A citation sentence is the sentence in a legal document that sets out the source relied on for a preceding or following legal proposition, such as a case, statute, statutory instrument, EU measure, textbook or article. It tells the reader exactly which authority supports a stated proposition of law or fact, and where that authority can be located in a law report or legislation series.The expression is descriptive rather than a term defined in legislation or case law. It is used mainly in the context of written advocacy (skeleton arguments, opinions, written submissions) and academic legal writing, and is closely linked to citation rules prescribed by courts, practice directions and style guides.In practice, a citation sentence normally includes the case name or legislative title, the neutral citation (if available), the law report reference, pinpoint references to pages or paragraphs, and sometimes a short parenthetical explanation of what the authority establishes.Usage is broadly consistent across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, although specific format requirements and preferred law report series may differ between jurisdictions and courts.