What are legal citations? What is the significance of correct citation?

Citing a law assignment and research paper in legal studies is as important as citing academic papers in other disciplines. It is an ideal way to find sources and give information concerning the ideas addressed in the paper. When you accurately cite a law in APA, you keep yourself distant from the risk of plagiarism. Notwithstanding the writing style, law assignments can be cited by using various sources such as legal documents, statutes, court hearings, case laws, legislations, etc. The references listed at the paper’s end help structure the sources accurately. It provides complete details about the sources, including abbreviations and special terms.

If the citation in a legal paper is inadequate or lacks precision, the learner or the publisher may be charged with copyright infringement or plagiarism. Learning how to cite a law in APA and provide in-text citations and reference lists is crucial to stay safe. You can contact our citation editing service for accurate help if you are looking for assistance.

How to cite a law in APA?

As per the APA style guide, if somebody wants to reference legal materials, they should refer to ‘The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. However, the book is not recommended to be used in Australia. In Australia, the fourth edition of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation should be utilized for formatting and entering the sources in the reference list. If you are considering citing a federal law, act, or American legal statute by adopting APA formatting style, you must affix ‘U.S.C’ as a prefix with your citation. It is also essential to write a title with the section of the law, the first publishing year, and the URL (if available online). We can consider an example to understand how to cite a law in APA.

Template:

Name of selected law, Title number U.S.C (or any other code) § Section number (Year). URL

In-text citation:

(Labor Commission on the Workplace Ethics Act, 2015-2016)

Reference list:

Labor Commission on the Workplace Ethics Act, U.S.C. H.R. 4567 (2015-2016). https://www.parliament.gov/bill/345/parliament/gov/bill/567.

How to cite a law in APA? In case the law cited by you does not have an individual code nor has a code by itself for a legal document, or for a public law, mention a public law number in a database or write the source by informing about where and how it was reported. Simply put, mention the detailed data about the citation for the ease of your professor and the other readers.

Explaining the symbols used in legal citations

For legal citations, the abbreviation ‘U.S.C’ is utilized in the United States to refer to the ‘United States Codes.’ ‘U.S.C’ stands for US code. The laws that are connected to relevant compilations are also divided into smaller parts that are called ‘Titles.’ Going by the rules, you should either write a complete title or section when you cite a law in APA.

When referring to a particular section, it is essential to utilize the special symbol ‘§’. You may have come across this symbol previously while reading any legal document. The symbol denotes sections, and it can be inserted in MS Word by selecting the ‘Insert’ tab, clicking the ‘Symbol’ option, and choosing the ‘Special Character.’ You can find the symbol under the ‘section’ part.

If you want to include a legal citation with several successive sections of the code, statutes, or law, utilize the ‘et seq.’ as a prefix. The term ‘et seq.’ is a Latin word that means ‘and what follows.’ It is to be used immediately after the numbering of the first section. As per the APA manual, it must be written in italics.

Example:

784a Copyright Act of 2007, 9 U.S.C. § 9 et seq. (2007).

Example formats to cite different legal sources in APA

1. In case the cited law is not present in the U.S.C., you can utilize the public law number and any other details linked with the source.

Template:

Name of law, Pub. L. No. Number, volume number Source page number (Year). URL (if present).

In-text citation:

(Abolition of Slavery Act of 2020, 2020)

Reference list:

Abolition of Slavery Act of 2020, Pub. L. No. 221-3, 177 Stat.4 (2020).

• Citing state laws: As a student of law, you should also cite a law in APA. The law can be related to any federal laws followed in individual states. The prefix ‘U.S.C.’ is converted to an abbreviation for the particular law code concerning the selected state. With regards to the sections and titles, they remain unchanged. You may also come across chapter numbers or articles in place of titles in some of the sample source citations. We can help you with an example of how to cite a law in APA:

Template:

Name of the law, title number code source § section number (Year). URL

In-text citation:

(Child Protection Act, 1999)

Reference list:

Child Protection Act, Tx. Code 10. § 99(R) HB 2121 (1999). https://state.child.gov/cpodocs/99R/billtext/html/HB02121.htm

Frequently asked questions

Can I cite a law in APA utilizing public law numbers?

Ideally, you should cite a law in APA by its location in the U.S.C. However, if the law spreads across several sections of the code or is missing from the code, the public law number must be included along with other details.

Is it necessary to mention the URL in an APA legal reference?

Including a URL to cite a law in APA is optional. But it can be included for the convenience of the readers.  

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