Case citations have for many years followed a standard format. A typical
case citation appears as follows:
O'Donnell v. Sardegna, 646 A.2d 398 (Md. 1994).
The elements of this citation are:
O'Donnell v. Sardegna
names of parties to the action
646
volume number of the reporter
A.2d
abbreviation of the reporter title; this citation is
to Atlantic Reporter 2d, the West regional reporter which includes
Maryland cases
398
the page number on which the particular
case begins
Md.
the abbreviation for the court which decided the case
- here the Maryland Court of Appeals (this information is found in
Table T. 1 of the Bluebook)
1994
the year the case was decided
The dominant citation manual that governs legal citation form is the
Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Citation rules according to this
manual are complex. Many jurisdictions have local citation rules that
supplement, alter, or replace the rules of the Bluebook.
