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LSDefine

Simple English definitions for legal terms

Order of signals

Read a random definition: impensae

A quick definition of Order of signals:

Order of signals: The way we organize the sentences that we use to cite sources in formal legal writing. We use different words to introduce each sentence, and we put them in a specific order. The order is: no signal, for example, according to, see, see also, compare with, contrary to, but see, but compare with, and see generally. We put all the sources that have the same introduction word in one sentence, separated by semicolons. We only use each introduction word once, at the beginning of its own sentence.

A more thorough explanation:

Definition: The order in which citation sentences should be arranged when immediately following each other. In formal legal writing, citation sentences should be arranged based on the signals that introduce them, in the following order of precedence:

  1. No signal
  2. E.g.,
  3. Accord
  4. See
  5. See also
  6. Cf.
  7. Compare with
  8. Contra
  9. But see
  10. But cf.
  11. See generally

All sources falling under the same signal should be put in a single citation sentence and separated by semicolons. Thus, each signal should appear only once in a given citation - at the start of its own citation sentence.

Example: In a legal brief, the following citation sentences might be used:

  • The plaintiff argues that the defendant breached the contract. See Smith v. Jones, 123 F.3d 456 (2d Cir. 2010).
  • Accord Johnson v. Smith, 456 F.2d 789 (3d Cir. 2012).
  • But see Brown v. Green, 789 F.2d 123 (4th Cir. 2013) (holding that the defendant did not breach the contract).
  • See generally Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 123 (1981).

In this example, the first citation sentence has no signal, so it comes first. The second citation sentence has the signal "Accord," so it comes next. The third citation sentence has the signal "But see," so it comes after "Accord." The fourth citation sentence has the signal "See generally," so it comes last.

This order of signals helps to organize the citations and make them easier to follow for the reader.

order of examination | order to show cause

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MIAMI A
[] AromaticTroubledDormouse
20:55
How does one know if they are UR1 or UR2?
[] AromaticTroubledDormouse
20:56
CONGRATS MACAQUE!
TY
got a random stanford email and almost had a heart attack
ALSO CONGRATS!
Congrats1!
21:15
Miami A, yall I'm so excited I could cry.
21:15
Feel like I can finally stop holding my breath!! Whew!!!
[] baddestbunny
22:16
every time I get accosted by a strange man who follows me around because my male coworkers were too busy talking to walk me back to my car I get closer to saying we need to bring back traditional gender roles
Dkk
22:32
Nice! @Macaque
Dkk
22:32
@Aromatic, Have to guess.
Dkk
22:33
That sucks @Bunny do you have to go to the hospital?
[] baddestbunny
22:40
I said accosted not assaulted
23:35
guys. my notre dame address just went long is this good or bad
1a2b3c4d26z
23:37
Oooooo me too
23:37
omg is this good or bad
Dkk
23:47
Idk if gender roles are gunna fix that then.
23:49
it looks like most people who applied in october last cycle didn't get a decision until january... does it even mean anything that our addresses went long??
hows ED 2 compared to ED 1?
Dkk
0:10
No idea
windyMagician
0:34
reporting live to say my ndls address also went long
does it mean anything ^
Dkk
2:21
NDLS and Fordham took a very long time last year. It's good info for people to know.
[] baddestbunny
4:29
let’s get after it boys and girls
Dkk
5:21
I gtg to bed soon.
Dkk
5:22
Big day today. Gunna be a crazy one. I will sleep through the first half.
good morning lsd it is 5 am EST
also jazzy my ndls address went long ages ago i sadly do not think it means anything
my stanford address also went long LOL i think at most it's an indicator it's under review
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