The reading and translation of case names are very important for legal English.
For example, the case Marbury v. Madison can be translated as “Marbury v. Madison” case. The lowercase “v.” is an abbreviation for versus. It means that one person is suing or prosecuting another person. Usually, there is an abbreviation of the case citation after the case name.
There is a basic rule for reading cases, called “VRP”, where V stands for Volume, R stands for Report, and P stands for Page.
A typical case citation:
United States v. Dark①,567②F2d. ③1097 ④(6th Cir. ⑤1979⑥)
①Case name
②Volume number 567
③Federal Reporter, Second Series
④Page number 1097
⑤Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
⑥Year 1979 (referring to the year of the Sixth Circuit Court’s ruling)
The volume number comes first, the report in the middle, and the page number at the end.
For example:
Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
Translation: Roe v. Wade case, Volume 410 of the United States Reports, Page 113 (1973)
Where: U.S. refers to the United States Reports
Roe v. Wade 93 S.Ct. 705 (1973)
Translation: Roe v. Wade case, Supreme Court Reports, Volume 93, Page 705 (1973)
Where: S.Ct. refers to the United States Supreme Court Reports.
Sometimes case names can be quite complex:
The general rule: ①Case name; ②Volume; ③Abbreviation of the report name; ④Page or paragraph number; ⑤Year and court in parentheses.
Environmental Defense Fund Inc. v. Costle①,12②Env’t Rep. ③Cas(BNA) 1001④(D.D.C. 1978).⑤
Where, Environmental Defense Fund Inc. v. Costle is the case name, 12 is the volume, Env’t Rep is the abbreviation, Cas(BNA) 1001 is the page or paragraph number, (D.D.C. 1978) is the year and court.
The complete translation is: Environmental Defense Fund Inc. v. Costle, Volume 12 of the Environmental Reports (Bureau of National Affairs) Page 1001 (D.C. District Court 1978)
Here are a few more examples:
Example 1. Comitec for Public Educ. and Religious Liberty v. Reagan 444 U.S. 640, 100 S. Ct. 840, 63 L. Ed. 2d. 94 (1980)
Translation: Comitec for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Reagan, Volume 444 of the United States Reports, Page 640; Volume 100 of the (Federal) Supreme Court Reports, Page 840; Volume 63 of the (Federal) Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition, Page 94 (1980).
Example 2. Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. 438 U.S. 559, 98 S. Ct. 2620, 57 L. Ed. 2d. 595 (1978)
Translation: Duke Power Company v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc., Volume 438 of the United States Reports, Page 559; Volume 98 of the (Federal) Supreme Court Reports, Page 2620; Volume 57 of the (Federal) Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition, Page 595 (1978).
Example 3: Cooper v. Aaron 358 U.S. 1, 78 S. Ct. 1401, 3 L. Ed. 2d. 5 (1958)
Translation: Cooper v. Aaron case, Volume 358 of the United States Reports, Page 1; Volume 78 of the Supreme Court Reports, Page 1401; Volume 3 of the (Lawyers’ Edition, Second Series) Page 5 (1958).
At this point, you should have a general understanding of how to read and translate these cases. However, with so many compilations in the U.S., how should one understand and recognize these abbreviations? Don’t worry, Super Law is here to summarize it for you. Remember to bookmark this article for future reference.
These abbreviations primarily represent:
1. Official compilations, including United States Reports (abbreviated as U.S.), which collects cases from the U.S. Supreme Court; additionally, each state court in the U.S. has its own official compilation of cases. For example, the index for the case Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co. is noted as: 26 N.Y.2d 219; 257 N.E.2d 870; 309 N.Y.S.2d 312; 1970 N.Y. LEXIS 1478; 1 ERC (BNA) 1175; 40 A.L.R. 3d 590, where 26 N.Y.2d 219 refers to New York’s official case compilation.
2. Unofficial compilations, such as the National Reporter System by West Publishing Corporation, which includes:
S.Ct. meaning Supreme Court Reporter; F. meaning Federal Reporter; F.2d meaning Federal Reporter, 2d Series; F.3d meaning Federal Reporter, 3d Series; F.Supp. meaning Federal Supplement; F.Supp.2d meaning Federal Supplement, Second Series; F.R.D. meaning Federal Rules Decisions; F.Cas. meaning Federal Cases; Fed.Appx meaning Federal Appendix; A. meaning Atlantic Reporter; A.2d meaning Atlantic Reporter, 2d Series; A.3d meaning Atlantic Reporter, 3d Series; N.E. meaning Northeastern Reporter; N.E.2d meaning Northeastern Reporter, 2d Series; N.W. meaning Northwestern Reporter; N.W.2d meaning Northwestern Reporter, 2d Series; S.E. meaning Southeastern Reporter; S.E.2d meaning Southeastern Reporter, 2d Series; S.W. meaning Southwestern Reporter; S.W.2d meaning Southwestern Reporter, 2d Series; So. meaning Southern Reporter; So.2d meaning Southern Reporter, 2d Series; P. meaning Pacific Reporter; P.2d meaning Pacific Reporter, 2d Series; N.Y.S. meaning New York Supplement; Cal.Rep. meaning California Reporter.
3. The relevant compilations published by the American Bar Association include:
A.L.R. meaning American Law Reports; A.L.R.Fed. meaning American Law Reports, Federal; L.Ed. meaning U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition; L.Ed.2d meaning U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition, 2d Series.
Well, that’s all for today’s discussion on reading and translating case names.
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