Q. How do I cite legal statutes?

If you are using Zotero to produce your citations and bibliography,we recommend you  manually insert legal citations instead of using Zotero.

Major citation styles require you to cite to statues but do not require that they be listed in a bibliography.

Both APA and Chicago Manual of Style recommend you use the Bluebook (available at the Main Desk of the HKS Library). The Bluebook distinguishes between statutes (subject-based codification of law) and session laws (text of entire bill as passed into law). Rule 12 and T1 provide rules and abbreviations for statutes and session laws. Rule 13 addresses how to cite other legislative materials generated as part of the legislative history of a law such as different bills, hearings, reports, hearings and other publications.

The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) provides details in section 14.294.(Harvard Key).

Also see

• Cornell University Law School Introduction to Citing Constitutions and Statutes
• APA Style Blog:Finding Federal Statutes
• Suffolk Law School, Bluebook Guide for Law Students, Statutes (Rule 12).