Introductory signals are used in legal citations to present authorities and show how the authorities relate to propositions in textual statements. A legal writer uses an introductory signal to tell readers how her citation to legal authority supports, or does not support, her written proposition. Introductory signals organize the writer's citations into a hierarchy of strength and importance so that the reader can quickly determine the relative w...
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Introductory signals are used in legal citations to present authorities and show how the authorities relate to propositions in textual statements. A legal writer uses an introductory signal to tell readers how her citation to legal authority supports, or does not support, her written proposition. Introductory signals organize the writer's citations into a hierarchy of strength and importance so that the reader can quickly determine the relative weight of the citation. For example, the introductory signal "See" tells the reader that the cited authority either (a) supports the stated proposition implicitly, or (b) contains dicta that support the proposition. "But see," on the other hand, tells the reader that the cited authority either (a) contradicts the stated proposition implicitly, or (b) contains dicta that contradict the stated proposition.
Introductory signals have different meanings in different U.S. citation style systems. The three most prominent citation manuals are The...
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