1. Bluebook 101: Introductory Signals
(for briefs and memoranda,
see R. B1.2)
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2. If signals baffle you, you aren’t 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 Book’s 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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4. What is an introductory signal?
It’s a concise way of alerting the reader to what you think you’re doing with the citation that follows.
For instance,
E.g. is a quick way to say: “I’m 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 I’m 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 you’re 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 § (1) (2006) (limiting marriage to people 18 and older); WASH. REV. CODE § (2006) (limiting purchase of tobacco).
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Accord
Accord means “I just cited something that supports my proposition, and now here’s 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 don’t pay their share of taxes. As Peter De Vries quipped, “The Rich aren’t 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 you’re citing something that clearly supports what you just said.
It’s 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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12. 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 source’s 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 doesn’t exactly support what you just said, but it’s close enough to lend support.
An explanatory parenthetical is strongly recommended.
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Example
The fairy tale 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) (wolf blowing down houses, presumably with intent to eat anthropomorphized pigs).
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Compare … with …
This signal is what it sounds like -- you’re comparing one case (or article or statute) with another.
To help the reader figure out why you’re comparing this and that, include parentheticals.
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Negative Signals
If the source supports the proposition, use:
If it doesn’t, use:
[no signal]
Contra
See
But see
Cf.
But cf.
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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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21. 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. It’s just a way to bring order to long, messy footnotes.
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