List of legal abbreviations

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It is common practice in legal documents to cite to other publications by using standard abbreviations for the title of each source. Abbreviations may also be found for common words or legal phrases. Such citations and abbreviations are found in court decisions, statutes, regulations, journal articles, books, and other documents. Below is a basic list of very common abbreviations. Because publishers adopt different practices regarding how abbreviations are printed, one may find abbreviations with or without periods for each letter. For example, the Code of Federal Regulations may appear abbreviated as "C.F.R." or just as "CFR."

For abbreviations not found in this list, here are alternate websites to search:

• Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government (maintained by IUPUI)
• The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations (maintained by Cardiff University).

For legal abbreviations not found online, try searching one of the following print sources. These publications are regularly found at law and other libraries.

• Prince, Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, 5th ed., 2001.
• Garner, Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., 2004.
• Raistrick, Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 2nd ed., 1993.
• Harvard Law School, "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation", annual.

List Of Common Legal Abbreviations Or Terms

• © — Copyright, meaning someone claims ownership of the text, book, music, software, etc.
• ® — Registered Trademark (typically a word or phrase identifying a company or product. Ex: Coca Cola)
• A. — Atlantic Reporter
• A.2d — Atlantic Reporter, 2nd Series
• Ala. Admin. Code — Alabama Administrative Code (unofficial text)
• Ala. Code — Code of Alabama 1975 (unofficial text)
• Alaska Admin. Code — Alaska Administrative Code (unofficial text)
• Alaska Stat. — Alaska Statutes (unofficial text)
• All ER — All England Law Reports
• A.L.R. — American Law Reports
• A.L.R.2d — American Law Reports, 2nd Series
• A.L.R.3d — American Law Reports, 3rd Series
• A.L.R.4th — American Law Reports, 4th Series
• A.L.R.5th — American Law Reports, 5th Series
• A.L.R.6th — American Law Reports, 6th Series
• A.L.R. Fed. — American Law Reports, Federal
• Am. Jur. — American Jurisprudence
• Am. Jur. 2d. — American Jurisprudence, 2nd Series
• Anor - Another
• Ariz. Admin. Code — Arizona Administrative Code (unofficial text)
• Ariz. Admin. Reg. — Arizona Administrative Register (unofficial text)
• Ariz. Rev. Stat. — Arizona Revised Statutes (unofficial text)
• Ark. Code — Arkansas Code (unofficial text)
• B.A.P. — Bankruptcy Appellate Panel
• BFP — Bona fide purchaser
• BR or B/R — Bankruptcy (also the abbreviation for the United States bankruptcy courts reporter, West's Bankruptcy Reporter)
• c. — Chapter
• cc. — Chapters
• CA — Class action
• CB — Casebook
• CC — Commerce Clause
• C-C — Counterclaim
• CE — Collateral estoppel
• CL — Common law
• CNeg — Contributory negligence
• COA — Court of Appeals
• Cx — Constitution
• Cx-C — Cross-claim
• Cxl — Constitutional
• Cal. Code — California Code (unofficial text?^[1])
• Cal. Code Reg. — California Code of Regulations (see: CCR below)
• CCR — California Code of Regulations (official text?) (source: Thomson/West)
• CIF — Coming into force
• C.F.R. — Code of Federal Regulations
• CJS — Corpus Juris Secundum
• Cong. Rec. — Congressional Record
• Ct. Cl. — the United States Court of Federal Claims Reporter
• Δ (Greek letter delta) — Defendant
• ER — Employer
• EE — Employee
• et al. — Latin for "and others".
• F. — Federal Reporter
• F.2d — Federal Reporter, 2nd Series
• F.3d — Federal Reporter, 3rd Series
• Fed. Reg. (sometimes FR) — Federal Register (see Federal Register for full text from 1994 to date)
• Fed. R. Bankr. P. — Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
• Fed. R. Civ. P. (sometimes FRCP) — Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Fed. R. Crim. P. — Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
• Fed. R. Evid. (sometimes FRE) — Federal Rules of Evidence
• F.Supp. — Federal Supplement
• F.Supp.2d — Federal Supplement, 2nd Series
• GATT — General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
• HDC — Holder in due course
• I.L.M. — International Legal Materials
• IRB — Internal Revenue Bulletin (from July 2003 to date)
• IRC — Internal Revenue Code
• ISLN — International Standards Lawyer Number
• J — Judge
• JMOL — Judgment as a matter of law
• JNOV — Judgment notwithstanding verdict
• K — Contract
• L/C — Letter of credit
• LLC — Limited liability company
• LLP — Limited liability partnership
• N.E. — North Eastern Reporter
• N.E.2d — North Eastern Reporter, 2nd Series
• N.W. — North Western Reporter
• N.W.2d — North Western Reporter, 2nd Series
• Ors - Others
• ¶ (Pilcrow)— Paragraph
• Π (Greek letter Pi) — Plaintiff
• P. — Pacific Reporter
• P.2d — Pacific Reporter, 2nd Series
• P.3d — Pacific Reporter, 3rd Series
• p. — Page
• pp. — Pages
• PL — Public Law
• Pub.L. — Public Law
• R.E. or R/E — Real Estate
• Rev. Proc. — Revenue Procedure (published in IRB)
• Rev. Rul. — Revenue Ruling (published in IRB)
• s. or § — Section
• ss. or §§ — Sections
• S.C.R. (or SCR) — Supreme Court Reports (Supreme Court of Canada)
• S.Ct. — Supreme Court Reporter (Supreme Court of the United States)
• S.E. — South Eastern Reporter
• S.E.2d — South Eastern Reporter, 2nd Series
• SI — Statutory instruments
• S/J — Summary judgment
• SMJ — Subject-matter jurisdiction
• So. — Southern Reporter
• So.2d — Southern Reporter, 2nd Series
• SOL — Statute of Limitations
• SOR — Statutory Orders and Regulations
• Stat. — United States Statutes at Large (See United States Code)
• S.W. — South Western Reporter
• S.W.2d — South Western Reporter, 2nd Series
• S.W.3d — South Western Reporter, 3rd Series
• T.D. — Treasury Decision
• ™ or TM — Trademark (such as a word or phrase identifying a company or product)
• UCC — Uniform Commercial Code
• UCMJ — Uniform Code of Military Justice (Laws of the U.S. military)
• UPC — Uniform Probate Code
• U.S. — United States Reports (beginning with v. 502 (1991))
• USC — United States Code (A free website for the full text is at U.S. Code. This text is maintained by the U.S. Gov't Printing Office, but must be checked for revisions or amendments after its effective date.)
• USCA — United States Code Annotated
• USCCAN — United States Code Congressional and Administrative News
• USCS — United States Code Service
• UST — United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (See Treaty series.)
• WTO — World Trade Organization
• W. Va. Code — West Virginia Code (unofficial text)

Notes

1. ^ For more information on official, unofficial, and authenticated online state laws and regulations, see Matthews & Baish, State-by-State Authentication of Online Legal Resources,American Association of Law Libraries, 2007.