HOW TO CITE GUAM LAW 3d 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 FOREWORD The original “How To Cite Guam Law” was prepared in 1990 primarily for the internal use of the judges and law clerks of the Superior Court of Guam. Using the venerable Harvard Bluebook as a guide, the idea was to create a “cheat sheet” in order to aid the Superior Court in its drafting of decisions and orders. Much has changed since that time. Most notably, the establishment of the Guam Supreme Court, the codification of statutes into a single Guam Code Annotated, and the advent of the Internet and other electronic media as a secondary (and sometimes primary) source of statutory and case law has created new and varied citation formats. To this end, it must be kept in mind at all times that the purpose of legal citation is to enable the reader to quickly and accurately locate the intended source. Although great care has been taken to follow the Bluebook as closely as possible, some liberty was necessarily taken in order to adapt Bluebook standards to fit local legal usage and practice. Accordingly, in certain situations, the Guam citations may contain more or different information than what is normally suggested by the Bluebook or used in other jurisdictions. The citation formats suggested herein are by no means conclusive. Practitioners with questions on a certain format are urged to refer to the Harvard Bluebook for further guidance. Sandra E. Cruz September 2002 2 I. STATUTORY COMPILATIONS AND PUBLIC LAWS. (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 Whenever possible, do not cite to the older uncodified statutes from the green volumes of the former Guam Civil Code, Guam Government Code, or Guam Code of Civil Procedure unless necessary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. COMPILATION CITATION FORMAT EXAMPLE CITATION Guam Code Annotated x GUAM CODE ANN. § x (20xx) 21 GUAM CODE ANN. § 2120 (2001) Guam Civil Code GUAM CIV. CODE § x (19xx) GUAM CIV. CODE § 3294 (1970) Guam Government Code GUAM GOV’T CODE § x (19xx) GUAM GOV’T CODE § 16000 (1970) Guam Code of Civil Procedure GUAM CIV. P. CODE § x (19xx) GUAM CIV. P. CODE § 1084 (1970) Source: Bluebook Rule 12.3.1 and Table T.1. (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. 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). 3 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: RULES EXAMPLE CITATION 2 G.A.R. § 3109(t)(3) Guam Administrative Rules & Regulations of the Government of Guam 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 SUPER. CT. GUAM TRAFFIC CT. R. 10 Traffic Court Rules Rules for the Superior Court of Guam 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 APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL FOR INDIGENT DEFENDANTS Rule VI(B)(1) (1981) Rules for the Appointment of Counsel for Indigent Defendants Court Reporter Rules COURT REPORTER RULES 10(a) (1981) Source: Bluebook Rule 12.8.3; Rule 12.8.5; and Rule 12.8.6. 4 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. 48 U.S.C. § 1421b(u). Source: Bluebook Rule 12.3 and T.1. IV. EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS. 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. 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-991308 (Oct. 19, 1999) Source: Bluebook Rule 14; Rule 14.4; and 14.7. 5 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: 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. 930005A; 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. 6 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. 7
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