The production of or reference to the text of acts of legislatures, treatises, or cases of similar nature decided by the courts, in order to support propositions advanced. As the knowledge of the law is to a great degree a knowledge of precedents, it fol- lows that there must be necessarily a fre- quent reference to these preceding deci- sions to obtain support for propositions ad- vanced as being statements of what the law is. Constant reference to the law as it is enacted is, of course, necessary. Ref- erences to the works of legal writers are also desirable for elucidation and explana- tion of doubtful points of law. In the United States, the laws of the general government are generally cited by their date: as, Act of Sept. 24, 1789, § 35; or, Act of 1819, c. 170; or by reference to the statutes, as 24 Stat. L. 505; or by the section of the Revised Statutes of 1878, or its supplements. The same practice prevails in Pennsylvania, and in most of the other states, when the date of the statute is im- portant. Otherwise, in most of the states, reference is made to the revised code of laws or the official publication of the laws: as, Va. Rev. Code, c. 26; N. Y. Rev. Stat. 8th ed. 400. Books of reports and text- books are generally cited by the number of the volume and page: as, 2 Washburn, R. P. 350; 4 Pa. 60. Sometimes, however, the paragraphs are numbered, and refer ence is made to the paragraphs: as, Story, Bailm. § 494; Gould, Pl. c. 5, § 30. The civilians on the continent of Europe, in referring to the Institutes, Code, and Pandects or Digest, usually give the num- ber, not of the book, but of the law, and the first word of the title to which it be- longs; and, as there are more than a thou- sand of these, it is no easy task for one not thoroughly acquainted with those collec- tions to find the place to which reference is made. The American writers generally follow the natural mode of reference, by putting down the name of the collection, and then the number of the book, title, law, and section. For example, Inst. 4. 15. 2. signifies Institutes, book 4, title 15, and section 2; Dig. 41. 9.1.3. means Digest, book 41, title 9, law 1, section 3; Dig. pro dote, or ff pro dote, signifies section 8, law 1, of the book and title of the Digest or Pandects entitled pro dote. It is proper to remark that Dig. and ff are equivalent: the former signifies Digest, and the latter -which is a careless mode of writing the Greek letter ㅠ, the first letter of the word πανδεκται-signifies Pandects; and the Di- gest and Pandects are different names for one and the same thing. The Code is cited in the same way. The Novels are cited by their number, with that of the chapter and paragraph: for example, Nov. 185. 2. 4. for Novella Justiniani 185, capite 2, para- grapho 4. Novels are also quoted by the Collation, the title, chapter, and paragraph, as follows: In Authentico, Collatione 1, titulo 1, cap. 281. The Authentics are quoted by their first words, after which is set down the title of the Code under which they are placed for example, Authentica, cum testator. Codice ad legem fascidiam. See Mackeldey, Civ. Law § 65; Domat, Civ. Law, Cush. ed. Index. The system of citations in the present and the last editions of this work differs somewhat from that adopted in the earlier editions, in order that such citation might occupy as little space as pos sible. The briefest possible citation, that will avoid ambiguity, has been adopted in this work; the table of abbreviations (see ABBREVIATIONS) gives. the full name of the book or volume of reports re ferred to. Statutes of the various states will be cited by giving the number of the volume (where there are more volumes than one), the name of the state (using the common geographical abbreviation), the designation of the code, and the page where the statute or provision in consideration is found: thus, 1 N. Y. Rev. Stat. 4th ed. 68. To this it is desirable to add, when regard for space allows, the chapter and section of the statute referred to. In some cases the system of citing state statutes adopted in Stimson's Am. Stat. Law is resorted to, and the statutes of a state are referred to by the name of the state, the year, the page or chapter and section by number, omitting the letters c., p., and s. or §: thus, R. I. 1893, 65. 12., meaning Rhode Island Laws, 1893, chap. 65, § 12. United States statutes, and statutes of the states not included in the codified collection of the state. are cited as statutes of the year in which they were enacted, or by the proper section of the Revised Statutes. English statutes are referred to by indicating the year of the reign in which they were enacted, the chapter and section thus, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 96, § 2. Text-books are referred to by giving the number of the volume (where there are more volumes than one), and the name of the author, with an abbrevia- tion of the title of the work sufficiently extended to distinguish it from other works by the same a