APA Style Legal Material References

As with unauthored works, you must, when citing court cases, give enough information so your reader can retrieve the information from the same place you did. In text, give the name of the case, underlined, (for example, Van Duchein v. Breitan) and the year of the decision. Some court cases go on for years, so if more than one year is given, provide that as well. If you need more information on citing legal references, consult The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (1991), which is APA's source of information for legal documentation. In your list of references, include:

Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date).

A sample would look like this:

Lessard v. Schmidt, 349 F. Supp.1078 (E.D. Wisc. 1972).

Explanation: The decision was rendered by the federal district court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in 1972, and appears in volume 349 of the Federal Supplement; it starts on page 1078 of that volume. In text, you would cite this reference as follows:

Lessard V. Schmidt (1972) or (Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972)

Court cases at the trial level:

Casey v. Pennsylvania-America Water Co., 12 Pa. D. & C. 4th 168 (C.P.Washington County 1991).

Explanation: This decision was rendered by the Court of Common Pleas in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1991. It can be found in Pennsylvania District and County Reports, Fourth Series, beginning on page 168.