Mississippi Style Guide

Citation of Cases
• Public domain citation
• from Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 28 (f)

• Use Southern Reporter, or in cases decided prior to 1967, the Official

Mississippi Reports
◦ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 699 So. 2d 100 (Miss. 1997)
• For cases decided from and after July 1, 1997, the case number as
assigned by the Clerk’s Office
◦ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 95-KA-01234-SCT (Miss. 1997)
• SC: (Miss.)
• APP: (Miss. Ct. App.)

• Quotations from cases and authorities appearing in the text of the brief shall
be cited in one of the following ways:
◦ a. Preceded or followed by a reference to the book and page in the
Southern Reporter and/or the Mississippi Reports where the
quotation appears
▪ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 699 So. 2d 100, 102 (Miss. 1997)
◦ b. In cases decided from and after July 1, 1997, preceded or followed
by a reference to the case number assigned by the Clerk’s Office
and the paragraph number where the quotation appears
▪ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 95-KA-01234-SCT (¶1) (Miss. 1997)
◦ c. In cases decided from and after July 1, 1997, preceded or
followed by a reference to the book and paragraph number in the
Southern Reporter where the quotation appears
▪ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 699 So. 2d 100 (¶1) (Miss. 1997)
◦ d. in cases decided prior to July 1, 1997, preceded or followed by a
reference to the case number assigned by the Clerk’s Office and
paragraph number where the quotation appears when the case is
added to the Court’s Internet web site in the new format, i.e., with
paragraph numbers
▪ e.g., Smith v. Jones, 93-CA-05678-SCT (¶1) (Miss. 1995)
◦ e. preceded or followed by a parallel citation using both the book
citation and the case number citation.

Mississippi State Statues Citation

 E.g.
 Miss. Code Ann. Miss. Code Ann. § 75-4-101 ({date if needed}).
 Miss. Code Ann. § 75-4-101 (West {date if needed}).

Mississippi Regulation Citation

 E.g. Miss. Code R. § 26-000-001 ({date if needed}).
Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure
• rule: M.R.C.P. (rule number)
• e.g., M.R.C.P. 85.

Mississippi Rules of Appellate Procedure

• cite as: M.R.A.P.

Mississippi Rules of Evidence

• rule: M.R.E. (rule number)
• e.g., M.R.E. 1102

Mississippi Rules for Electronic and Photographic Coverage of Judicial Proceedings

• cite as: MREPC

Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit and Country Court Practice

• rule: URCC (rule number)
• e.g., URCC 1.10

Mississippi Primary and Secondary Sources

Supreme Court (Miss.): Cite of So., So. 2d, or So. 3d, if therein.
Southern Reporter 1886-date So., So. 2d, So. 3d
Mississippi Reports 1851-1966 Miss.
23 Miss. To 254 Miss.
Smedes and Mashall 1843-1850 e.g., 9 Miss. (1 S. & M.)
Howard 1834-1843 e.g., 2 Miss. (1 Howard)
Walker 1818-1832 1 Miss. (1 Walker)
Mississippi Decision 1820-1885 Miss. Dec.

Court of Appeals (Miss. Ct. App.): Cite to So. 2d or So. 3d.

Southern Reporter 1995-date So. 2d, So. 3d

Statutory compilations: cite to Miss. Code Ann. (published by LexisNexis), if therein.

Mississippi Code 1972 Annotated Miss. Code Ann. § x-x-x (<year>)
(LexisNexis)
West’s Annotated Mississippi Code Miss. Code Ann. § x-x-x (West
<year>)

Session laws: Cite to Miss. Laws, if therein

General Laws of Mississippi <year> Miss. Laws <page no.>
Mississippi General Laws Advance <year>-<pamph.no.> Miss. Laws
Sheets (LexisNexis) Adv. Sh. <page no.> (LexisNexis)
 West’s Mississippi Legislative Service <year> Miss. Legis. Serv. <page no.>
(West)

Administrative compilation
Code of Mississippi Rules (LexisNexis) <tit. no.>-<ch. no.> Miss. Code R. § x
(LexisNexis <year>)

Administrative register
Mississippi Government Register <iss. no.> Miss. Gov’t Reg. <page no.>
(LexisNexis) (LexisNexis <month year>)

Parallel Citation