(a) Jurisdiction and courts

When citing a state court decision, it is necessary to include both which state the court is from and the level of the court.

By convention, however, the absence of a court identifier implies that the decision is from the highest court in the state.

In general, adopt the abbreviations given by the report series, with unnecessary punctuation removed.

Eg Gregory v Carey 791 P 2d 1329 (Kan 1990) at 1336.

(b) Report series

While most of the American states have their own official report series, because of the general difficulty of obtaining such series in New Zealand, generally cite to the following report series, which are geographically arranged:

AtlanticA or A 2d (for the second series)

PacificP or P 2d

SouthernSo or So 2d

SouthwesternSW or SW 2d

NortheasternNE or NE 2d

Eg Elisabeth N v Riverside Group Inc 585 So 2d 376 (Fla Dist Ct App 1991) at 378–381.

Eg Winkelman v Beloit Memorial Hospital 483 NW 2d 211 (Wis 1992).

(c) Neutral citation

A number of states have adopted neutral citations (known as public domain citations). Where these are available, provide a reference to the neutral citation and the reported version. See The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation for information on which states use public domain citations.