The “Bluebook” is a scam

See here. (Hat tip: Brian Leiter.) Update (6/16): If you are unfamiliar with this ugly and time-wasting legal monster, check out Judge Richard Posner’s review of The Bluebook. (Also, appendix 2 on pp. 854-857 of this scathing review contains Posner’s own simple and common-sense citation rules.)

Postscripts: I have developed my own set of simple citation rules for law and legal studies, which I call “Antiblue“; in addition, here are my previous posts about the hideous Bluebook.

About F. E. Guerra-Pujol

When I’m not blogging, I am a business law professor at the University of Central Florida.
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3 Responses to The “Bluebook” is a scam

  1. What citation format should replace Bluebook in legal scholarship?

    • Anything but the bluebook — MLA, Chicago, APA. Better yet, see Appendix 2 to Judge Posner’s review of the bluebook here: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/157779105.pdf
      It’s is the citation style manual that Judge Posner himself used before he retired.

      • I used MLA and APA in college, for the life of me, I do not remember either format that well.

        It does seem as if at best, Bluebook is needless complicated (this became salient after skimming Posner’s manual).

        The legal profession should probably join the rest of the social sciences and adopt APA.

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