Bluebook Citation: Administrative & Executive Materials

Administrative and executive materials contain a wide-range of materials. Some of these include, but are not limited to, agency regulations, executive orders, presidential proclamations, and agency decisions.

This page covers the general formatting of these types of citation in The Bluebook format. 

Rule 14 (B14 in the Bluepages) governs the format and citation style of administrative and executive materials

Table 1.2 (T1.2) list of administrative agency and executive materials, includes the abbreviations for agency citations

The Bluebook lay out some basic citation forms for administrative and executive materials. (See Rule 14.1, p. 147)

Rule 14.4 covers state administrative and executive materials. 

Most of the formatting is done the same as federal administrative and executive materials, with a few exceptions. See Rule 14.4 for the exceptions and more information. 

Rule 14.2 covers the format for citations to administrative and executive rules, regulations, and other publications

Code of Federal Regulations

The Bluebook states that, when possible, cite federal rules and regulations to the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R) which is revised at least once a year.

Citation to the Code of Federal Regulations should include:

1. Title;
2. Abbreviated name (C.F.R.);
3. Section or part; and
4. Year.

** Give the name of the rule/regulation only if the rule/regulation is commonly cited that way or the information would otherwise aid in identification. The abbreviated name of the issuing body may also be included if helpful. 

Federal Register

The Federal Register publishes rules and regulations before they are published in the Code of Federal Regulations revisions.

Citation to the Federal Register should include:

1. Any commonly used name of the rule or regulation;
2. Volume;
3. Abbreviated name (Fed. Reg.)
4. Page on which the rule or regulation begins**; and 
5. Date of the rule or regulation

** Include a comma and a pinpoint citation when citing part of a rule or regulation

Proposed Rules, Other Notices, and Comments

Administrative notices not transferred to the Code of Federal Regulations should be cited to the Federal Register. Follow the rules above (Rule 14.2(a)) but add the status to the date parenthetical.

Regular Reports

Citations should be formatted the same as periodical material (See Rule 16; periodical materials also covered in the "Other Sources" tabs of this guide). Always give the abbreviated agency name first and then abbreviate the periodical name in accordance with Table T6 and T13.

Other Publications

Cite as a work by an institutional author (See Rule 15), including any serial number, if available, unless issued as a congressional document (See Rule 13.4)

Rule 14.3 covers the citation formatting for administrative cases and arbitrations. However, citations to administrative cases and arbitrations will conform to the conventions outlined in Rule 10, subject to exceptions explained in Rule 14.3. 

In an administrative adjudication, the citation is reported by name of the first-listed private party or by the official subject-matter title.  ALL procedural phrases should be omitted. Names should be abbreviated according to Rule 10.2. 

Sometimes, it may be necessary to use the subject-matter titles to indicate the nature and stage of an adjudicatory proceeding.  It is permissible to shorten these titles.  Additional parenthetical information may be necessary if the nature and stage of the proceeding are not clear from the context.

For an arbitration case citation, the citation will be in accordance with court cases if adversary parties are named and as administrative adjudications if they are not.  The arbitrator's name should be included parenthetically.

See Rule 14.3 for examples and more information.

Rule 14.5 gives context to how to properly cite to administrative and executive materials found on commercial electronic databases. 

Besides the formatting discussed above, materials found online through commercial databases should also include:

1. Name of the database; and 
2. Any identifying codes or numbers that uniquely identify the material

If the name of the database is not clear from the database identifier, include it in parenthesis at the end of the citation. 

Here's an example: 

19 Op. Att'y Gen. 331 (1889), 1889 US AG LEXIS 40