How
to Cite Guam Law, Third Edition, September 2002
Compiled by Sandra E. Cruz, Esq. on behalf of the Superior
Court of Guam from The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (17th
ed.) published and distributed by The Harvard Law Review Association.
Special
Thanks to: Charles H. Troutman, III, Compiler of Laws
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| I.
Statutory Compilations and Public Laws |
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| A) |
When
citing to Guam statutes, always cite to the current codified
version of the statute as printed in the blue volumes of the
Guam Code Annotated (GCA). Whenever possible, do not cite to
the older uncodified statutes from the green volumes of the
former Guam Civil Code, Guam Government Code, or Guam Code of
Civil Procedure unless necessary to explain the history of the
statute. |
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| |
Source:
Bluebook Rule 12.3.1 and Table T.1. |
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| B) |
When
citing to the Guam Code Annotated or to Guam legislative session
laws in the text of briefs and legal memoranda, the first mention
of the statute within each general discussion should give a
full citation. Subsequent references in the same general discussion
may employ a short form. |
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| |
| FULL
CITATION |
SHORT
CITATION |
| x
GUAM CODE ANN. § xx |
x
G.C.A. § x |
| GUAM
PUB. L. NO. xx-xx:xx |
P.L.
No. xx-xx:xx |
Source:
Bluebook Rule 12.3.1; Table T.1; and Practitioners' Notes P.4. |
| |
| C) |
When
a public law repeals, reenacts, amends, or adds to an existing
statute or section of the code, cite to the affected section
and to the relevant public law. |
|
| |
| 4
GUAM CODE ANN. § 8219, repealed by Guam Pub. L.
No. 26-86:2 (2001) |
| 16
GUAM CODE ANN. § 3341, r/r by Guam Pub. L. No. 26-102:2
(2001) |
| 17
GUAM CODE ANN. §16132, added by Guam Pub. L. No.
26-97:1 (2002) |
| 5
GUAM CODE ANN. § 22205, amended by Guam Pub. L.
No. 26-06:2 (2001) |
Source: Bluebook Rule 12.3.1; Table T.1; and Practitioners' Notes
P.4(b). |
| II.
Administrative and Procedural Rules and Regulations |
| |
| With
the exception of the Rules for the Appointment of Counsel for
Indigent Defendants and the Court Reporter Rules, cite current
rules in large and small capitals without any date. Use abbreviations
such as the following or abbreviations suggested by the rules
themselves: |
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| |
| RULES |
EXAMPLE
CITATION |
| Guam
Administrative Rules & Regulations of the Government of
Guam |
2
G.A.R. § 3109(t)(3) |
| Guam
Rules of Civil Procedure |
GUAM
R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6) |
| Local
Rules of the Superior Court of Guam |
SUPER.
CT. GUAM R. 9 |
| Rules
of Appellate Procedure for the Supreme Court of Guam |
SUP.
CT. GUAM R. APP. P. 4 |
| Local
Rules of the District Court of Guam |
D.
GUAM CT. R. 7.1(c) |
| Rules
of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals |
9TH
CIR. R. 13 |
| Rules
for Expedited Process for the Superior Court of Guam (Child
Support) |
SUPER.
CT. GUAM EXPEDITED PROCESS R. 54 |
| Traffic
Court RulesRules for the Superior Court of Guam |
SUPER.
CT. GUAM TRAFFIC CT. R. 10 |
| Rules
Governing Admission of Attorneys to the Superior Court of Guam |
RULES
GOVERNING ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS TO THE SUPER. CT. GUAM Part
B, § 4 |
| Guam
Rules of Professional Conduct |
GUAM
RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT Rule 1.7 |
| Guam
Bar Ethics Committee Rules of Procedure - Disciplinary Proceedings |
GUAM
BAR ETHICS COMM. Rule 2 |
| Supreme
Court of Guam Rules for the Discipline of Attorneys |
SUP.
CT. GUAM R. ATTY. DISCIPLINE Rule 11 |
| Rules
for the Appointment of Counsel for Indigent Defendants |
APPOINTMENT
OF COUNSEL FOR INDIGENT DEFENDANTS Rule VI(B)(1) (1981) |
| Court
Reporter Rules |
COURT
REPORTER RULES 10(a) (1981) |
Source: Bluebook Rule 12.8.3; Rule 12.8.5; and Rule 12.8.6. |
| III.
The Organic Act of Guam |
| |
| The
Organic Act of Guam is a federal law that has been amended several
times since its enactment in 1950. A copy of the original Organic
Act can be found in Title 1 of the Guam Code Annotated. In legal
memoranda and briefs, however, always cite to the current version
of the Organic Act as found in Title 48 of the United States
Code. |
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| |
Source: Bluebook Rule 12.3 and T.1. |
| IV.
Executive Orders and Attorney General Opinions |
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| By
analogy to the citation for federal executive materials, the
Executive Orders of the Governor of Guam and the advisory opinions
of the Attorney General of Guam may be cited as follows. |
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| |
| EXECUTIVE
ORDERS |
Relative
to Forming a Task Force on Early Childhood Education and Development,
Exec. Order No. 98-25 (Sept. 22, 1998) |
| ATTORNEY
GENERAL OPINIONS |
Reorganization
of the Government of Guam Pursuant to Public Law No. 225-72,
*20, Op. Att'y Gen. No. GOV-99-1308 (Oct. 19, 1999) |
Source:
Bluebook Rule 14; Rule 14.4; and 14.7. |
| V.
Guam Case Law |
| |
With
the exception of a two-volume work last published in 1983, Guam
does not have an official printed case reporter system. Rather,
the decisions and opinions of the courts of Guam are generally available
only as separately printed opinions.
Citations
to the separately printed opinions should be made by indicating
the case number, the court, the name of the document, and the full
date that the decision was filed on. If the citation is available
from an electronic database, the electronic citation should be included
as a parallel citation. Guam cases published in the federal reporter
system should be cited appropriately:
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| COURT |
EXAMPLE
CITATION |
| Guam
Reports (1955-1980) |
People
v. Sahagon, 1 Guam R. 360 (Super. Ct. Guam 1976 |
| Superior
Court of Guam |
CIGNA
Ins. Co. v. Petrus et. al, Civil Case No. 0813-89, Decision
and Order on Motion for Summary Judgment (Apr. 23, 1990) |
| Supreme
Court of Guam (begins 1996) |
Santos
v. Carney et. al., 1997 Guam 4; 1997 WL 460435 (Sup. Ct.
Guam 1997) |
| District
Court of Guam Appellate Division (pre-1996) |
Guzman
v. Tower Development Co., Civil No. 93-0005A; 1994 WL 549860
(D. Guam App. Div. 1994) |
| District
Court of Guam (unreported slip opinions) |
EIE
Guam v. Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Civil Action No.
00-00009, Order Granting EIEG's Motion for Continuance
(D. Ct. Guam Aug. 2, 2002) |
| District
Court of Guam (reported and published opinions) |
U.S.
v. Linson, 88 F.Supp. 1123 (D. Ct. Guam 2000) |
| Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals |
Bunyan
v. Camacho, 770 F.2d 773 (9th Cir. 1985) |
| Supreme
Court of the United States |
Gutierrez
v. Ada, 528 U.S. 250; 120 S. Ct. 740; L.Ed.2d 747 (2000) |
Source:
Bluebook Rule 10; Rule 10.8.1; Table T.1; and Practitioners' Notes
P.3. |
| VI.
Guam Bar Association Journal |
| |
| Seth
Forman, Recent Legislative Developments in the Federated
States of Micronesia, GUAM B. J., Dry Season 1989, at 9. |
Source:
Bluebook Rule 16.3; Rule 16.5.6; and Table T.13. |
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Guam Code Annotated