To cite a Louisiana Revised Statute in a Louisiana court filing, write La. R.S. followed by the title number, a colon, and the section number, with no section symbol between them. The first-degree murder statute, for example, is La. R.S. 14:30. The governing rule, R.S. 1:1, sets the shorthand as “R.S.” plus title and section separated by a colon; Louisiana practitioners add the “La.” prefix to distinguish state law from other jurisdictions’ codes.
That single line handles most citations. The details below cover subsections, the year, the section-symbol question that trips up attorneys trained elsewhere, and the errors that most often send readers to the wrong provision.
The Basic Format
The title number identifies the subject area and the section number identifies the specific provision within that title. In La. R.S. 14:30, the 14 points to the Criminal Law title and the 30 points to the section defining first-degree murder. Put a period after “La” and after “R.S.” Do not insert a space between the colon and the section number.
The Louisiana Practitioner Rules for Citation to Legal Authorities confirm this structure and flag one detail that diverges from national practice: Louisiana practitioner citations to the Revised Statutes do not use the section symbol (§). La. R.S. 23:966 is correct. La. R.S. § 23:966 is not. Because the first number already identifies a title rather than a standalone section, the symbol would be redundant under Louisiana court custom.
Citing a Subsection
Louisiana statutes use a hierarchy of capital letters, arabic numerals, and lowercase letters to organize subsections. To cite a specific subsection, add it in parentheses right after the section number with no space between them. Subsection A, paragraph 1 of R.S. 23:966 reads:
La. R.S. 23:966(A)(1)
Match the capitalization exactly as it appears in the statute. If the statute labels a subsection with a capital A, your citation uses a capital A. If it uses a lowercase letter, so do you. Changing the case can point a reader to the wrong provision or to one that doesn’t exist.
When the Section Symbol Does Apply
The no-symbol rule is specific to Louisiana practitioner documents and court filings. Different rules take over the moment you leave that context. The Bluebook, the standard for law reviews and federal courts, uses “La. Rev. Stat. Ann.” or “La. Stat. Ann.” as the source abbreviation and requires the section symbol. ALWD does the same. Both expect § to appear after the source abbreviation.
The split exists because Louisiana practitioner customs developed independently from national citation conventions. The Practitioner Rules acknowledge this directly, noting that neither the Bluebook nor ALWD addresses Louisiana statutory provisions “with adequate detail or in accordance with Louisiana court custom.”
The practical rule is short. Filing in a Louisiana state court? Use La. R.S. 14:30, no symbol. Writing a law review article or filing in federal court? Use La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:30. Mixing the two is a common and avoidable error.
Including the Year
Statutes get amended. When your argument turns on a specific version of a provision, put the year of that version in parentheses at the end of the citation. Under the Bluebook, that looks like La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14:32 (2024). In Louisiana practitioner format, adding the year is less common for current statutes but becomes important when you cite a version of a statute that has since been amended or repealed. The year signals that you know the law has moved and you are pointing to what it said at the relevant time.
Don’t Confuse the Revised Statutes with Louisiana’s Codes
Louisiana’s civil law tradition means the Revised Statutes sit alongside several standalone codes. Those codes are cited by article, not by title and section, and they carry their own abbreviations. Citing a code provision as if it were in the Revised Statutes creates a reference that leads nowhere.
- Civil Code: La. Civ. Code art. 2315
- Code of Civil Procedure: La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 925
- Code of Criminal Procedure: La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 1314
- Code of Evidence: La. Code Evid. art. 406
- Children’s Code: La. Ch. Code art. 665
Each code citation uses “art.” with a lowercase a, and the article number stands alone without a title-colon prefix. If you write “La. Civ. Code R.S. 2315” or “La. R.S. art. 925,” you’ve crossed two citation systems into something that doesn’t exist. The Civil Code covers persons, property, obligations, and successions; the Revised Statutes compile individual legislative enactments organized by subject. Different documents, different formats.
Common Mistakes
The most frequent error is a wrong abbreviation. “L.R.S.” and “LRS” are not recognized forms. Correct practitioner usage is “La. R.S.” with periods after both “La” and “R.S.” Writing “La R.S 14:30” instead of “La. R.S. 14:30” reads as carelessness to a court that sees hundreds of these each week.
Transposing the title and section numbers can derail an argument entirely. La. R.S. 12:103 points to the Corporations and Associations title; La. R.S. 14:103 points to a criminal law provision. Those are different universes, and the mistake is easy to miss because the numbers look similar at a glance.
Inserting a section symbol into a Louisiana practitioner citation is common among attorneys trained on the Bluebook who later practice in Louisiana courts. La. R.S. § 14:30 follows national convention but violates Louisiana court custom. Omitting the symbol in a Bluebook-formatted law review article is the same mistake pointed the other way. Know which audience you are writing for before you pick a format.
Finally, watch for subsection capitalization. A citation to La. R.S. 14:30(a)(1) when the statute actually uses capital A points to a subsection that isn’t there. Copy what the statute prints.
Get the abbreviation, the punctuation, the title-and-section order, the subsection capitalization, and the symbol convention right, and your citation will land where you meant it to.