Isabella Carter
The Chicago Manual of Style, like MLA and APA, defers to The Bluebook for legal citations. Legal publications are usually only cited in the notes and not the bibliography. However, if you are citing a secondary publication, such as a book in which the legal publication appears, then CMOS guidelines take precedence. When citing the US Constitution in Chicago style, the first footnote or endnote should be formatted as follows: US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Footnote or Endnote | US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3 |
| Bibliography | Not usually cited in bibliography |
| Parenthetical Note | (US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9) |
| Reference List | Not usually cited in reference list |
| Author-Date Style | US Department of State. 1963 |
| Book consulted online | Include URL or database name |
| Downloadable ebook formats | Name the format |
| No fixed page numbers | Cite a section title or chapter |
| Pre-1900 books | Cite place rather than publisher |
| Page range for a chapter in a book | No longer required in bibliography entries |
| Social media citations | Limited to text, quote first 280 characters |
| Journal articles with multiple authors | List all authors in bibliography, use 'et al.' for more than six authors |
| Legal publications | Cite in notes, not bibliography |
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What You'll Learn
Footnote or Endnote
The Chicago Manual of Style, currently in its 18th edition, outlines two types of referencing styles: Notes and Bibliography, and Author-Date. This answer will focus on the Notes and Bibliography style, which uses footnotes and endnotes.
When citing a legal document in the Chicago style, it should be noted that these documents are typically only cited in the footnotes or within the text of your paper. They are not usually included in the bibliography unless they are included in a secondary publication, such as a book, in which case the book would be cited in the bibliography. This rule applies to constitutions as well.
Government documents may have a personal author, or the author may be the name of the agency that created the document. If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the document. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress, the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed, and the report number. US government documents are typically published by the Government Printing Office.
Personal communications, such as letters, emails, text messages, and phone calls, are usually referenced in footnotes and endnotes or explained in the text of the paper. They are rarely listed in the Chicago style bibliography.
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Bibliography
The Chicago Manual of Style, like both MLA and APA, defers to The Bluebook for legal citations. Legal publications only need to be cited in the notes, not the bibliography. However, if you have a secondary publication, like a book in which the legal publication appears, then the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) takes over.
For example, the US Constitution is usually not cited in a bibliography. In a first footnote or endnote, it would look like this:
US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3.
However, if you are using the author-date style, the first parenthetical note would look like this:
US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9)
If you are citing a book that you consulted online, include either a URL or the name of the database. For downloadable ebook formats, name the format; if no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title, a chapter, or another number in the note, or simply omit this.
For example:
Arundhati Roy, *The God of Small Things* (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle.
The page range for a chapter in a book is no longer required in bibliography entries. In a note, cite specific pages as applicable.
For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and in a note. For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by "et al." ("and others"). In a note, only the first author's name should be listed, followed by "et al."
In rare cases, a bibliography entry for a social media post may also be appropriate. In place of a title, quote up to the first 280 characters of the post.
For example:
> NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb), “👀 Sneak a peek at the deepest & sharpest infrared image of the early universe ever taken—all in a day’s work for the Webb telescope. (Literally, capturing it took less than a day!),” Twitter (now X), July 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1546621080298835970.
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Parenthetical Note
The Chicago Manual of Style typically defers to The Bluebook for legal citations. Legal publications only need to be cited in the notes, not the bibliography.
When citing the US Constitution in Chicago Style, the first parenthetical note should be in the format: (US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9). Here is an example of how to cite the US Constitution in the first parenthetical note:
> "This is an example of a quote from the US Constitution (US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3)."
The format for the first footnote or endnote is as follows:
> US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3
The US Constitution is usually not cited in the bibliography.
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Reference List
The Chicago Manual of Style, like both MLA and APA, defers to The Bluebook for legal citations. Legal publications only need to be cited in the notes, not the reference list or bibliography (unless you have a secondary publication, like a book in which the legal publication appears, in which case CMOS takes over).
For example, the US Constitution is usually not cited in the reference list or bibliography. The first footnote or endnote would be formatted as follows:
US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3.
In the author-date style, the first parenthetical note would be formatted like this:
(US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9)
If you are citing a specific treaty, the format is slightly different. For example, the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water, US-UK-USSR, August 5, 1963, would be cited in the reference list as follows:
US Department of State. 1963. Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water. US-UK-USSR. August 5.
In the author-date style, the first parenthetical note would be formatted like this:
(US Department of State 1963, 1313)
Note that the page range for a chapter in a book is no longer required in bibliography entries. In a note, cite specific pages as applicable. For example:
Kathleen Doyle, “The Queen Mary Psalter,” in The Book by Design: The Remarkable Story of the World’s Greatest Invention, ed. P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 64.
For works by two authors, list both in the bibliography and in a note. For three or more authors, list up to six in the bibliography; for more than six authors, list the first three, followed by “et al.” In a note, only the first author's name should be listed, followed by “et al.”.
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Article and Section Numbering
When citing a constitution in Chicago Style, it is important to correctly format the article and section numbering. This is an essential part of the citation and ensures that the referenced section of the constitution is easily identifiable.
The basic format for citing the US Constitution in Chicago Style is as follows: "US Constitution, art. [Article Number], sec. [Section Number], cl. [Clause Number]".
For example, if you are citing Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3 of the US Constitution, your citation would look like this: "US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3".
This format allows for precise referencing of specific sections within the constitution. It is important to note that the article, section, and clause numbers are all included in the citation to provide an exact location within the document.
When citing an amendment to the US Constitution, a slightly different format is used. In this case, you would use the abbreviation "amend." to indicate that you are referring to an amendment. The basic format for citing an amendment is: "US Constitution, amend. [Amendment Number], sec. [Section Number]".
For example, if you are citing Amendment XIV, Section 2, your citation would appear as follows: "US Constitution, amend. XIV, sec. 2". This format ensures clarity and enables easy identification of the specific amendment and section being referenced.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution is usually not cited in a bibliography.
In the notes-bibliography format, the first footnote or endnote would be: 1. US Constitution, art. 2, sec. 1, cl. 3.
In the author-date style, the first parenthetical note would be: (US Constitution, art. 1, sec. 9).
