How do I cite American Jurisprudence in an APA paper?
Answer
The APA Manual provides explicit directions for the citation of cases, statutes, and administrative materials but defers to the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook;21st ed., 2020) for creating citations for other legal materials.
American Jurisprudence (AmJur) is a secondary source-- a legal encyclopedia to be exact -- and the citation is governed by Rule 15 of The Bluebook. Rule 15 "governs the citation of books, treatises, reports, white papers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and all other nonperiodic materials" (Bluebook;21st ed, 2020, p.138). You will probably be searching AmJur in electronic format, and that is fine. The same rules apply.
Since American Jurisprudence is a frequently cited source in legal writing, it falls under Bluebook Rule 15.8 Special Citation Forms. The example provided in The Bluebook in the "white pages"* for AmJur is as follows:
Elements of Citation:
Volume number Am.Jur. edition number Article Title § section number (year).
Example:
17 Am.Jur. 2d Contracts § 74 (1964).
*The "white pages" dictate the citation style for scholarly writing and Law Review articles.
The "blue pages"* form of this citation (blue pages are used for practitioners--i.e., writing briefs and other court documents) would be:
Elements of Citation:
Volume number Am.Jur. edition number Article Title § section number (year).
Example:
17 Am.Jur. 2d Contracts § 74 (1964).
*The basic difference between the white pages citation and the blue pages citation is that the article title is typed in italics in the white pages version and is underlined in the blue page's version.
The bluebook: A uniform system of citation (21st ed.). (2020). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association.
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