How to cite laws, court cases, and legal materials in APA 7

Learn how to cite court cases, statutes, bills, regulations, patents, constitutions, treaties, and other legal materials.

Updated July 25, 2026

By Andrés Rivas

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Before creating a legal reference

Laws, court decisions, and other legal materials do not always follow the usual author, date, title, and source order. Most legal references begin with the official name of the material, continue with the information needed to locate it, and end with the date.

The examples in this guide cover materials from the United States and the United Nations because those are the cases developed in the available APA knowledge base. Do not copy their abbreviations for another country. When citing the law of another jurisdiction, retain its official names and publication details, then check the format with a local legal citation source, your institution's library, or your academic program.

It is also important to confirm that a law remains in force and that a court decision has not been reversed or changed.

How to cite legal materials in the text

An in-text citation normally includes the official title or name and the year. A long title may be shortened as long as readers can still recognize the matching reference list entry.

Case names appear in regular type in the reference list and in italics in the text. Constitutions and charters have their own rules, and some citations do not include a year.

Court cases and decisions

A case reference identifies the case name, the legal publication containing it, volume, first page, court when needed, and year. A URL is optional, but it can help readers find the decision.

U.S. Supreme Court decision

Reference

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

(Brown v. Board of Education, 1954)

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

347 is the volume, U.S. identifies the legal publication, and 483 is the first page of the decision. Other countries use different publications, courts, and abbreviations.

Statutes and acts

A statute reference usually contains the name of the act, the official publication containing it, the section, and the publication year. The year in the reference may differ from the year included in the act's name.

Act published in an official code section

Reference

Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (1990). https://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm

(Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990)

Americans With Disabilities Act (1990)

Act identified by its public law number

The example uses this format because the act appears in several sections of the official code.

Reference

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (1964). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg241.pdf

(Civil Rights Act, 1964)

Civil Rights Act (1964)

State statute with a revision date

Reference

Florida Mental Health Act, Fla. Stat. § 394 (1971 & rev. 2009). http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0394/0394.html

(Florida Mental Health Act, 1971/2009)

Florida Mental Health Act (1971/2009)

Testimony, hearings, bills, and resolutions

These materials document the work of a legislative body. A bill that has become law should be cited as a statute. When a bill has not been enacted, retain its bill number and the legislative session shown on the document.

Legislative testimony

Reference

Federal real property reform: How cutting red tape and better management could achieve billions in savings, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. (2016) (testimony of Norman Dong). http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/233107

(Federal Real Property Reform, 2016)

Federal Real Property Reform (2016)

Complete hearing

Reference

Strengthening the federal student loan program for borrowers: Hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, 113th Cong. (2014). https://www.help.senate.gov/hearings/strengthening-the-federal-student-loan-program-for-borrowers

(Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program, 2014)

Strengthening the Federal Student Loan Program (2014)

Unenacted bill

Reference

Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, H.R. 1100, 113th Cong. (2013). https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1100

(Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act, 2013)

Mental Health on Campus Improvement Act (2013)

Enacted resolution that did not become law

Reference

S. Res. 438, 114th Cong., 162 Cong. Rec. 2394 (2016) (enacted). https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2016/04/21/senate-section/article/S2394-2

(S. Resolution 438, 2016)

Senate Resolution 438 (2016)

Legislative report

Reference

H.R. Rep. No. 114-358 (2015). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-114hrpt358/pdf/CRPT-114hrpt358.pdf

(H.R. Rep. No. 114-358, 2015)

House of Representatives Report No. 114-358 (2015)

Regulations and executive orders

These references use the official title or number, the publication containing the material, its location, and the date. A rule that has not entered the final code must be identified as proposed.

Regulation in an official code

Reference

Protection of Human Subjects, 45 C.F.R. § 46 (2009). https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/ohrp/policy/ohrpregulations.pdf

(Protection of Human Subjects, 2009)

Protection of Human Subjects (2009)

Proposed regulation

Reference

Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees, 81 F.R. 32391 (proposed May 23, 2016) (to be codified at 29 C.F.R. § 541). https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/05/23/2016-11754/defining-and-delimiting-the-exemptions-for-executive-administrative-professional-outside-sales-and

(Defining and Delimiting, 2016)

Defining and Delimiting (2016)

Executive order

Reference

Exec. Order No. 13,676, 3 C.F.R. 294 (2014). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2015-title3-vol1/pdf/CFR-2015-title3-vol1-eo13676.pdf

(Exec. Order No. 13,676, 2014)

Executive Order No. 13,676 (2014)

Patents

Patents look more like ordinary APA references. They begin with the inventors, followed by the issue year, title and patent number, and the office that issued the patent.

U.S. patent

Reference

Hiremath, S. C., Kumar, S., Lu, F., & Salehi, A. (2016). Using metaphors to present concepts across different intellectual domains (U.S. Patent No. 9,367,592). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

(Hiremath et al., 2016)

Hiremath et al. (2016)

Constitutions and charters

When mentioning an entire constitution, naming it in the text is normally enough. Create a reference for a specific article, section, or amendment. These examples have no year because their forms do not require one.

Constitutional article

Reference

U.S. Const. art. I, § 3.

(U.S. Const. art. I, § 3)

Article I, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution

United Nations Charter

Reference

U.N. Charter art. 1, para. 3.

(U.N. Charter art. 1, para. 3)

Article 1, paragraph 3, of the United Nations Charter

Treaties and international conventions

Include the name of the treaty or convention, its signing or approval date, and a URL when available. The in-text citation uses the name and year.

United Nations convention

Reference

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx

(United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

How to check a legal reference

You identified the kind of legal material you used.
You retained the official name, legal publication, section, and abbreviations for its jurisdiction.
You used the official or current version relevant to your work.
The in-text citation clearly points to the reference list entry.
You checked local rules when the material is not from the United States or the United Nations.

If the work you used is not a legal material, find its format among the other APA reference types.

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