Legal Citation Validator

1. Statutory Citations

Format: [Act Name], [Year], Section [Number]

Examples:

• ✅ CORRECT: "Section 21 of the Constitution of India, 1950"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Section 300 IPC" (when IPC context is clear)
• ✅ CORRECT: "Article 14 of the Constitution"
• ❌ INCORRECT: "Article 14" (without Act reference in first mention)
• ❌ INCORRECT: "Sec. 21" (use "Section" in formal writing)

Rules:

1. First mention: Full Act name + year + Section number
2. Subsequent mentions: Abbreviated form acceptable if unambiguous
3. Use "Section" for statutes, "Article" only for Constitution
4. Clause/sub-section format: "Section 14(1)(a)"

2. Case Law Citations

Primary Formats (in order of preference):

1. AIR (All India Reporter): [Case Name] v. [Respondent], AIR [Year] [Court] [Page]
2. SCR (Supreme Court Reports): ([Year]) [Volume] SCR [Page]
3. SCC (Supreme Court Cases): ([Year]) [Volume] SCC [Page]

Examples:

• ✅ CORRECT: "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973 SC 1461"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, (1978) 1 SCC 248"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011"
• ❌ INCORRECT: "Kesavananda case (1973)" (informal, lacks citation)
• ❌ INCORRECT: "AIR 1973 1461" (missing court abbreviation)

Court Abbreviations:

• SC = Supreme Court of India
• Del = Delhi High Court
• Bom = Bombay High Court
• Cal = Calcutta High Court
• Mad = Madras High Court
• (Refer to @.claude/skills/legal-citation-validator/references/court-abbreviations.md for complete list)

3. Constitutional Citations

Format: Article [Number], Part [Part Number if relevant], Constitution of India

Examples:

• ✅ CORRECT: "Article 21, Part III, Constitution of India"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Articles 14-18 (Right to Equality)"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Article 32 (Constitutional Remedies)"
• ❌ INCORRECT: "Art. 21" (use "Article" in formal writing)

4. Amendment Citations

Format: [Ordinal Number] Amendment, [Year] OR Constitution (Amendment) Act, [Year]

Examples:

• ✅ CORRECT: "42nd Amendment, 1976"
• ✅ CORRECT: "Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act, 1976"
• ✅ CORRECT: "44th Amendment (repealed Emergency provisions)"

Validation Workflow

Step 1: Identify Citations

Scan document for patterns:

• "Section [number]"
• "Article [number]"
• Case names (capitalized party names with "v." or "vs.")
• "AIR [year]", "SCC", "SCR" patterns
• Act names with years (e.g., "Act, 1872")

Step 2: Validate Format

Check each citation against standards in @references/citation-formats.md:

• Proper spacing (e.g., "AIR 1973 SC 1461" not "AIR1973SC1461")
• Correct abbreviations (e.g., "SC" not "S.C." for Supreme Court)
• Comma placement (e.g., "v." followed by respondent name)
• Year format consistency (e.g., 1973 not '73)

Step 3: Verify Statutory References

For statutory citations:

1. Check section number exists in referenced Act
2. Verify subsection/clause notation (e.g., "Section 14(1)" not "Section 14-1")
3. Confirm Act year is correct (e.g., "IPC, 1860" not "IPC, 1860")

Common Errors:

• ❌ "Section 301 IPC" (IPC has 511 sections, no Section 301 exists - correct is "Section 300")
• ❌ "Article 370A" (no such Article - correct is "Article 370")
• ❌ "Section 14(a)" (should be "Section 14(1)" if referring to first clause)

Step 4: Validate Case Citations

For case law:

1. Check party names are capitalized correctly
2. Verify "v." (not "vs" or "vs." in formal citations)
3. Confirm court abbreviation is standard
4. Check year is within realistic range (1950-2025 for independent India)

Refer to @references/landmark-cases-index.md for verification of major cases.

Step 5: Cross-Reference Check

Ensure citations are consistent:

• Same case cited the same way throughout document
• Same statutory provision formatted consistently
• Abbreviations used consistently (don't mix "IPC" and "Indian Penal Code" randomly)

Step 6: Generate Validation Report

Output format:

✓ VALID CITATIONS: [count]
  - Statutory: [count]
  - Case law: [count]
  - Constitutional: [count]

⚠ WARNINGS: [count]
  - [Description of inconsistency or formatting issue]

✗ ERRORS: [count]
  - Line [X]: [Error description and suggested correction]

Reference Files

Primary References

• @references/citation-formats.md: Complete citation format rules
• @references/court-abbreviations.md: All court short forms (25 High Courts, tribunals)
• @references/landmark-cases-index.md: Major cases with verified citations
• @references/statutory-index.md: All major Acts with year and section ranges

Usage

When validating a citation, read the relevant reference file:

Read @.claude/skills/legal-citation-validator/references/citation-formats.md

Common Citation Errors to Detect

1. Informal Language

• ❌ "the Kesavananda case" → ✅ "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973 SC 1461"
• ❌ "Section 21 judgment" → ✅ "interpretation of Article 21 in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India"

2. Incomplete Citations

• ❌ "AIR 1978 597" → ✅ "AIR 1978 SC 597"
• ❌ "Section 14" (first mention) → ✅ "Section 14 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872"

3. Incorrect Abbreviations

• ❌ "S.C." → ✅ "SC"
• ❌ "vs." or "vs" → ✅ "v."
• ❌ "Sec." → ✅ "Section" (formal) or no abbreviation

4. Formatting Errors

• ❌ "AIR1973SC1461" → ✅ "AIR 1973 SC 1461" (spacing)
• ❌ "Article-21" → ✅ "Article 21" (no hyphen)
• ❌ "Section 14 (1)" → ✅ "Section 14(1)" (no space before parenthesis)

Integration

With Other Skills

• Works with legal-opinion-drafter to ensure citations in opinions are valid
• Supports legal-research-assistant in formatting research output
• Used by Indian Law agents when generating legal analysis

With Protocols

• Validates citations in all IL-* protocols
• Ensures cross-protocol references are accurate
• Maintains citation consistency across protocol updates

With Hooks

• Can be triggered by legal-precision-check hook on Write/Edit operations

Examples

Example 1: Validate Constitutional Citation

Input: "Art. 21" Validation:

• ⚠ WARNING: Use "Article" not "Art." in formal writing
• ✓ Section number valid Suggested: "Article 21, Part III, Constitution of India"

Example 2: Validate Case Citation

Input: "Kesavananda vs State of Kerala (1973)" Validation:

• ✗ ERROR: Use "v." not "vs" in formal citations
• ✗ ERROR: Missing reporter citation (AIR/SCR/SCC)
• ⚠ WARNING: Party name should include "Bharati" Suggested: "Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973 SC 1461"

Example 3: Validate Statutory Reference

Input: "Sec. 14(a) of ICA" Validation:

• ⚠ WARNING: Use "Section" not "Sec." in formal writing
• ✗ ERROR: Clause notation should be (1) not (a) for first clause
• ⚠ WARNING: First mention should spell out "Indian Contract Act, 1872" Suggested: "Section 14(1) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872"

Tools Required

This skill uses:

• Read: To access reference files
• Grep: To search for citation patterns in documents

Disclaimer

This skill provides formatting guidance based on common Indian legal citation practices. It does not constitute legal advice. For authoritative citation rules, consult:

• Supreme Court Rules, 2013 (Order VI, Rule 3)
• Bluebook (adapted for Indian law)
• Individual court citation rules

Verify all statutory and case citations against official sources (India Code, Indian Kanoon) before final publication.

Skill Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2025-12-05 Part of: Indian Law Knowledge Ecosystem Dependencies: None