In legal writing, passim is a Latin word meaning “throughout,” used in a Table of Authorities to show that a cited case, statute, or other source appears on so many pages of a brief that listing each page number would be unhelpful. The convention in legal citation is to substitute passim for the page-number string when a source is cited on five or more pages, though several federal courts prohibit the shorthand and require every page to be listed individually.
What Passim Means
The word translates roughly to “here and there” or “scattered throughout.” In a brief, it signals that a source’s influence is spread across the document rather than confined to one passage. When you see passim next to a case name in a Table of Authorities, it means the author relied on that source so frequently that compiling every page reference would create a cluttered, unhelpful entry.
A typical entry looks like this: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) ………… passim. Without the shorthand, the same line would trail off into something like “3, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 25, 31.” That string of numbers tells a judge or clerk almost nothing useful. Passim communicates the point that matters: the source runs through the argument.
When to Use Passim
The widely accepted threshold is five or more page references to the same authority. That number is built into the standard legal word processing tools. Microsoft Word’s Table of Authorities feature automatically replaces page references with “passim” when the same source appears on five or more pages,1Microsoft Learn. TableOfAuthorities.Passim property (Word) and Corel’s Perfect Authority offers a similar configurable threshold.2Corel. Perfect Authority User Guide
Using passim for only two or three page references is a mistake. At that count, individual page numbers help the reader go straight to the right spot. Passim earns its place when page-level precision is no longer practical. If you’re citing a case on pages 4 and 17, list those pages. If you’re citing it on a dozen pages scattered across the brief, use passim.
Even when the threshold is met, keep listing specific pages for direct quotations. Passim signals pervasive reliance on an authority. It should never obscure a specific factual assertion a court might want to verify quickly.
Courts That Prohibit or Discourage Passim
Before you use passim, check the local rules of the court where you’re filing. Not every court allows it, and getting this wrong can mean your brief is bounced back for correction.
The D.C. Circuit flatly prohibits passim. Its compliance checklist requires that each page where an authority is cited be identified individually, and states that “passim or similar terms may not be used.”3United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Brief and Appendix Compliance Checklist for Pro Se and Attorney Filers The Eleventh Circuit has a similar prohibition. Its local Rule 28-1(e) directs that the Table of Citations “should not use the ‘passim’ notation, but should instead list every page on which an authority is cited.”4United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Rules of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit The Ninth Circuit also discourages it, preferring complete page listings unless an authority appears on nearly every page of the brief.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s rules do not mention passim. Rule 34.2 requires a table of cited authorities with page references but is silent on whether passim is an acceptable substitute.5Supreme Court of the United States. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States In practice, passim appears regularly in Supreme Court briefs. The lesson is straightforward. Silence in the rules generally means it’s permitted. An explicit prohibition means you list every page number, no matter how long the string gets.
How to Format Passim
The question that comes up most often is whether to italicize. Bluebook Rule 7(b) carries a general presumption against italicizing commonly used Latin terms in legal writing. Despite that presumption, many practitioners italicize passim anyway. The U.S. Solicitor General’s office explicitly departs from Rule 7(b) and italicizes passim along with other Latin terms like “e.g.,” “supra,” and “inter alia.”6Office of the Solicitor General. OSG Citation Manual 2014 If the court’s rules don’t specify, italicizing is the safer choice. It’s what most readers expect to see, and no court objects to italics.
Placement is straightforward. Passim goes where page numbers would otherwise appear, after the case or statute citation in the Table of Authorities. When it follows a comma or other text on the same line, keep it lowercase. If it begins a standalone entry in a column, capitalize the first letter.
Generating Passim in Word Processing Software
Most attorneys don’t type “passim” manually. Both major legal word processing platforms handle the substitution automatically, which saves time and reduces errors.
In Microsoft Word, the feature is controlled by a property on the Table of Authorities object. When enabled, Word scans for authorities cited on five or more pages and replaces their page-number lists with “passim.” The setting corresponds to the \p switch in the TOA field code and can be toggled through the Table of Authorities dialog when you insert or update the table.1Microsoft Learn. TableOfAuthorities.Passim property (Word) If you’re filing in a court that prohibits passim, turn this setting off before generating the table. Word enables it by default, and forgetting to disable it is an easy way to end up with a noncompliant brief.
Corel’s Perfect Authority, commonly used with WordPerfect, offers the same functionality through its Editing Option Set dialog. On the Formatting page, you can specify both whether to replace page numbers with passim and the maximum number of references that triggers the substitution.2Corel. Perfect Authority User Guide The configurability helps if you want a threshold other than five.
Whichever tool you use, review the generated Table of Authorities against the court’s local rules before filing. The automation is reliable for the mechanical work, but it doesn’t know whether your brief is headed to the D.C. Circuit or the Eleventh.