Midpage HTML Format

This document describes Midpage's semantic HTML format for legal opinions. Approximately 62% of the corpus uses this format, 37% uses Harvard XML, and only about 200,000 opinions—roughly 1%—remain in older formats. See Format Variations for examples of each format.

Case Information

Case metadata is wrapped in a <details> block at the top of the document:

<details class="midpage-case-info" open>
  <summary>Case Information</summary>
  <p class="midpage-case-name" shortName="Doe v. Acme Corp.">DOE v. ACME CORP.</p>
  <p class="midpage-docket" docket="23-1456">No. 23-1456</p>
  <p class="midpage-court" court="9th Cir.">United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit</p>
  <p class="midpage-date" date="2024-03-15">March 15, 2024</p>
  <p class="midpage-rehearing" date="2024-05-01">Rehearing Denied May 1, 2024</p>
  <p class="midpage-citation">95 F.4th 123</p>
  <p class="midpage-judge">SMITH, Circuit Judge</p>
</details>

Attributes:

shortName: Bluebook-style short case name
docket: Docket number without "No." prefix
court: Bluebook court abbreviation
date: YYYY-MM-DD format

Page Numbers

Page breaks are marked with self-closing <midpage-ps/> tags:

<p>Text on page 123.</p>
<midpage-ps n="124"/>
<p>Text on page 124.</p>

Page breaks can occur mid-paragraph:

<p>Text starts on page 123<midpage-ps n="124"/> and continues on page 124.</p>

Footnotes

Footnote marks link to footnote content collected in a section at the end of the document. Each footnote includes a link back to its inline mark.

<p>Text with a footnote<midpage-fnmark id="fnref-1" n="1"><a href="#fn-1">1</a></midpage-fnmark> reference.</p>
...
<section class="midpage-footnotes">
  <h3>Footnotes</h3>
  <midpage-fn id="fn-1" n="1">
    <a class="midpage-fn-backlink" href="#fnref-1">1</a>
    The footnote content.
  </midpage-fn>
</section>

Section Headings

Standard HTML heading tags are used:

<h1>MEMORANDUM AND ORDER</h1>
<h2>I. BACKGROUND</h2>
<h3>A. Procedural History</h3>

Blockquotes

Quoted material uses <blockquote> with inner <p> tags:

<blockquote>
  <p>All disputes shall be resolved by binding arbitration.</p>
</blockquote>

Signature Block

<div class="midpage-signature">
  <p>WILLIAM H. SMITH</p>
  <p>UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE</p>
</div>

Case Citations

Case citations are wrapped in <midpage-case> tags:

<midpage-case case="Smith v. Jones" cite="262 F.3d 305" pinpoint="320" court="4th Cir." date="2001"><i>Smith v. Jones</i>, 262 F.3d 305, 320 (4th Cir. 2001)</midpage-case>

Attributes:

Attribute	Description
`case`	Case name (parties)
`cite`	Volume + reporter + starting page (e.g., `262 F.3d 305`)
`pinpoint`	Specific page(s) cited (e.g., `320`, `320-22`)
`court`	Bluebook court abbreviation
`date`	Year or full date (`YYYY` or `YYYY-MM-DD`)
`docket`	Docket number (optional)
`parallel`	Parallel citations, pipe-separated
`type`	`short`, `id`, or `supra` for non-full citations

Short-form and Id. citations:

<midpage-case case="Smith" cite="262 F.3d 305" pinpoint="325" court="4th Cir." type="short"><i>Smith</i>, 262 F.3d at 325</midpage-case>

<midpage-case case="Smith v. Jones" cite="262 F.3d 305" court="4th Cir." type="id"><i>Id.</i> at 326</midpage-case>

Law Citations

Statutes, regulations, rules, and constitutional provisions are wrapped in <midpage-law> tags:

<midpage-law jurisdiction="US" cite="18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)">18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)</midpage-law>

<midpage-law jurisdiction="US" cite="Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)">Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)</midpage-law>

<midpage-law jurisdiction="CA" cite="Cal. Gov. Code § 9606">Gov. Code, § 9606</midpage-law>

Attributes:

Attribute	Description
`jurisdiction`	`US` for federal, two-letter state code for state
`cite`	Normalized citation string
`type`	`short` or `id` for non-full citations

Example Document

<details class="midpage-case-info" open>
  <summary>Case Information</summary>
  <p class="midpage-case-name" shortName="Doe v. Acme Corp.">DOE v. ACME CORP.</p>
  <p class="midpage-docket" docket="23-1456">No. 23-1456</p>
  <p class="midpage-court" court="9th Cir.">United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit</p>
  <p class="midpage-date" date="2024-03-15">March 15, 2024</p>
  <p class="midpage-citation">95 F.4th 123</p>
</details>
<midpage-ps n="123"/>
<h1>MEMORANDUM AND ORDER</h1>
<p>SMITH, Circuit Judge:</p>
<p>Plaintiff appeals the district court's<midpage-fnmark id="fnref-1" n="1"><a href="#fn-1">1</a></midpage-fnmark> grant of summary judgment under <midpage-law jurisdiction="US" cite="Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)">Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)</midpage-law>. The Supreme Court emphasized that arbitration is "a matter of consent,<midpage-ps n="124"/> not coercion." <midpage-case case="Volt Info. Scis., Inc. v. Bd. of Trs." cite="489 U.S. 468" pinpoint="479" court="U.S." date="1989"><i>Volt Info. Scis., Inc. v. Bd. of Trs.</i>, 489 U.S. 468, 479 (1989)</midpage-case>.</p>
<p>The contract stated:</p>
<blockquote>
  <p>All disputes shall be resolved by binding arbitration.</p>
</blockquote>
<midpage-ps n="125"/>
<p>For these reasons, we AFFIRM.</p>
<div class="midpage-signature">
  <p>WILLIAM H. SMITH</p>
  <p>UNITED STATES CIRCUIT JUDGE</p>
</div>
<section class="midpage-footnotes">
  <h3>Footnotes</h3>
  <midpage-fn id="fn-1" n="1">
    <a class="midpage-fn-backlink" href="#fnref-1">1</a>
    The Honorable Jane Williams, presiding.
  </midpage-fn>
</section>

Schema

Format Variations