How do you cite a California Supreme Court decision?

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Multiple Choice

How do you cite a California Supreme Court decision?

When citing a California Supreme Court decision, you use the California Reports in the current reporter system, which is the Cal. 4th series for most modern opinions. The proper form is the party names, the volume, Cal. 4th as the reporter, the starting page of the opinion, and the year in parentheses. For example: Name v. Name, 123 Cal.4th 456 (2020). The key is that Cal. 4th is the official reporter for California Supreme Court decisions published in recent decades, so you place the decision in that reporter and not in an appellate reporter or an older California Reports series. The other options point to reporters that aren’t used for California Supreme Court decisions in modern practice: Cal. App. is for California Courts of Appeal decisions, and Cal. 2d is an older series of the California Reports that would only apply to very old cases. Thus, for a California Supreme Court decision, the correct choice uses Cal. 4th.

When citing a California Supreme Court decision, you use the California Reports in the current reporter system, which is the Cal. 4th series for most modern opinions. The proper form is the party names, the volume, Cal. 4th as the reporter, the starting page of the opinion, and the year in parentheses. For example: Name v. Name, 123 Cal.4th 456 (2020). The key is that Cal. 4th is the official reporter for California Supreme Court decisions published in recent decades, so you place the decision in that reporter and not in an appellate reporter or an older California Reports series.

The other options point to reporters that aren’t used for California Supreme Court decisions in modern practice: Cal. App. is for California Courts of Appeal decisions, and Cal. 2d is an older series of the California Reports that would only apply to very old cases. Thus, for a California Supreme Court decision, the correct choice uses Cal. 4th.

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