Citing to Court Documents

By SlovakDennis on Thu, 11/28/2024 - 19:58

Forums

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how one would cite to documents (for example: a complaint, a legal brief, a motion, etc.) for historical unpublished cases? In this particular instance, the case files are obtained from the Superior Court Clerk's Office

I have attached an example of the first page of a complaint.

The example cite I came up with per 8.19 is:

Atlantic County, New Jersey, Superior Court Chancery Division, Docket No. F-3149-57, Township of Buena Vista vs. Block 176, Lot 18, for "Civil Action Complaint," August 18, 1958, Superior Court Clerk’s Office, Trenton.

I feel like this doesn't look correct, though.

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Upload a document
Superior Court

Submitted byEEon Fri, 11/29/2024 - 08:21

Good morning SlovakDennis. You've well adapted 8.19 from the older editions. EE's only tweak would be to use a semicolon instead of a comma to separate the layers between (a) the details that identify the document and (b) the details that identify the repository.

For our readers who are using EE4, the revised section is at 9.17. This type of record is also used as model for Template 9.

Thank you so much!

 

If you are then citing to a different document from the same case in a subsequent endnote, would you use the abbreviated form? ie:

Atlantic Co., NJ, Superior Court Chancery Division, Docket No. F-3149-57, Buena Vista vs. Block 176, Lot 18, [DOCUMENT NAME], [DATE].

Thanks again!

Submitted byEEon Sat, 11/30/2024 - 09:38

SlovakDennis, for a subsequent cite to the same file, you'd cite the case name (Buena Vista vs. Block 176, Lot 18), the exact document, and the who, what, when info to identify that document.