supra

Law & Legal abbreviation · Legal Citation

supra
Stands forSupra (above)
CategoriesLaw & Legal

supra stands for Supra (above), a legal citation abbreviation.

Short-form citation signal showing that a source was fully cited earlier in the document, used for books, articles and legislative materials, as in "Smith, supra note 12, at 45". The Bluebook does not allow it for cases, statutes or regulations, which have their own short forms.

Example: For the clause's history, see Amar, supra note 7, at 112.

Usage notes

Latin for "above". In law review footnotes it always points to the footnote containing the full citation; in court documents without footnotes, writers sometimes use "Smith, supra, at 45". Using supra for a case is a common Bluebook error; write a short form such as "Brown, 347 U.S. at 495" instead. Its counterpart for later material is infra.

More legal citation abbreviations

  • S.W.3d – South Western Reporter, Third Series
  • Sec'y – Secretary
  • slip op. – Slip opinion
  • So. 2d – Southern Reporter, Second Series
  • So. 3d – Southern Reporter, Third Series
  • Stat. – United States Statutes at Large
  • Treas. Reg. – Treasury Regulation
  • U.L.A. – Uniform Laws Annotated
  • U.S. – United States Reports
  • U.S. Const. – United States Constitution
  • U.S.C. – United States Code
  • U.S.C.A. – United States Code Annotated

See all 87 legal citation abbreviations →

This entry is for general education and is not legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.