AALL CITATION FORMATS COMMITTEE

Supreme Court of Colorado

MEMORANDUM

To: Publishers
From: Mac V. Danford
Date: May 25, 1995
Re: Paragraph Numbering

By Chief Justice Memorandum of May 5, 1994, the court adopted the policy that pinpoint citations to quotations may reference either a page number in the West's Pacific Reporter or a paragraph number in the opinion.

As a result of that memo, the court has also considered whether a specific system of paragraph numbering should be adopted and implemented within the court or whether various publishers should be permitted to design their own numbering system, within certain guidelines.

The court has now decided to follow the latter course. Thus, within the following guidelines, each publisher (paper or electronic) may include in opinions of the Supreme Court or published opinions of the Court of Appeals a system of sequential numbering of paragraphs for reference purposes. Any numbering system so chosen must:

1. Begin with Arabic Numeral 1 at the first paragraph of text of the majority or dispositive opinion.

1. Continue sequentially throughout the majority opinion and any concurring or dissenting opinions in the order that such opinions are arranged by the court.
   
2. Footnotes should not be numbered separately from the number assigned by the court nor should paragraph numbers within footnotes be numbered. (Pinpoint citations need only reference a footnote by the number assigned it by the court).
   
3. Markers that merely divide opinions, i.e., Roman Numerals, Capital Letters, etc., should not be numbered unless the line containing the marker also contains a text title to that portion of the opinion.
   
4. Block indented single-spaced portions of a paragraph should not be numbered as a separate paragraph.

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