Short title on Statutes and Bills

army-jag341
Hi there,

I am trying to make the short title field work for statutes and bills as it does for journals or reports, to avoid having a lengthy citation string, but I am having troubles making it show. Is there a way to make this happen?

Thank you so much!
  • adamsmith
    We can look at changing this for the style, but basically it'd be removing
    <else-if type="bill legislation" match="any">
    <text macro="name-macro"/>
    </else-if>

    I don't really see that having any productive function, but I vaguely recall some complicating issues for subsequent citations of statues in Bluebook -- are they actually cited with a short form?
  • army-jag341
    As you may imagine, there is no one answer for Bluebook citation. Here are some examples I found:

    STATUTES Short Citations – Rule 12.10
    Administrative Procedure Act § 1, 5 U.S.C. § 551
    Short: § 1 or 5 U.S.C.§ 551 or Administrative Procedure Act § 1

    National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Pub. L. No. 91-190, § 102, 83 Stat. 852, 853-54 (1970)
    Short: § 102 or National Environmental Policy Act § 102 or §102,83 Stat. at 853-54

    Wis. Stat Ann. § 19.43 (West, Westlaw through 2007 Act 242)
    Short: § 19.43 (West)

    LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS Short Citation – Rule 13
    Unenacted federal bills/resolution:
    Privacy Protection Act of 1998, H.R. 3224, 105thCong. § 2(a) (1998)
    Short: H.R. 3224, 105th Cong. (2nd Sess. 1998)

    Statutes at Large:
    Armed Career Criminal Act, Pub. L. No. 98-473, tit. II, ch. XVIII, 98 Stat. 2185 (1984) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) (2012))
    Short: 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)

    At the very least, I would argue that having a field available would help shorten citation strings (especially in cases like the Armed Career Criminal Act). Users can enter the short citation into the field or leave it blank. If used, then subsequent citations would draw their name from the short title. If left blank, the citation will continue to draw from the name of the statute or bill.
  • army-jag341
    What do you think?
  • army-jag341
    Hi @adamsmith

    Hope this message finds you well. I know you mentioned the possibility of adding some code to make the short title field available, particularly for statutes and bills, which would be incredibly helpful. Can you implement something like that?

    Thank you so much in advance for your time and consideration.

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