How to cite a foreign case

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B20 / R20.3 · Foreign, international, tribal & archival

A case from a non-U.S. domestic court. Common law (R20.3.1): a case name and a reporter. Civil law (R20.3.2): the court, the date, and the source.

Example

R v. Lockwood (1782) 99 Eng. Rep. 379 (KB).

More examples

Each of these is checked against the rules on every change to the tool.

• Chase v. Campbell, [1962] S.C.R. 425 (Can.).
• Bundesgerichtshof [BGH] [Federal Court of Justice] Apr. 7, 2003, 154 Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofes in Zivilsachen [BGHZ] 53, 126 (Ger.).
• Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación [CSJN] [National Supreme Court of Justice], 18/7/2001, “Frenquel, Adolfo c. Centro de Ortopedias / recurso extraordinario,” La Ley [L.L.] (2001-D-22) (Arg.).

What the citation needs

Required

• Case name (common law) — The case name, for a common-law decision (R20.3.1): “Chase v. Campbell”. A civil-law decision is identified by its court instead.

When they apply

• Date or year — Common law: the year in [brackets] when it is part of the reporter citation, in (parentheses) when it only dates the decision. Civil law: the decision’s date as the source gives it.
• Reporter citation (common law) — The reporter and first page, for a common-law case: “S.C.R. 425”, “99 Eng. Rep. 379”.
• Pincite — The exact page (or section, or paragraph) your point is on — not the first page. R1.2(f): pincites are required except after “see generally”.
• Jurisdiction (T10) — The country, abbreviated per T10, in parentheses at the end (R20.1). Always required for a civil-law case (R20.3.2(c)).
• Deciding court (common law) — R20.3.1: name it unless it is the jurisdiction’s highest court.
• Court, in its own language (civil law) — The civil-law court’s name in its own language (R20.3.2(a)): “Bundesgerichtshof”.
• Court abbreviation — R20.2.3: the full name the first time, the abbreviation in brackets.
• English translation of the court — An English translation of a non-English name, in brackets after it (R20.2.2(a)).
• Comma after the court — R20.7(a)’s Argentine and Chilean decisions have one; R20.3.2’s German and French ones do not. Table T2 decides, and is not in the source documents.
• Chamber / division — The chamber or division that decided it: “1e civ.”.
• Case name, where the source gives one — The case’s name.
• Reporter or source, in the original language — The reporter or journal, with volume and first page. The first time, its full name with the abbreviation in brackets (R20.3.2(b); R20.2.3).
• Annotation — A note or comment appended to the source (R3.4).
• Translated in — A work reprinting the source in translation, cited after it and introduced by “translated in” (R20.2.5).

In a brief and in a law review

The Bluebook sets citations two ways: the Bluepages for court documents and legal memoranda, the Whitepages for law review footnotes. Here is the first example above as each one prints it, in its typeface.

Court documents (Bluepages)

R v. Lockwood (1782) 99 Eng. Rep. 379 (KB) .

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

R v. Lockwood (1782) 99 Eng. Rep. 379 (KB) .

The words are the same in both; only the typeface changes.

Common mistakes

Each of these is a citation the checker refuses, with what it says is wrong and the corrected form.

Governing rules

B20 / R20.3

• T10 — geographical terms.
• 20 — foreign materials.
• 20.1 — jurisdiction (T10), given parenthetically.
• 20.3 — foreign cases.
• 20.3.1 — common law cases (deciding court parenthetically).

Build this citation with the generator, check one you have already written, or paste a whole list of footnotes to check them in order.

Related source types

Foreign, international, tribal & archival:

• World Court case (I.C.J. / P.C.I.J.)
• Other international tribunal or arbitration
• European Union document
• Other international organization document
• International yearbook or digest
• Foreign statute or constitution
• Treaty
• U.N. document
• Tribal Nation law
• Tribal order, ordinance or resolution
• Archival material