Important Note for Our Users
Each edition of The Bluebook and Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook (UMB) is updated from time to time to introduce minor rule changes and correct errors. The edition is then reprinted using the same edition number, but with a revised printing date.
It is important to know which Bluebook and UMB printings you are using as there may be slight differences in the rules or examples. Follow the instructions below to determine which printings you are using.
| Title | First Printing | Second Printing |
|---|---|---|
| The Bluebook 21st Edition On the page opposite the title page, look for: | First Printing 2020 Printings are updated as appropriate. | First Printing 2020 Second Printing 2021 Printings are updated as appropriate. |
| Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook 4th Edition On the page opposite the Contents page, the last line(s) on page, look for: | Printed in the United States of America | Printed in the United States of America 2021 Printing |
Once you determine which printing of The Bluebook and UMB you are using, review the updates below. We suggest you make the changes directly in the book for easy reference.
☞ For users of Mastering The Bluebook Interactive Exercises, updates are incorporated directly into the program as they occur, and are noted in the Hints.
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Legal Dictionaries
Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook: Fourth Edition
First Printing
Pages 110-11
Page 110: The 21st edition of The Bluebook no longer uses mixed typefaces in the citation, as shown in the example on UMB page 110, and as discussed in the text box. Instead of using mixed typefaces, underline or italicize both the defined word and the dictionary title, as shown here.
Page 111: The second bullet and its subparts (1) through (4) is misplaced text belonging with the American Law Reports (A.L.R.) discussion on page 112. Make a margin note in your copy of UMB to “move” that text to the following page.
Move the following text to page 112:
Page 111: The second bullet and its subparts (1) through (4) is misplaced text belonging with the American Law Reports (A.L.R.) discussion on page 112. Make a margin note in your copy of UMB to “move” that text to the following page.
Move the following text to page 112:
• Basic Rule: All Citations. Provide the following information:
(1) Author’s full name . . .
(2) The word “Annotation . . .
(3) Title of the annotation . . .
(4) Volume number.
Second Printing
Page 111
The second bullet and its subparts (1) through (4) is misplaced text belonging with the American Law Reports (A.L.R.) discussion on page 112. Delete the following text from your copy of UMB:
Basic Rule: All Citations. Provide the following information:
- Author’s full name . . .
- The word “Annotation . . .
- Title of the annotation . . .
- Volume number.
American Law Reports (A.L.R.) Annotations
The Bluebook: Twenty-First Edition
First Printing
Rule 16.7.6
The example shown in Bluebook Rule 16.7.6 does not include “article” and the article number. To cite a new series of A.L.R. [A.L.R.7th or A.L.R. Fed. 3d], include the “Art.” abbreviation, article number, and pinpoint page or section number, depending on how it is subdivided in the original article.
Corrected Example
Claudia Catalano, Annotation, Unlawful Access Under Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2701 et seq., 1 A.L.R. Fed. 3d Art. 1, § 1 (2015).
Second Printing
Rule 16.7.6
This error was not corrected in the second printing. See update and corrected example for first printing, above.
Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook: Fourth Edition
First Printing
Pages 112 and 170
Page 112: Notice that the list of citation components begins with (5). Components (1) through (4) strayed over to page 111, just above the box with dictionary examples. Make a note of where to find the missing parts in your copy of UMB.
Page 170: In the examples at the top of the page, remove the extra space between A.L.R. and the series number:
Incorrect: 37 A.L.R. 6th
Correct: 37 A.L.R.6th
Second Printing
Revisions for the second printing of UMB address these problems and no additional updates are required. |
Restatements
The Bluebook: Twenty-First Edition
First Printing
Rules 12.9.4, B12.1.3
Rule 12.9.4 has long required the abbreviation of any term in the restatement title or institutional author that is found in Table T6. However, examples in Rule 12.9.4 and Bluepages Rule 12.1.3 contain errors and inconsistencies, and there are conflicts between the examples in the Whitepages and Bluepages. Use the examples in The Bluebook for general form only, but abbreviate all words found in Table 6 in both the restatement title and institutional author.
Second Printing
See updates for first printing, above. Some inconsistencies were corrected in the second printing, but others remain.
Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook: Fourth Edition
First Printing
Page 108
Second Printing
Page 108
The second printing of UMB was revised to reflect abbreviation issues in Bluebook rule 12.9.4 and no further updates are required.
Abbreviations: Table 6
The Bluebook: Twenty-First Edition
First Printing Table 6 |
| Brothers | ☞ | Bros. |
| Brotherhood | ☞ | Bhd. |
Second Printing
Table 6
The abbreviations for Brothers and Brotherhood that were omitted from the first printing have been restored in the second printing. Use the abbreviations found in Table 6.
Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook: Fourth Edition
First Printing
Page 41
The Bluebook’s 21st edition’s first printing omitted abbreviations for Brothers and Brotherhood from Table 6. If you have the first printing of The Bluebook, abbreviate these terms as shown above.
Second Printing
Page 41
This issue has been noted in the second printing of UMB. No additional updates required.
Miscellaneous Corrections
The following corrections apply to both the first and second printings of Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook.
The Bluebook: Twenty-First Edition
Page 50
Underneath the examples, add:
♦ In citation sentences and clauses, abbreviate any words in the introductory phrase that appear in Table 6.
Example
Estate of Blair ☞ Est. of Blair
Page 50
In the citation example for relators at the top of the page, the Woods example (second row, right column), delete the extraneous period after “ex.”
Corrected Example
Woods ex rel. Woods v. Ellis
Page 114 or 115
Insert periods after Am. and Jur. in the example in the middle of the page, as shown below.
Corrected Example
Page 157 |
In the Fitzgerald example in the box at the top of the page, delete the extraneous comma following the reporter name (S.E.2d).
Corrected Example
Fitzgerald v. Caplan, 362 S.E.2d 103, 105 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987).
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