Law (act): how to cite in Chicago Style – notes and bibliography (17th ed.)?

Create a spot-on reference in Chicago 18, 17 and 16

Select a source type:

Book Website Journal article Video (online)

Archival document Blog post Book Book chapter Complete reference Conference paper Copyright certificate Court case Dictionary Dictionary entry Disc Dissertation / Thesis Encyclopedia Encyclopedia article Extended abstract of dissertation Image Journal article Law / Act Newspaper article Patent Podcast Preprint Press release Religious text Report Social media post Software Standard Video (online) Video game Website

General rules

Citing a law or any other legislative act according to Chicago Style is quite a complicated task, as The Chicago Manual of Style does not set forth the general recommendations for all cases. Thus, CMoS recommends using The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation or ALWD Guide to Legal Citation for citing American laws, but this approach cannot be extended seamlessly onto all countries.

Using the recommendations of universities and libraries from different countries, we have developed the following general templates for citing laws:

Reference in a bibliography:

Country. Institution that passed the law. Law Title. Law type Law number. Adopted date adopted. URL.

Full note:

Country, Institution that passed the law, Law Title, Law type Law number, adopted date adopted, number of article / paragraph / etc., URL.

Short note:

Law Title, number of article.

NB: The Chicago Manual of Style states that laws are mainly cited by means of notes, while bibliographic references either are used rarely or are not used at all for this purpose. On our website Grafiati, we automatically generate the references and notes of all types, allowing the user to select the particular item they need.

Examples of references in a bibliography

U.S. Congress. House. Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2020, and for Other Purposes (The Heroes Act). HR 6800, 116th Cong., 2nd sess. Introduced in House 5 December 2020. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6800/text.

Wales. National Assembly. Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018. Adopted 9 August 2018. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2018/5/contents.

Examples of notes

1. U.S., Congress, House, Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2020, and for Other Purposes (The Heroes Act), HR 6800, 116th Cong., 2nd sess., introduced in House 5 December 2020, sec. 30201, https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6800/text.

2. Wales, National Assembly, Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Act 2018, adopted 9 August 2018, art. 2, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2018/5/contents.

3. Heroes Act, sec. 30201.

4. Public Health Act 2018, art. 2.