Template talk:Cite court

message: I am trying to find a way to document what the case number is a slip opinion and only has a Westlaw or Lexis cite?
It seems like the template needs to be changed.  While I have read the comments above on why the template the way it is, I have to state that not having the ability to place in proper legal sites, make it hard to show people how they can access the material. I don't think you will have attorneys using wiki as a legal search database (I hope not) but having the ability to show other layperson where the data is, if they chose to pay for a onetime document charge would be helpful.
Thoughts?Jsgoodrich (talk) 00:35, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: If you just cite according to Bluebook (White pages) rule 10.8.1, it should include the case number as well as the WL/Lexis, and so someone can do a search in that state's page to find it. I know this is an old comment, but I see quite a few problems with the above template. Captchacatcher (talk) 03:29, 28 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Westlaw or Lexis Case cite 

message: I've created a new template for inline law report citations, . There seems to be a need for a template along the lines of  etc that just formats a simple law report citation and builds a URL. Int21h (talk) 00:32, 14 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inline citation template 

message: Currently this only works for published opinions — not for unpublished opinions, nor for filings made by someone other than the court.
Could you please add the following fields?
# Case number
#: For US federal, this is usually in the format 1:23-cv-04567-ABC-XYZ. 1 = division of court; 23 = year; cv =  civil (also common: cr[iminal], m[is]c[ellaneous], m[agistrate]j[udge]); 4567 = optionally 0-padded case number; ABC = initials of presiding judge; XYZ = initials of magistrate judge (if assigned)
# ECF number (aka docket number)
#: Note: not all courts have these. US federal appellate courts often lack them.
# Filer (if not court)
#: Would normally be one of the litigants, but might also be a court reporter, amicus, intervenor, another court, etc
# Title (of document)
#: E.g. "Motion to something or other"
Example:
|litigants=X v. Y
|number=1:23-cv-4567
|docket=45-1
|court=N.D. Ex.
|date=2017,11,5
|filer=Y
|title=Memorandum in support of motion to dismiss
|url=http://test/123
X v. Y, No. 1:23-cv-4567, Y's Memorandum in support of motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. 45-1 (N.D. Ex., filed Nov. 5, 2017)
Note that "filed" before the date is used for non-court filings.
For an unpublished order, this would be e.g.:
|litigants=X v. Y
|number=1:23-cv-4567
|docket=52
|court=N.D. Ex.
|date=2017,12,6
|title=Opinion denying motion to dismiss
|url=http://test/456
X v. Y, No. 1:23-cv-4567, Opinion denying motion to dismiss, Dkt. No. 52 (N.D. Ex., Dec. 12, 2017)
If a full cite were added later, this would suppress some fields. E.g.:
|litigants=X v. Y
|number=1:23-cv-4567
|docket=52
|court=N.D. Ex.
|date=2017,12,6
|title=Opinion denying motion to dismiss
|url=http://test/456
|vol=123
|reporter=F.
|opinion=456
X v. Y, 123 F. 456 (N.D. Ex. 2017)
— Sai ¿?✍ 20:05, 26 December 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: As you may've noticed, this hasn't gotten a lot of traction in the past 3 years. I think that while it's correct to desire a template to cite to court documents that are not published opinions, it would be better to use a different template, at least for now. This template is fairly widely used and protected to require template-editor or administrator rights. I'd imagine that we'd want a much more easily-edited template to use for such citations, because there are a lot of variations and I'd imagine it would take a while to get the template right and working for everyone. (Such a template could conceivably be a superset of this one and might replace this one in the future if it worked well?) If you decide to create such a template, please do post a note about it here (but probably it's a topic for :WT:WikiProject Law). jhawkinson (talk) 01:17, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Field requests: Case number, ECF number, filer, title, multi-field date 

message: The full title of a case includes the full names of all the parties on one side of the case, then a "v.", then the full names of all the parties on the other side. Some cases have more than two sides. Cases often have more that two parties. The full title is never used in citing or referring to the case. The full title is only used in court documents.
The correct term for what the documentation calls the litigants parameter is "short title," which is used in citing or referring to the case. The usual This v. That that you see is the short title. In the substantial majority of cases, the short title indicates the first-named party on each side of a case. For a party that is a human being, the short title uses that party's surname. For a party that is an organization, short title would use organization's name or a reasonable abbreviation of its name. If a case has more than two sides, only the first two sides are used in the short title. The prosecutor in a criminal cases is often referred to as the People; in federal criminal cases, United States is the prosecuting party.
Some types of cases have a differently constructed short title. Examples: Estate of Jones; In re Smith; United States ex rel. Smith v. Jones.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Finell (talk • contribs) 22:35, 24 August 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: If you think that the documentation can be improved, please suggest specific changes to the wording, or you can be bold and change it yourself. Right now, the  parameter documentation begins thus:  That seems like a nice concise version of what you wrote above, and it includes the hint that the common title of the case should be used so that a link will be created. – Jonesey95 (talk) 03:14, 25 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Litigants parameter needs work 

message: Does the template utilize Bluebook formatting, such as for abbreviations when cases are cited? If so, it might be easier to just cite without a template as everyone would be using the same legal citation format. Captchacatcher (talk) 03:31, 28 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bluebook 

message: Suggesting that this template could use a "via=" parameter (common in other cite types) to credit whichever website or journal has the content. -- Asdasdasdff (talk) 17:54, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Via" parameter 

message: You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Law  § Updating Template:Cite court.  Rjjiii (talk) 00:04, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Discussion at [[:Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Law #Updating Template:Cite court|Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Law  §&nbsp;Updating Template:Cite court]]