state statutes in your legal documents.
State Statutes
Begin by starting Microsoft Word 2003, Word 2007, or Word 2010 on a blank document. Then type this opening sentence:
The court may appoint an interpreter to assist a deaf juror.
Now cite the statement to a legal authority. Whenever you enter a citation, use the F2 key to mark it. For this example, press F2, then the following citation, then F2 again.
The court may appoint an interpreter to assist a deaf juror. F2 Colo Rev Statutes section 13-71-137 (2008). F2
When you press F2 a second time to indicate the end of the citation, Citrus will abbreviate, add punctuation, and change the word 'section' into section symbols as required by Bluebook rules, then automatically generate this citation:
The court may appoint an interpreter to assist a deaf juror. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-71-137 (2008).
You can usually use 'sections', 'section', 'secs', or 'sec' wherever the section symbol (§) would appear and Citrus will substitute § or §§ as required by Bluebook legal citation rules. In most cases, you can even omit the word 'section' or the § symbol altogether and Citrus will put it in the right place. For example, you can write this:
F2 Colo. Rev. Stat. 13-71-137 (2008). F2
Citrus will automatically put the citation into Bluebook format and generate this:
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-71-137 (2008).
If you enter a legal citation but forget to press F2, you can still have Citrus manage the citation. Simply use your mouse or keyboard to highlight the citation, then press F2. Try entering the following sentence into your document now:
In general, one must have a permit to build a dam in public waters. Minn stat 103G.245 (2008).
Highlight "Minn stat 103G.245 (2008)" and press F2. Citrus will automatically generate the following citation:
In general, one must have a permit to build a dam in public waters. Minn. Stat. § 103G.245 (2008).
Citrus generally needs only enough information to convey the type of source being cited and to construct a citation to that source. For example, the two major sources for Connecticut statutes are Conn. Gen. Stat. and Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. If you omit "Gen." or "General" to save time, Citrus will generate the correct citation anyway. Try this citation:
The Coordinating Council will monitor and report on the progress of broadband deployment in the state. F2 conn stat ann 4d-100(c)(1) (2000). F2
Citrus will generate a cite with "Gen.", include the publisher, and otherwise take the steps necessary to generate a correct Bluebook citation.
The Coordinating Council will monitor and report on the progress of broadband deployment in the state. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4d-100(c)(1) (West 2000).
In general, you may omit qualifiers such as Revised and General from your citation and Citrus will supply them where they can be inferred from context. West is the only publisher of Connecticut annotated statutes so Citrus can infer in the citation above that West is the publisher without requiring the writer to enter that information. In other states such as Indiana, both West and LexisNexis publish annotated statutes and so the writer must supply the name of the publisher.
Special Case: Constitution Reprinted in Statutory Source
When a state constitution appears in a statutory compilation, cite the constitution rather than the statutory compilation. For example, the Michigan state constitution is reprinted in chapter 1 of Michigan Compiled Laws, Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated, and Michigan Compiled Laws Service. However, do not cite the Michigan Constitution to one of the statutory sources:
Government is merely a tool to deliver benefit, security and protection to citizens of Michigan; the power originates with, and resides within, the people. Mich. Comp. Laws § 1.1 (2008).
Although the citation may be technically correct because the Michigan Constitution does appear as chapter 1 of the Compiled Laws, the citation is semantically incorrect because it fails to convey to the reader the full power of the source of authority. Rather than denegrating a constitution to the level of a statute, always cite it as a constitution:
Government is merely a tool to deliver benefit, security and protection to citizens of Michigan; the power originates with, and resides within, the people. Mich. Const art. I, § 1.
Follow this link to review how to use Citrus to cite to federal statutory information in the U.S. Code, or Follow this link to review how to cite to secondary sources such as the U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S.
