Rule 82.2 Citation of Authority

Cases Included in the Commonwealth Reporters. Any cases published in the Commonwealth Reporter or the Northern Mariana Islands Reporter or designated “for publication” in slip opinion form or reported on the Commonwealth Law Revision Commission website at www.cnmilaw.org may be cited by counsel as support for a legal proposition. This must include any Trial and Appellate Division opinions of the District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands which are or were not published in the Federal Supplement. It must also include any Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cases which are not reported in the Federal Reporter but which dispose of cases originating from the Northern Mariana Islands.

Cases Not Included in the Commonwealth Reporter. Should counsel wish to cite a matter decided in the Commonwealth Trial Court or Superior Court which is not published in the Commonwealth Reporter and is not on file as a slip opinion in the Commonwealth Law Library or is not reported on the Commonwealth Law Revision Commission website, counsel must notify all other parties, in writing, no later than 48 hours before the hearing date of any motion, trial, or other hearing at which the case is to be used and provide all other parties and the court with a copy of the case. Cases Not Included in the Northern Mariana Islands Reporter. Should counsel wish to cite a matter decided in the Supreme Court which is designated as an unpublished opinion, counsel must notify all other parties in writing no later than 48 hours before the hearing date of any motion, trial, or other hearing at which the case is to be used and provide all other parties and the court with a copy of the case. Should the Supreme Court create a rule or other limitation on the use of its unpublished decision, counsel must act in accordance with the rule or limitation. Use of Secondary Authority when Primary Authority is Not Available. Citations to the secondary authorities American Jurisprudence (“Am. Jur.”) and Corpus Juris Secundum (“C.J.S.”) as primary authority for a legal proposition is strictly prohibited unless accompanied by a parenthetical explanation stating the reason why primary authority could not be found to support the proposition. No references to either of these authorities will be considered by the court unless cited in compliance with this provision. Providing the Court and Parties with Unavailable Authority. Should counsel or a party deem it necessary to cite any authority that is not readily available, a copy of that authority must be attached to the memorandum in which it is cited and must be provided to the court and all parties upon request. If the authority in question is a treatise or book, the party citing this authority must provide the court and all parties with excerpts from that authority sufficient to reveal a full understanding of the author’s opinion on the proposition for which the treatise or book is cited. Any party citing a law review article must provide a full copy of the article for review by the court and all parties. No authority will be considered by the court unless cited in compliance with this provision.