It is common practice in legal documents to cite to other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. Abbreviations may also be found for common words or legal phrases. Such citations and abbreviations are found in court decisions, statutes, regulations, journal articles, books, and other documents. Below is a basic list of very common abbreviations. Because publishers adopt different practices regarding how abbreviations are printed, one may find abbreviations with or without periods for each letter. For example, the Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States. The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency of the may appear abbreviated as "C.F.R." or just as "CFR."
For abbreviations not found in this list, here are alternate websites to search:
- Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government (maintained by IUPUI)
- The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations (maintained by Cardiff University).
For legal abbreviations not found online, try searching one of the following print sources. These publications are regularly found at law and other libraries.
- Garner, Brian. Black's Law Dictionary Black's Law Dictionary is the most widely used law dictionary in the United States. It was founded by Henry Campbell Black. It is the reference of choice for definitions in legal briefs and court opinions and has been cited as a secondary legal authority in many U.S. Supreme Court cases. 9th ed. St. Paul, MN: West Pub. Co., 2009.
- Harvard Law School Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. HLS is highly prestigious and perennially tops various law school rankings, including Judging. "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, a style guide, prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. The Bluebook is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal. Currently, it is in its 19th edition. It is so named". 18th ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association, 2005.
- McGill Law Journal. Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. 6th ed. Toronto: Carswell, 2006.
- Prince, Mary Miles. Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations. 6th ed. Buffalo, NY: Hein, 2009.
- Raistrick, Donald. Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations. 3rd ed. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2008.
List Of Common Legal Abbreviations Or Terms
- © — Copyright, meaning someone claims ownership of the text, book, music, software, etc.
- ® — Registered Trademark (typically a word or phrase identifying a company or product. Ex: Coca Cola)
- A. — Atlantic Reporter
- A.2d — Atlantic Reporter, 2nd Series
- Ala. Admin. Code — Alabama Administrative Code (unofficial text)
- Ala. Code — Code of Alabama 1975 (unofficial text)
- Alaska Admin. Code — Alaska Administrative Code (unofficial text)
- Alaska Stat. — Alaska Statutes (unofficial text)
- All ER — All England Law Reports
- A.L.R. — American Law Reports
- A.L.R.2d — American Law Reports, 2nd Series
- A.L.R.3d — American Law Reports, 3rd Series
- A.L.R.4th — American Law Reports, 4th Series
- A.L.R.5th — American Law Reports, 5th Series
- A.L.R.6th — American Law Reports, 6th Series
- A.L.R. Fed. — American Law Reports, Federal
- Am. Jur. — American Jurisprudence American Jurisprudence is an encyclopedia of United States law, published by Thomson Reuters. It was originated by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, which was subsequently acquired by the Thomson Corporation. The series is now in its second edition, launched in 1962. It is a staple of law libraries, and the current edition is over 140 volumes,
- Am. Jur. 2d. — American Jurisprudence, 2nd Series
- Anor - Another
- Ariz. Admin. Code — Arizona Administrative Code (unofficial text)
- Ariz. Admin. Reg. — Arizona Administrative Register (unofficial text)
- Ariz. Rev. Stat. — Arizona Revised Statutes (unofficial text)
- Ark. Code — Arkansas Code (unofficial text)
- B.A.P. — Bankruptcy Appellate Panel A Bankruptcy Appellate Panel is a group of judges of the United States bankruptcy courts who are appointed to hear appeals from certain bankruptcy cases under the supervision of the United States courts of appeals
- BFP — Bona fide purchaser A bona fide purchaser – referred to more completely as a bona fide purchaser for value without notice – is a term used in the law of real property and personal property to refer to an innocent party who purchases property without notice of any other party's claim to the title of that property. A BFP must purchase for value, meaning that he or
- BR or B/R — Bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a business or corporate debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring. In the majority of cases, however, bankruptcy is initiated by (also the abbreviation for the United States bankruptcy courts reporter, West's Bankruptcy Reporter)
- c. — Chapter
- cc. — Chapters
- CA — Class action In law, a class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. However, in
- CB — Casebook A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools. Rather than simply laying out the legal doctrine in a particular area of study, a casebook contains excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied. It is then up to the student to analyze the language of the case in order to determine what rule was
- CC — Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution . The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". Courts and commentators have tended to discuss each of these three areas of
- C-C — Counterclaim A counterclaim is made by the defendant to a civil proceeding, in a main action against the plaintiff or against the plaintiff and other people. This claim may be an attempt to offset or reduce the amount/implications of the plaintiff's original claim against the defendant, or it may be a different claim. Counterclaims did not exist at common law;
- CE — Collateral estoppel Collateral estoppel , known in modern terminology as issue preclusion, is a common law estoppel doctrine that prevents a person from relitigating an issue. One summary is that "once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, that decision ... preclude[s] relitigation of the issue in a suit on a different cause of
- CL — Common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different
- CNeg — Contributory negligence Contributory negligence is a common law defense to a claim based on negligence, an action in tort. It applies to cases where a plaintiff has, through his own negligence, contributed to the harm he suffered. For example, a pedestrian crosses a road negligently and is hit by a driver who was driving negligently
- COA — Court of Appeals An appellate court is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In most jurisdictions, the court system is divided into at least three levels: the trial court, which initially hears cases and reviews evidence and testimony to determine the facts of the case; at least one intermediate appellate
- Cx — Constitution A constitution is a set of laws that a set of people have made and agreed upon for government—often codified as a written document—that enumerates and limits the powers and functions of a political entity. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is. In the case of countries and autonomous regions of federal countries the
- Cx-C — Cross-claim A crossclaim is a claim asserted between codefendants or coplaintiffs in a case and that relates to the subject of the original claim or counterclaim Black's Law Dictionary
- Cxl — Constitutional
- Cal. Code — California Code (unofficial text?[1])
- Cal. Code Reg. — California Code of Regulations (see: CCR below)
- CCR — California Code of Regulations (official text?) (source: Thomson/West)
- CIF — Coming into force Coming into force is a term that refers to the process by which legislation, or part of legislation, and treaties comes to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this transition
- C.F.R. — Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States. The CFR is published by the Office of the Federal Register, an agency of the
- CJS — Corpus Juris Secundum Corpus Juris Secundum is an encyclopedia of U.S. law (see Secondary authority). Its full title is Corpus Juris Secundum: Complete Restatement Of The Entire American Law As Developed By All Reported Cases (1936- ) It contains an alphabetical arrangement of legal topics as developed by U.S. federal and state cases
- Cong. Rec. — Congressional Record The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks. At the end of a session of Congress, the daily editions
- Ct. Cl. — the United States Court of Federal Claims The United States Court of Federal Claims is a United States federal court that hears non-tort monetary claims against the U.S. government. The court is established pursuant to Congress's authority under Article One of the United States Constitution. Unlike judges of courts established under Article Three of the United States Constitution, judges Reporter
- Δ (Greek letter The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It is the first and oldest alphabet in the narrow sense that it notes each vowel and consonant with a separate symbol. It is as such in continuous use to this day. The letters were also used to represent delta Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Dalet. In the Ancient Greek language, it represented a voiced dental plosive /d/, while in Modern Greek it represents a voiced dental fricative /ð/, hence it is pronounced as "th" in "that&) — Defendant A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. (Note that American lawyers and judges often pronounce the word slightly differently than is common in standard American
- ER — Employer
- EE — Employee
- et al. — Latin for "and others".
- F. — Federal Reporter The Federal Reporter is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing. The third and current Federal Reporter series publishes decisions of the United States courts of appeals and the United States Court of Federal Claims; prior series had varying scopes that covered decisions of other federal courts as well. Though
- F.2d — Federal Reporter, 2nd Series
- F.3d — Federal Reporter, 3rd Series
- Fed. Reg. (sometimes FR) — Federal Register The Federal Register , abbreviated FR, or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the Federal Government of the United States that contains most routine publications and public notices of government agencies. It is a daily (except holidays) publication (see Federal Register for full text from 1994 to date)
- Fed. R. Bankr. P. — Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
- Fed. R. Civ. P. (sometimes FRCP) — Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure (i.e. for civil lawsuits) in United States district (federal) courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then approved by the United States Congress. The Court's modifications to the rules are usually based upon
- Fed. R. Crim. P. — Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are the procedural rules that govern how federal criminal prosecutions are conducted in United States district courts, the general trial courts of the U.S. government. As such, they are the companion to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The admissibility and use of evidence in criminal proceedings is
- Fed. R. Evid. (sometimes FRE) — Federal Rules of Evidence The Federal Rules of Evidence is a code of evidence law governing the admission of facts by which parties in the United States federal court system may prove their cases, both civil and criminal. The Rules were enacted in 1975, with subsequent amendments
- F.Supp. — Federal Supplement
- F.Supp.2d — Federal Supplement, 2nd Series
- GATT — General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was formed in 1947 and lasted until 1994, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995. The original GATT
- HDC — Holder in due course
- I.L.M. — International Legal Materials
- IRB — Internal Revenue Bulletin (from July 2003 to date)
- IRC — Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code is the main body of domestic statutory tax law of the United States organized topically, including laws covering the income tax (see Income tax in the United States), payroll taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes and statutory excise taxes. The Internal Revenue Code is published as Title 26 of the United States Code (USC), and
- ISLN — International Standards Lawyer Number
- J — Judge A judge, or arbiter of justice, is a lead who presides over a court of law, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is like an umpire in a game and conducts the trial impartially and in an open court. The
- JMOL — Judgment as a matter of law Judgment as a matter of law is a motion made by a party, during trial, claiming the opposing party has insufficient evidence to reasonably support its case. JMOL is similar to summary judgment, which is a motion made before trial. JMOL is also known as a directed verdict, which it has replaced in American Federal courts
- JNOV — Judgment notwithstanding verdict Judgment notwithstanding the verdict, also called judgment non obstante veredicto or JNOV) is a type of judgment as a matter of law that is ordered at the conclusion of a jury trial
- K — Contract In law, a contract is an agreement between two or more parties which, if it contains the elements of a valid legal agreement, is enforceable by law or by binding arbitration. A legally enforceable contract is an exchange of promises with specific legal remedies for breach. These can include compensatory remedy, whereby the defaulting party is
- L/C — Letter of credit A standard, commercial letter of credit is a document issued mostly by a financial institution, used primarily in trade finance, which usually provides an irrevocable payment undertaking
- LLC — Limited liability company A limited liability company or, more rarely, a company with limited liability (WLL), is a flexible form of business enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of business company, in the law of the vast majority of United States jurisdictions, that provides limited liability to its owners. Often
- LLP — Limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important difference from that of a
- N.E. — North Eastern Reporter
- N.E.2d — North Eastern Reporter, 2nd Series
- N.W. — North Western Reporter
- N.W.2d — North Western Reporter, 2nd Series
- Ors - Others
- ¶ (Pilcrow The pilcrow , also called the paragraph mark, paragraph sign, paraph, or alinea (Latin: a linea, "off the line"), is a typographical character commonly used to denote individual paragraphs)— Paragraph A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. Paragraphs consist of one or more sentences. The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is indented. At various times, the beginning of a paragraph has been indicated by the pilcrow: ¶
- Π (Greek letter The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It is the first and oldest alphabet in the narrow sense that it notes each vowel and consonant with a separate symbol. It is as such in continuous use to this day. The letters were also used to represent Pi Pi is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing [p]. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 80. Letters that arose from pi include Cyrillic Pe (П, п), Coptic pi (Ⲡ, ⲡ), and Gothic pairthra (𐍀)) — Plaintiff A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions, for the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an action) before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy, and if successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate court order (e.g., an
- P. — Pacific Reporter
- P.2d — Pacific Reporter, 2nd Series
- P.3d — Pacific Reporter, 3rd Series
- p. — Page
- pp. — Pages
- PL — Public Law
- Pub.L. — Public Law
- R.E. or R/E — Real Estate Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with improvements to the land, such as buildings, fences, wells and other site improvements that are fixed in location—immovable. Real estate law is the body of regulations and legal codes which pertain to such matters under a particular jurisdiction and include things such as commercial
- Rev. Proc. — Revenue Procedure (published in IRB)
- Rev. Rul. — Revenue Ruling Revenue Rulings are public administrative rulings by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States federal government that apply the law to particular factual situations. A revenue ruling can be relied upon as precedent by all taxpayers (published in IRB)
- s. or § The section sign , also called the "section symbol" or "squiggly," is a typographical character used mainly to refer to a particular section of a document, such as a legal code. It is frequently used along with the pilcrow (¶), or paragraph sign. When duplicated, as §§, it is read as the plural "sections" (§§ 13 — Section
- ss. or §§ — Sections
- S.C.R. (or SCR) — Supreme Court Reports (Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions are stare decisis, binding upon all lower courts of)
- S.Ct. — Supreme Court Reporter (Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Once appointed, Justices effectively)
- S.E. — South Eastern Reporter
- S.E.2d — South Eastern Reporter, 2nd Series
- SCOTUS - Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court of the United States)
- SI — Statutory instruments
- S/J — Summary judgment
- SMJ — Subject-matter jurisdiction
- So. — Southern Reporter
- So.2d — Southern Reporter, 2nd Series
- SOL — Statute of Limitations
- SOR — Statutory Orders and Regulations
- Stat. — United States Statutes at Large (See United States Code)
- S.W. — South Western Reporter
- S.W.2d — South Western Reporter, 2nd Series
- S.W.3d — South Western Reporter, 3rd Series
- T.D. — Treasury Decision
- ™ or TM — Trademark (such as a word or phrase identifying a company or product)
- UCC — Uniform Commercial Code
- UCMJ — Uniform Code of Military Justice (Laws of the U.S. military)
- UPC — Uniform Probate Code
- U.S. — United States Reports (beginning with v. 502 (1991))
- USC — United States Code (A free website for the full text is at U.S. Code. This text is maintained by the U.S. Gov't Printing Office, but must be checked for revisions or amendments after its effective date.)
- USCA — United States Code Annotated
- USCCAN — United States Code Congressional and Administrative News
- USCS — United States Code Service
- UST — United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (See Treaty series.)
- WTO — World Trade Organization
- W. Va. Code — West Virginia Code (unofficial text)
Notes
- ^ For more information on official, unofficial, and authenticated online state laws and regulations, see Matthews & Baish, State-by-State Authentication of Online Legal Resources, American Association of Law Libraries, 2007.
External links
Categories: Law lists | Legal terms | Legal citation
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