RE: Federal or federal?

["Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

Chris Morton (Salt) asked:

Subject: Federal or federal?

In a bulletted item , should it read:

U.S. federal law restricts...

     -- or --

U.S. Federal law restricts...


According to the AP Style Guide, "Use a capital letter for the architectural
style and for corporate or governmental bodies that use the word as part of
their formal names: Federal Express, the Federal Trade Commission. Use lower
case when used as adjectives to distinguish something from state, county,
town, or private entities: federal assistance, federal court, the federal
government, a federal judge."

Since U.S. federal law is not a formal name, but a collection of legal
opinions, it is lower case.

Al Geist
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Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
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Website: www.geistimages.com
 
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