Bluebook 101: Introductory Signals

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Bluebook 101 Introductory Signals

• R. 1
• (for briefs and memoranda, see R. B4)

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If signals baffle you, you arent alone.

• The rules on signals are a virtually
  cryptographic code.1
• 1. FREDERICK WIENER, BRIEFING AND ARGUING FEDERAL
  APPEALS 223 (1961)

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• The rules on signals more than all the others
  combined, have contributed to the Blue Books
  notoriety.2 They are back in all their glorious
  inscrutability.3
• 2. Peter Lushing, Book Review, 67 COLUM. L. REV.
  599, 601 (1967) (reviewing A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF
  CITATION (1967)).
• 3. Id.

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What is an introductory signal?

• Its a concise way of alerting the reader to what
  you think youre doing with the citation that
  follows.
• For instance,
• E.g. is a quick way to say Im citing one or
  two sources but there are a bunch I could cite.
• Contra is a quick way to say I know that this
  source is on the other side of what I just said.

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No signal

• No signal at all means what Im citing clearly
  supports or identifies what I just said.
• Use no signal when citing
• something that directly supports the text
• the source of a quotation
• something referred to in the text

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E.g.,

• E.g. (L. exempli gratia) means for example.
• What youre citing supports what you said, but
  there are other authorities too.
• Can be combined with other signals (But see,
  e.g., )
• Note the comma after E.g. is not italicized.

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Example

• Washington law restricts teenagers from many
  activities.4
• 4. E.g., WASH. REV. CODE 26.04.010(1) (2006)
  (limiting marriage to people 18 and older) WASH.
  REV. CODE 70.155.080 (2006) (limiting purchase
  of tobacco).

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Accord

• Accord means I just cited something that
  supports my proposition, and now heres another
  thing that supports it too.
• You can also use Accord when you want to cite
  another jurisdiction.

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Example

• Many people perceive that rich people dont
  pay their share of taxes. As Peter De Vries
  quipped, The Rich arent like us -- they pay
  less taxes.5
• 5. Mark Shields, Editorial, Anger About
  Privilege, WASH. POST, July 30, 1989 (quoting De
  Vries). Accord id. (quoting Leona Helmsley Only
  the little people pay taxes.)

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See

• See means youre citing something that clearly
  supports what you just said.
• Its just a hair less direct than No signal.

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Example

• The Human Rights Committee was created by the
  Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.6
• 6. See THOMAS BUERGENTHAL, DINAH SHELTON DAVID
  P. STEWART, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN A
  NUTSHELL 49 (3d ed. 2002).

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Signals as verbs Example

• See WILLIAM L. DWYER, IPSE DIXIT HOW THE WORLD
  LOOKS TO A FEDERAL JUDGE (2007).
• For an insightful and charming collection of
  speeches by a UW alumnus, see WILLIAM L. DWYER,
  IPSE DIXIT HOW THE WORLD LOOKS TO A FEDERAL
  JUDGE (2007).

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See also

• Use see also when you have already cited
  something that directly supports you and you want
  to add more.
• A parenthetical explaining the sources relevance
  is encouraged.

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Example

• If children let others into their home while
  their parents are gone, crazy things can happen.7
• 7. See DR. SEUSS, THE CAT IN THE HAT (1957). See
  also RISKY BUSINESS (Geffen Film Co. 1983)
  (teenager bringing others into home while parents
  away).

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Cf.

• Cf. is the abbreviation for confer, Latin for
  compare.
• Use when cited authority doesnt exactly support
  what you just said, but its close enough to lend
  support.
• An explanatory parenthetical is strongly
  recommended.

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Example

• The wolf eats people.8
• 8. See JACOB GRIMM WILHELM GRIMM, Little Red
  Riding Hood, in GRIMMS FAIRY TALES 100 (1812).
  Cf. THE THREE LITTLE PIGS (United Artists 1933)
  (blowing down houses, presumably with intent to
  eat pigs).

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Compare with

• This signal is what it sounds like -- youre
  comparing one case (or article or statute) with
  another.
• To help the reader figure out why youre
  comparing this and that, include parentheticals.

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Negative Signals
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See generally

• Use for background material.
• Parentheticals are encouraged.

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Order of Signals

• Multiple signals in one footnote no signal,
  e.g., accord, see, see also, cf., compare with,
  contra, but see, but cf., see generally.
• Start with the strongest, most direct support,
  then negative, then general.

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Order within each signal

• If one authority is considerably more helpful or
  authoritative, lead with it.
• Otherwise, read the lists in R. 1.4.
• This rule is long, but it only comes up with
  string cites. Its just a way to bring order to
  long, messy footnotes.