How to cite a court case (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard)
Court cases do not behave like ordinary books or articles. There may be no personal author, the title is the case name, and the most important locator is the legal reporter citation. A missing volume number or reporter abbreviation can point readers to the wrong decision. Copy the case citation exactly before you adapt it to APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard.
When to use this source type
Use this source type when you cite a judicial decision such as Brown v. Board of Education, a UK Supreme Court judgment, an appellate case, or a tribunal decision with a formal neutral citation or law report citation. The core details are the case name, reporter or neutral citation, court, year, and page or paragraph locator.
Do not cite a case as a website just because you found it on Cornell LII, BAILII, Justia, Westlaw, or a court website. Those sites are access points, not the case itself. Legal citations are jurisdiction-sensitive. If your law school gives a legal style such as The Bluebook or OSCOLA, follow that first. These academic formats are for general essays that use APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard.
Quick reference table
The same source facts appear in each style, but they move around. Check the author role, date detail, title formatting, container, locator, and the one style-specific rule before you paste a citation into your reference list.
| Style | Author | Date | Title | Container | URL or locator | Style note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Case name in place of author. | Year in parentheses after reporter details. | Case name italicized. | Reporter volume, abbreviation, first page. | Court and URL when needed. | Keep official legal citation punctuation. |
| MLA 9 | Case name first, not an individual author. | Year after court details. | Case name usually plain or italic by local rule. | Reporter citation and court as container details. | Database or URL for online copy. | Party names may be inverted where appropriate. |
| Chicago | Case name first or court as institutional author in author-date. | Year after author or in legal parenthetical. | Case names usually plain in author-date references. | Reporter citation is the central source detail. | URL optional for official reporters, useful for web copies. | Notes follow legal footnote conventions more closely. |
| Harvard | Case name first. | Year in parentheses or square brackets as jurisdiction requires. | Case name italicized. | Neutral citation or law report citation. | Court and URL where online. | Preserve UK neutral citations such as [2020] UKSC. |
APA 7 walkthrough
APA 7 starts with the same basic question: who is responsible for this court case? For a court case, uses the case name rather than a personal author. The date element places the year in the legal parenthetical after reporter details. The title element italicizes the case name. The source element keeps the official reporter volume, abbreviation, and first page. Finally, the locator element adds court details when the reporter does not already identify the court, plus a URL for online access. Work through those fields in order and the punctuation becomes much easier to control.
APA 7 adapts legal citations, but it still preserves the official reporter citation rather than converting the case into a website entry. In text, use (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). If you quote directly, add the page, paragraph, timestamp, or legal pin cite required by the style. If your source is online, prefer a stable URL or DOI over a search-result link, and remove tracking parameters before you submit the reference.
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483
MLA 9 walkthrough
MLA 9 starts with the same basic question: who is responsible for this court case? For a court case, starts with the case name, because legal cases are identified by party names. The date element places the decision year after the court or reporter details. The title element keeps the case name as the title of the legal work. The source element records the reporter citation, court, and database or web container. Finally, the locator element adds the URL for an online legal database copy. Work through those fields in order and the punctuation becomes much easier to control.
MLA can invert party names in some legal entries, but the key is to preserve the legal citation that a reader can search. In text, use (Brown v. Board of Education). If you quote directly, add the page, paragraph, timestamp, or legal pin cite required by the style. If your source is online, prefer a stable URL or DOI over a search-result link, and remove tracking parameters before you submit the reference.
Brown v. Board of Education. 347 U.S. 483. Supreme Court of the United States, 1954. Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.
Chicago walkthrough
Chicago starts with the same basic question: who is responsible for this court case? For a court case, can use the case name or the court as the organizing element, depending on local practice. The date element uses the decision year in the legal citation or after the institutional author. The title element usually leaves case names plain in author-date reference lists. The source element keeps the reporter volume, abbreviation, and first page as the main locator. Finally, the locator element uses URL details only when citing an online copy instead of a print reporter. Work through those fields in order and the punctuation becomes much easier to control.
Chicago notes-bibliography is closer to legal citation practice; author-date is a compromise for non-law papers. In text, use (United States Supreme Court 1954). If you quote directly, add the page, paragraph, timestamp, or legal pin cite required by the style. If your source is online, prefer a stable URL or DOI over a search-result link, and remove tracking parameters before you submit the reference.
United States Supreme Court. 1954. Brown v. Board of Education. 347 U.S. 483. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.
Harvard walkthrough
Harvard starts with the same basic question: who is responsible for this court case? For a court case, uses the case name as the leading element. The date element keeps the year in the legal citation format required by the jurisdiction. The title element italicizes the case name. The source element preserves the neutral citation or law report citation before access details. Finally, the locator element adds the court and Available at URL when the case is read online. Work through those fields in order and the punctuation becomes much easier to control.
Cite Them Right 12th edition expects legal citations to keep their specialist form, especially UK neutral citations. In text, use (Brown v Board of Education, 1954). If you quote directly, add the page, paragraph, timestamp, or legal pin cite required by the style. If your source is online, prefer a stable URL or DOI over a search-result link, and remove tracking parameters before you submit the reference.
Brown v Board of Education 347 US 483 (1954). Available at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483 (Accessed: 15 January 2025).
Common mistakes for this source type
Most errors come from forcing a court case into the wrong template. Before submitting, check these details against the source itself, not against a database preview or a copied citation.
- Treating Cornell LII, BAILII, or Justia as the author of the case.
- Dropping the reporter volume, abbreviation, or first page.
- Changing legal punctuation because it looks unlike a normal reference.
- Using the upload date of a web copy instead of the decision year.
- Applying APA or Harvard rules when the assignment explicitly requires Bluebook or OSCOLA.