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Bluebooking and Legal Citation

Rules for California Regulations

  • T1.3- California- the basic format for California Regulations is shown at the end.
  • R14.2- detailed rules for federal regulations. According to the introduction to R14, state materials should be cited by analogy to federal materials.

Warning!

 

Caution sign with hand on orange background.

Caution by kaneiderdaniel/ CC BY SA 3.0

Do not rely solely on this page to Bluebook.

Please keep in mind:

  1. Your professor or court system may have special rules.
  2. Rules or situations may have changed since this page was last updated.
  3. We may be wrong! 

Double check with your professor, outside guides, and the Bluebook rules themselves.

If you notice a mistake, please contact library.reference@lls.edu

Basic Bluebook Format for California Regulations

Basic Format

Cal. Code Regs. tit. 1, § 1 (2017)

Formatting Tips

  • In academic writing, Cal. Code Regs. is in small caps and everything else is in normal type. To make small caps in Word or other Microsoft products, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Shift+K on a PC or Command+Shift+K on a Mac.
  • In court documents, everything, including Cal. Code Regs., is in normal type.
  • To make the § symbol in Word, select Insert > Symbol, then select §. Click Insert to add the symbol or Shortcut Key to create an easy to remember keyboard shortcut, like Alt S. (See Screencap tab.)

Finding the Citation Information for the California Code of Regulations

The citation information for the California Code of Regulations is shown at the top of the screen on both Lexis and Westlaw.

Both Lexis and Westlaw use an abbreviated format the mimics the format for the Code of Federal Regulations. Make sure to convert the citation into the Bluebook required format.

For example, 17 CCR § 16201 becomes Cal. Code Regs. tit. 17, § 16201.

Both the print and online version of the California Code of Regulations are updated on a weekly basis, so (unless it is the first week of January), the year is always the current year.