How to Find Cases by Citation
Brian Huddleston, Senior Reference Librarian and Associate Professor
Loyola University New Orleans School of Law Library
A “case” in legal research commonly refers to the reported decision of a court which explains the reasoning behind its ruling for one party over the other. The majority of state cases published in the United States are from state appellate and supreme courts: state trial courts rarely publish written decisions. At the federal level, reported cases come from Federal District Courts (the trial courts of the federal judiciary), the Federal Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. NOTE: not all cases have published written opinions.
Case “reporters” are the sets of books where cases are published. A case can be located using its full citation, which will look something like this case from a Federal Court of Appeals:
Ellenburg v. Brockway, Inc., 763 F.2d 1091 (9th Cir., 1985)
This citation has several parts -
The Case Name: Ellenburg v. Brockway, Inc.
The Reporter Citation: 763 F.2d 1091
The Court and Date: (9th Cir., 1985)
The Reporter Citation part of this full citation:
763 F.2d 1091
indicates where to find this particular case can be found:
|
Reporter Volume |
Reporter Name |
Page Within the Volume |
Reporter Citation |
763 |
F.2d |
1091 |
|
Volume 763 |
Federal Reporter, Second Series |
Page 1091 within volume 763 |
So to find this case, look in the reporter called “Federal Reporter, Second Series”, in volume 763, at page 1091 of that volume.
Nearly all reporter citations follow this same format and have these same three parts:
The vast majority of case law can be found in one of the reporters listed in the chart below. These reporters contain general case law from state and federal courts.
General State and Federal Case Law Reporters
Reporter |
Reporter Abbreviation |
Court(s) |
United States Reports Supreme Court Reporter Lawyer’s Edition., Lawyer’s Edition Second Series |
U.S. S.Ct. L.Ed., L.Ed.2d |
U.S. Supreme Court* |
Federal Reporter, Federal Reporter Second Series, Federal Reporter Third Series |
F., F.2d., F.3d |
U.S. Federal Courts of Appeal |
Federal Supplement, Federal Supplement Second Series |
F.Supp. F.Supp. 2d |
U.S. Federal District Courts |
Atlantic Reporter, Atlantic Reporter 2d Northeastern Reporter, Northeastern Reporter 2d Northwestern Reporter, Northwestern Reporter 2d Pacific Reporter, Pacific Reporter 2d, Pacific Reporter 3d Southeastern Reporter, Southeaster Reporter 2d Southwestern Reporter, Southwestern Reporter 2d Southern Reporter, Southern Reporter 2d |
A., A.2d N.E., N.E.2d N.W., N.W.2d P., P.2d, P.3d S.E., S.E.2d S.W., S.W.2d So., So.2d |
Cases from courts of all the fifty states, arranged into these “Regional Reporters” |
(*Note that there are three different reporters that publish cases from the U.S. Supreme Court. The text of the cases are the same in each reporter: the main difference is the finding tools and editorial enhancements added in the two commercial reporters, S.Ct. and L.Ed.)
All the general state and federal case law reporters in the chart on the previous page are located on the second floor of the Loyola Law School Library in ranges 210 through 226 (the range numbers for each row of books in the library are located on the ends of the rows). Maps which show the different areas of the library, including the range numbers for each row, are posted throughout the library and are available at the Circulation Desk on the first floor.
There are many other reporters that also contain cases. Many of these only contain cases related to a specific legal subject, such as federal tax law. These reporters will typically contain both cases that all appear in the general reporters listed on the previous page, as well as cases that do not appear in those reporters. Here are a few example citations of these types of reporters:
Reporter Citation Reporter Name
97 T.C. 120 United States Tax Court Reports
151 LRRM 1121 Labor Relations Reference Manual
43 UCC Rep. Serv. 2d 793 Uniform Commercial Code Reporting Service,
Second Series
As you can see, the full name of these miscellaneous reporters can sometimes be easily figured out, and sometimes not. To try and find these other reporters, look up their names in the library’s On-Line Catalog. Unfamiliar reporter abbreviations can often be found in:
Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
KF 246.B46 (Reference)
For any further help on this or any other legal research subject, please feel free
to ask one of the reference librarians at the Reference Desk on the second floor.
A copy of this handout is available through the library catalog at
under the link for "Pathfinders".