To cite a law in Spain, the first time you write its full title: type, number/year, date and name («Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil», Law 1/2000 of 7 January on Civil Procedure). After that, «Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero» is enough. An article is cited from the general to the particular: «artículo 14.2.c)». That is what the Directrices de técnica normativa (the Spanish government's guidelines on legislative drafting) lay down.
Here are the three cases people search for most: the citation in a brief, the reference in a paper using APA 7 and the footnote in Word, on Windows and Mac. The examples are real laws, with their titles checked in the BOE (Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain's official gazette). The citations stay in Spanish, as they are written in Spain, with an explanation in English.
How do you cite a law the first time?
The first citation of a law gives the full title: type, number and year, date and name. That is what guideline 73 of the Directrices de técnica normativa says (Council of Ministers Agreement of 22 July 2005): the type, in full; the number and the year, with all four digits and separated by a slash; and the date and the name, between commas.
- Type, in full: Ley Orgánica (organic law), not «LO».
- Number/year: 3/2018.
- Date, between commas: de 5 de diciembre (of 5 December).
- Name: de Protección de Datos Personales y garantía de los derechos digitales (on the protection of personal data and the guarantee of digital rights).
A detail that confuses people: the date in the title is the date of the law, not of its publication. Ley 1/2000 is dated 7 January 2000 and appeared in the BOE on the 8th. And in a brief you do not add where it was published: guideline 71 asks for the official gazette not to be mentioned in citations.
Copy the title from the BOE header with its capital letters: the Directrices and the Libro de estilo de la Justicia (the style guide for the Spanish justice system) do not fully agree on them, and the official title is the one the BOE publishes.
The Constitution, the codes and EU law
The Constitution and old laws that do not fit that pattern are cited by their name, and EU law has its own model:
- The Constitution is always cited by its name, Constitución Española (the Spanish Constitution), and not with synonyms such as «Norma Suprema», «Norma Fundamental» or «Código Político» (supreme law, fundamental law, political code) (guideline 72).
- Laws older than the Constitution that are still in force and, because of their age, do not fit the pattern are cited by their name; the guideline gives as examples the Ley Hipotecaria (Mortgage Act), the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal (Criminal Procedure Act), the Código Civil (Civil Code) and the Código de Comercio (Commercial Code). That is why you write «artículo 1902 del Código Civil» and not its BOE title, «Real Decreto de 24 de julio de 1889 por el que se publica el Código Civil» (Royal Decree of 24 July 1889 publishing the Civil Code).
- European Union law follows the models in guideline 78. For example, the GDPR is cited in Spanish as: «Reglamento (UE) 2016/679 del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 27 de abril de 2016, relativo a la protección de las personas físicas en lo que respecta al tratamiento de datos personales y a la libre circulación de estos datos y por el que se deroga la Directiva 95/46/CE (Reglamento general de protección de datos)».
Court rulings have their own format (guideline 79): we explain it in how to cite a court ruling.
How do you shorten a law in later citations?
From the second citation onwards, the type, the number and year and the date are enough: «la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero». This is guideline 80: the first citation is given in full and the others can be shortened like this.
If you prefer an acronym, introduce it the first time. The Directrices do it in parentheses or between commas, with «en adelante» (hereinafter): «Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil (en adelante, LEC)». Acronyms go in capitals, with no points or spaces, and the Libro de estilo de la Justicia lists the most used ones in its appendix of acronyms: CE (Constitution), CC (Civil Code), CP (Criminal Code), LEC (Civil Procedure Act), LECrim (Criminal Procedure Act) or LOPJ (Judiciary Act).
| Law | First citation | Later citations |
|---|---|---|
| Civil procedure | Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil | Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, or LEC |
| Data protection | Ley Orgánica 3/2018, de 5 de diciembre, de Protección de Datos Personales y garantía de los derechos digitales | Ley Orgánica 3/2018, de 5 de diciembre |
| Workers' Statute | Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015, de 23 de octubre, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley del Estatuto de los Trabajadores | Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015, de 23 de octubre |
| Administrative procedure | Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre, del Procedimiento Administrativo Común de las Administraciones Públicas | Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre |
| Constitution | Constitución Española | Constitución Española, or CE |
| Civil Code | Código Civil | Código Civil, or CC |
How do you cite an article of a law, with its section and letter?
An article is cited from the general to the particular and in compact form: number, apartado (numbered section), letter and, if needed, párrafo (paragraph of text). Guideline 68 calls this a short, descending citation and gives this example: «artículo 6.2.a).1.º, párrafo segundo» (article 6, section 2, letter a), ordinal 1.º and its second paragraph).
- Just the article: «artículo 1902 del Código Civil».
- Article and section: «artículo 399.1 de la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil».
- Section and letter: «artículo 14.2.c) de la Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre, del Procedimiento Administrativo Común de las Administraciones Públicas».
- A paragraph within a section: «artículo 24.2, párrafo segundo, de la Constitución Española».
- A series: «artículos 1902 a 1910 del Código Civil, ambos inclusive» (articles 1902 to 1910 of the Civil Code, both inclusive). Guideline 70 asks for it to be clear which is the first and which is the last.
The Directrices do not accept the ascending citation («la letra c) del apartado 2 del artículo 14», letter c) of section 2 of article 14), except in cases meant for those who draft legislation.
The words artículo, apartado, párrafo, disposición final primera, capítulo, sección, título or libro (article, section, paragraph, first final provision, chapter, section, title or book) are written in lower case, and the Libro de estilo accepts their abbreviations, also in lower case: art., apdo., disp. adic. The article number is written without a thousands point (artículo 1902, not 1.902), one of the mistakes we go over in Spanish legal writing mistakes according to the Libro de estilo.
How do you quote the literal text of an article?
The literal text of an article goes in quotation marks and is copied from the BOE without changing anything. The Libro de estilo de la Justicia uses quotation marks to frame verbatim quotations:
El artículo 1902 del Código Civil dispone: «El que por acción u omisión causa daño a otro, interviniendo culpa o negligencia, está obligado a reparar el daño causado».
(Article 1902 of the Civil Code provides: «Whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, through fault or negligence, is obliged to repair the damage caused».)
If the article has several sections and you copy it whole, the Libro de estilo suggests opening each paragraph, from the second onwards, with a closing quotation mark (»), and closing the quotation at the end, as in this quotation of article 1 of the Spanish Constitution:
El artículo 1 de la Constitución Española dispone:
«1. España se constituye en un Estado social y democrático de Derecho, que propugna como valores superiores de su ordenamiento jurídico la libertad, la justicia, la igualdad y el pluralismo político.
»2. La soberanía nacional reside en el pueblo español, del que emanan los poderes del Estado.
»3. La forma política del Estado español es la Monarquía parlamentaria».
It can also go in a separate, indented paragraph; in legal texts, the Libro de estilo notes, it is usual to keep the quotation marks in that case. If you draft by voice, the pattern for the legal grounds (state the argument, cite the provision and develop it) is in how to dictate a legal brief.
How do you cite the current text or an earlier version?
The current text is taken from the BOE's consolidated text, and an earlier version from the wording in force on that date. The consolidated text incorporates the express amendments, corrections and repeals of a law. By default it shows the latest update, and the Seleccionar redacción (select wording) drop-down offers the intermediate versions and the original text.
Also, each amended article has a button at the bottom for each wording, and clicking it switches the whole law to the wording on that date. For example, article 49 of the Spanish Constitution has two: the original text, published on 29 December 1978, and the one published on 17 February 2024, in force from that day, with the note «Se modifica por el art. único de la Reforma de 15 de febrero de 2024» (amended by the single article of the Reform of 15 February 2024).
To link to a specific version, use the ELI (European Legislation Identifier), which appears as «Permalink ELI» in the header of each law:
- Ending in /con: it opens the consolidated text with the latest update. The one for Ley 1/2000 is https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2000/01/07/1/con.
- With the date after it (YYYYMMDD): it fixes the version on that day. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/c/1978/12/27/(1)/con/19781229 opens the Constitution in its 1978 wording, with article 49 as it was before the reform.
- With /dof/: it is the text as first published in the official gazette.
In the brief, say which wording you are citing: «artículo 49 de la Constitución Española, en su redacción original» (in its original wording). And bear in mind three warnings from the BOE: the consolidated text is for information only and has no legal validity (for legal purposes, the official publication applies), it only includes express amendments and it usually takes 1 to 3 working days to incorporate a new one. Which wording applies to a given set of facts is no longer a citation question: the BOE gives you the versions, not the answer.
How do you cite a Spanish law in APA 7?
APA 7 has no format for Spanish laws: its manual cites legislation according to The Bluebook, the US system. The APA 7 guide of the Library of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid adapts it with this pattern for the reference list:
Type Number/Year, de date of approval, title of the law. Boletín Oficial del Estado, issue number, de date of publication. Permalink ELI.
Applied to two laws, with the details from their BOE record:
- Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 7, de 8 de enero de 2000. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2000/01/07/1/con
- Ley Orgánica 3/2018, de 5 de diciembre, de Protección de Datos Personales y garantía de los derechos digitales. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 294, de 6 de diciembre de 2018. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/lo/2018/12/05/3/con
The guide asks for the ELI to be, where possible, the consolidated one (the one ending in /con). Within the text it treats laws as works without an author: the first significant words of the title and the year, for example (Ley Orgánica 3/2018, 2018), and the specific part if you cite it: (Ley Orgánica 3/2018, 2018, art. 6). If your university has its own guide or your supervisor asks for another style, theirs takes precedence.
| In a brief | In a paper using APA 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | In full the first time, shortened afterwards | In full in the reference list |
| Official gazette | Not mentioned (guideline 71) | Boletín Oficial del Estado, issue number and publication date |
| Link | Not needed | Permalink ELI, preferably the consolidated one |
| Article | «artículo 14.2.c) de la Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre» | In the in-text citation, next to the year |
How do you put a law in a footnote in Word?
In Word, you insert a footnote from the References tab, with the Insert Footnote button. On Windows (Word for Microsoft 365, 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016), the steps in Microsoft's help are:
- Click just after the mention of the law, where you want the footnote mark.
- On the References tab, click Insert Footnote.
- Type the citation in the note that appears at the bottom of the page.
- To go back to the text, double-click the reference mark at the start of the note.
On Mac (Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac, 2024 and 2021) it is the same: References, Insert Footnote, and double-click the note mark to go back. According to the Word for Mac help, the number format and the Restart each section option are in the Footnote and Endnote dialog box, which opens with the small arrow in the corner of the Footnotes group.
The same rules apply in the note as in the text: full title in the first note and shortened in the following ones. If it is an academic paper and you want to say where the law was published, guideline 81 gives the form: «Boletín Oficial del Estado número 7, de 8 de enero de 2000». And if you always cite the same laws, save their full title as a Word Quick Part so you don't have to type it every time.
If you use Word's citation manager with APA
Word also creates parenthetical citations and the bibliography: References, Style (APA), Insert Citation, Add New Source and, at the end, Bibliography. But the Word for Mac help warns that those sources cannot be used to create footnotes, and the reference it generates has to be checked against your guide: the format of a Spanish law is set by the guide, not by Word.
What these rules don't settle
The Directrices de técnica normativa were approved for drafting legislation: draft bills, draft royal decrees, Council of Ministers agreements and, as far as possible, the provisions of the General State Administration that the BOE publishes. They do not govern court documents or academic papers. They are, however, the most detailed official reference for citing laws in Spain, and they have not been amended since 2005. If a court, a bar association (colegio de abogados) or your university asks for another format, theirs takes precedence. And this guide does not go into which law or which wording applies to a case: that is the lawyer's job.
Citing the article while you dictate the brief
If you draft by voice, the citation is dictated too. With ablalo, saying «insertar artículo 1902 del Código Civil» (insert article 1902 of the Civil Code) pastes the literal, current text of the article, taken from the BOE's consolidated text. It covers 50 laws, the search is done on the computer itself and, if it doesn't find the article, it doesn't make anything up. And it applies the citation format of the Directrices de técnica normativa («artículo 6.2.a)»).
In short
A law is cited the first time with its full BOE title (type, number/year, date and name) and afterwards shortened or with an acronym introduced earlier. Articles, from the general to the particular: «artículo 14.2.c)». The Constitution and the old codes, by their name. The current text comes from the BOE's consolidated text, and an earlier version from its dated wording and its ELI. In APA 7 the reference adds the BOE and the ELI, and in Word the footnote is under References, Insert Footnote.
Sources: BOE, Directrices de técnica normativa (Resolution of 28 July 2005, guidelines 68 to 81 and the appendix on capitals and acronyms) and its consolidated text (in Spanish); BOE, what a consolidated text is and how to consult it and ELI in the BOE (in Spanish); BOE, consolidated texts of the Constitución Española, the Código Civil, Ley 1/2000, Ley Orgánica 3/2018, Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015 and Ley 39/2015, and the record of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (in Spanish); RAE and CGPJ, Libro de estilo de la Justicia (in Spanish; sections 10.8.1.1, 11.4.1.4, 13.2.5, 14.2.1 and 15.5.1.2, and the appendices of abbreviations and acronyms); Library of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, APA 7th edition citation guide: legislation and special cases (in Spanish); Microsoft, Insert footnotes and endnotes in Word, Add footnotes and endnotes in Word for Mac, Create a bibliography, citations, and references and Add or change sources, citations, and bibliographies (Word for Mac). Checked on 23 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How do you cite a Spanish law within the text?
In a brief, the first time with the full title («Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre, del Procedimiento Administrativo Común de las Administraciones Públicas») and afterwards shortened («Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre») or with an acronym introduced earlier. In a paper using APA 7, in parentheses with the first words of the title and the year, for example (Ley Orgánica 3/2018, 2018).
How do you cite an article of a law?
From the general to the particular and in compact form: article number, section, letter and, if needed, paragraph. For example, «artículo 14.2.c) de la Ley 39/2015, de 1 de octubre» or «artículo 24.2, párrafo segundo, de la Constitución Española». This is the short, descending citation of guideline 68 of the Directrices de técnica normativa.
Do you have to mention the BOE when citing a law?
In a brief, no: guideline 71 asks for the official gazette not to be mentioned in citations. In an academic paper using APA 7, the reference does include the Boletín Oficial del Estado, its issue number, the publication date and the ELI link, according to the Universidad Complutense guide.
How do you cite the Spanish Constitution?
By its name, Constitución Española, and not with synonyms such as «Norma Suprema» or «Norma Fundamental» (guideline 72). An article is cited as in any other law: «artículo 24.2 de la Constitución Española». The usual acronym is CE.
Is «Ley» written with a capital letter?
With a capital letter when it goes with the law's official name, as in «la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero». In lower case when it is generic or refers to the law itself («esta ley», this law) and in popular names, such as «ley de extranjería» (the immigration law).
How do you cite an earlier version of an article?
Look up the wording on that date in the BOE's consolidated text (the Seleccionar redacción drop-down or the buttons at the bottom of the article) and state it in the citation, for example «en su redacción original» (in its original wording). To link to it, the ELI with the date after it fixes that version.
How do you put a citation of a law in a footnote in Word?
Click where you want the footnote mark, go to the References tab and click Insert Footnote, on both Windows and Mac. In the note, the full title the first time and shortened afterwards.