How to cite a foreign statute or constitution

Bluebook (22d ed.) citation format · B20 / R20.4–20.5 · Foreign, international, tribal & archival

Example

Loi 85-699 du 11 juillet 1985 tendant à la constitution d’archives audiovisuelles de la justice [Law 85-699 of July 11, 1985 for the Formation of Audiovisual Archives of the Judiciary], Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], July 12, 1985, p. 7885.

More examples

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

• Ley No. 217, 2 May 1996, Ley General del Medio Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales [Ley del Medio Ambiente] [Environmental and Natural Resources Law] tit. III, ch. II, sec. I, La Gaceta, Diario Oficial [L.G.], 6 June 1996 (Nicar.).
• Law 85-699 of July 11, 1985, art. 4 (Fr.).
• Ley Federal de Derechos de Autor [LFDA], Diario Oficial de la Federación [DOF] 21-12-1963 (Mex.), translated in Copyright Laws and Treaties of the World 521 (UNESCO et al. eds., 1992).
• Bundesverfassung [BV] [Constitution] Apr. 18, 1999, SR 101, art. 29 (Switz.).
• Code civil [C. civ.] [Civil Code] art. 1112 (Fr.).

What the citation needs

Required

• Name, in the original language — The source’s name, as the rule for this type gives it.

When they apply

• Abbreviation — R20.2.3: the full name the first time, the abbreviation in brackets.
• English translation — An English translation of a non-English name, in brackets after it (R20.2.2(a)).
• Jurisdiction (T10) — The jurisdiction, abbreviated per T10.
• Date — The date the rule for this source calls for, with the month abbreviated per T12 (“Nov. 24, 1978”).
• Subdivision — The article, section or paragraph cited, abbreviated per T16 (“art.”, “§”, “¶”).
• Source — Where the source is published: the reporter, gazette, series or collection, with its volume and page.
• Official publication — The official publication, as it appears on the source.
• Comma before the subdivision — R20.7(c) prints “Law 85-699 of July 11, 1985, art. 4”; R20.2.3 prints “BGB art. 12”.
• Law number (gazette form) — For a law cited with its gazette, the law’s number where it leads the citation: “Ley No. 217” (R20.7(c)).
• Date enacted (gazette form) — The date the law was enacted, after its number: “2 May 1996” (R20.7(c)).
• Official gazette, with its abbreviation — R20.7(c): the gazette that published the law, its abbreviation in brackets (R20.2.3).
• Gazette date — The date of the gazette issue that published the law (R20.7(c)).
• Gazette page — The gazette page: “p. 7885” (R20.7(c)).
• 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)

Loi 85-699 du 11 juillet 1985 tendant à la constitution d’archives audiovisuelles de la justice [Law 85-699 of July 11, 1985 for the Formation of Audiovisual Archives of the Judiciary], Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], July 12, 1985, p. 7885 .

Law review footnotes (Whitepages)

Loi 85-699 du 11 juillet 1985 tendant à la constitution d’archives audiovisuelles de la justice [Law 85-699 of July 11, 1985 for the Formation of Audiovisual Archives of the Judiciary], Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], July 12, 1985, p. 7885 .

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 / R20.4–20.5

• 20.7 — short forms for foreign materials.
• T10 — geographical terms.
• 20 — foreign materials.
• 20.1 — jurisdiction (T10), given parenthetically.
• 20.5 — foreign statutes.
• 20.2.2 — 20.2.2

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:

• Foreign case
• 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
• Treaty
• U.N. document
• Tribal Nation law
• Tribal order, ordinance or resolution
• Archival material