Legal Abbreviations   Tags: abbreviations, legal_research  

This guide notes the abbreviation (followed by series designation, as applicable), full title and coverage for some of the most heavily used legal resources.

See Finding Library Materials for more information on how to find materials referenced in this guide.

Additional legal abbreviation resources include

Legal citation is rather unique. In brief, the part of a legal citation that indicates where something is published typically includes the following elements:

Volume or Title number
Publication (usually abbreviated). This may be followed by a series designation.
First page or section number Note: the symbol § means section.

Examples:
421 N.W.2d 877 refers to volume 421 of the North Western Reporter, Second Series page 877

44 U.S.C. § 1901 refers to Title 44 of the United States Code, section 1901

Iowa Code § 336.8 refers to section 336.8 of the Code of Iowa

I.C.A. § 336.8 refers to section 336.8 of the Iowa Code Annotated.

For a more extensive explanation of legal citation, see