Shepard's Citations for Case Law

Contents: Legal Citations | Supreme Court Citations | Federal Citations | Atlantic Region Citations | Shepard's Abbreviations

Case law is based upon precedent or authority. In order to find out if a case can be used as authority, check to see whether the case has been followed, distinguished, limited or questioned in subsequent court cases. This is done by "Shepardizing" – using Shepard's Citations to see how and when another court has cited the first decision.

Legal Citations

A legal citation for a case identifies the name of the court reporter in which the opinion is published and identifies the volume and page. In the Shepard's citator sources, the term "citation" is used more specifically to indicate a reference in a later authority to an earlier authority. The earlier authority is known as the "cited" case, statute, etc. and the later authorities are referred to as the "citing" case. Shepardizing a case helps determine the precedential value of a legal authority. Most commonly associated with case law, Shepard's citators are also published for the constitution and statutory law.

Supreme Court Citations

Shepard's for U.S. Supreme Court. Location: Library Databases (via LexisNexis Academic) [restricted to UD]: Comprehensive coverage of Supreme Court precedents, from 1789 to the present.

Shepard's United States Citations (Case Edition). Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's/McGraw-Hill. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF101.2 .S54 2004): A compilation of citations to U.S. Supreme Court cases published in United States Reports, Lawyer's Edition, and West's Supreme Court Reporter. The Library has the volumes covering United States Reports and West's Supreme Court Reporter.

Federal Citations

Shepard's Federal Citations. Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's/McGraw-Hill. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF105.2 .S42x 1995): A compilation of citations to U.S. Lower Court cases reported in the Federal Supplement, Federal Rules Decisions, Court of Claims Reports, and Claims Court Reporter.

Atlantic Region Citations

Shepard's Atlantic Reporter Citations. Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's/LexisNexis. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF135 .A72 .S5)

Shepard's Delaware Citations. Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KFD59 .S44)

How to Use Shepard's Citations. Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's. Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF245 .S45): Consult this guide for further assistance.

How to Use Shepard's

Choose the Shepard's citator for the type of case you have. Include all the softcover supplements.

Find the volume and page of the case you are Shepardizing.
Use the volume numbers shown in the sideheads on each page to speed your search. On the appropriate page, use the boldface numbers to find the case you seek, as in the example below, volume 386 page 780.
Cited cases will be listed followed by case name, decision date, parallel citations in parentheses (legal citations to the same case in other reporters), and the citing references.

Shepard's Abbreviations

History of Case	Treatment of Case
a (affirmed)	c (criticised)
m (modified)	d (distinguished)
r (reversed)	e (explained)
s (same case)	j (dissenting opinion)
S (superseded)	~ (consenting opinion)
v (vacated)	L (limited)
	o (overruled)
	q (questioned)

This page is maintained by Rebecca Knight, Reference Department.

Version: 10/09
Last modified: 10/16/09