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Section sign
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| § | |
|---|---|
Section sign | |
| In Unicode | U+00A7 § SECTION SIGN (§) |
| Related | |
| See also | U+00B6 ¶ PILCROW SIGN |
The section sign (§) is a typographical character for referencing individually numbered sections of a document; it is frequently used when citing sections of a legal code.[1] It is also known as the section symbol, section mark, double-s, or silcrow.[2][3] In other languages it may be called the "paragraph symbol" (for example, German: Paragrafzeichen). The section sign typically appears akin to a letter S stacked on top of another S.[4]
Use
[edit]The section sign is often used when referring to a specific section of a legal code. For example, in Bluebook style, "Title 16 of the United States Code Section 580p" becomes "16 U.S.C. § 580p".[5] The section sign is frequently used along with the pilcrow (or paragraph sign), ¶, to reference a specific paragraph within a section of a document. However, some jurisdiction prefer the sign be avoided, and rather that the word "section" be written out in full.[6]
While § is usually read in spoken English as the word "section", many other languages use the word "paragraph" exclusively to refer to a section of a document (especially of legal text), and use other words to describe a paragraph in the English sense. Consequently, in those cases "§" may be read as "paragraph", and may occasionally also be described as a "paragraph sign", but this is a description of its usage, not a formal name.[7][8]
When duplicated, as §§, it is read as the plural "sections". For example, "§§ 13–21" would be read as "sections 13 through 21", much as pp. (pages) is the plural of p., meaning page.
It may also be used with footnotes when asterisk *, dagger †, and double dagger ‡ have already been used on a given page.
It is common practice to follow the section sign with a non-breaking space so that the symbol is kept with the section number being cited.[1][9]: 212, 233
Unicode
[edit]
The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at 0xA7 (167) in ISO-8859-1, a position that was inherited by Unicode as code point U+00A7 § SECTION SIGN. Representation of the sign is an artistic decision within the overall design language of the typeface (or computer font): the two more commonly seen forms are shown here.[10] In all cases, the sign is encoded by U+00A7.
Origin
[edit]Two possible origins are often posited for the section sign: most probably, that it is a ligature formed by the combination of two S glyphs (from the Latin signum sectiōnis).[11][2][12][13] Some scholars, however, are skeptical of this explanation.[14]
Others have theorized that it is an adaptation of the Ancient Greek παράγραφος (paragraphos),[12] a catch-all term for a class of punctuation marks used by scribes with diverse shapes and intended uses.[15]
The modern form of the sign, with its modern meaning, has been in use since the 15th century.[16]
In literature
[edit]In Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk, the § symbol is used repeatedly to mean "bureaucracy". In his English translation of 1930, Paul Selver translated it as "red tape".
See also
[edit]- Scilicet ("it may be known") is sometimes rendered using a § mark instead of "viz."
References
[edit]- ^ a b Standler, Ronald M. (2004). "Legal Research and Citation Style in USA". Retrieved 2009-12-15.
- ^ a b Radoeva, Krista (2017-01-12). "The section sign". Punctuation series. Monotype Imaging. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
- ^ Butterick, Matthew. "Butterick's Practical Typography: Paragraphs and Section Marks". Retrieved 2017-10-07.
- ^ "How to Use a Section Mark or Silcrow | Monotype". www.monotype.com. 2 August 2022.
- ^ "Guides: Bluebook Guide: Federal Statutes". Georgetown University Law Library. August 9, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
- ^ "Symbols :: California Secretary of State". www.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
- ^ "The Unicode Standard, Version 10.0 – C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-10-07.
- ^ "Some text-to-speech voices read the section symbol as paragraph instead of section". Retrieved 2017-10-07.
- ^ Felici, James (2012). The Complete Manual of Typography (Second ed.). ISBN 978-0-321-77326-5.
- ^ "Manual: *@©™®†‡§¶❦☜". type.today.
- ^ Webb, Stephen (2018). Clash of Symbols (eBook). Springer International Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-3-319-71350-2.
- ^ a b Webster, Noah (1886). "Arbitrary signs used in writing and printing". Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language (Authorized and Unabridged ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 1784 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Parker, Richard Green (1851). Aids to English Composition, Prepared for Students of All Grades. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 32.
- ^ Lewis, Erwin Herbert (1894). The History of the English Paragraph (Thesis). University of Chicago Press. pp. 11, 16–17. OCLC 6077629.
- ^ Garulli, Valentina (2018-10-09). "Lectional Signs in Greek Verse Inscriptions". In Petrovic, Andrej; Thomas, Edmund; Petrovic, Ivana (eds.). The Materiality of Text: Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity (eBook). Brill Publishers. p. 106. doi:10.1163/9789004379435_006. ISBN 978-90-04-37943-5. S2CID 198732053.
- ^ Lewis, Edwin Herbert (1894). The history of the English paragraph. University of Chicago. p. 16 – via Archive.org.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Section signs at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Section signs at Wiktionary
Section sign
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Etymology and Origin
Historical Development
The practice of dividing legal texts into distinct sections for easier reference originated in ancient Roman jurisprudence during the late Republic, around the 1st century BCE, when jurists began organizing writings into numbered divisions to structure complex laws and edicts.[6] This methodical approach facilitated navigation in voluminous documents, such as praetorian edicts and early compilations of customary law, laying the groundwork for symbolic markers of sections.[7] By the 6th century CE, the term signum sectionis—Latin for "sign of the section"—emerged in Roman legal texts, specifically referenced in the Digest of Justinian as an indication for separating content within juristic writings.[8] In medieval European manuscripts from the 8th to 14th centuries, scribes adopted this concept, developing the § symbol as a ligature of two superimposed 'S' letters to denote paragraph or section breaks, particularly in legal, theological, and scholarly codices. This evolution transformed the mark from a simple separation indicator into a dedicated typographical device, with forms varying by scribal hand but consistently signaling structural divisions.[2][9] The advent of movable-type printing in the mid-15th century, pioneered by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, accelerated the standardization of the section sign in European books. Early printed works, known as incunabula (produced before 1501), retained manuscript conventions, incorporating the § to mark sections in texts like Bibles and legal treatises, ensuring continuity in readability and reference. Typefounders crafted the symbol with flexibility to accommodate its ligatured design, preserving the diversity of medieval variants while promoting uniformity across printed editions.[2] A significant milestone in the symbol's historical trajectory came in the 16th century, when it became integral to printed editions of foundational legal codes.Naming Conventions
The primary English name for the symbol § is "section sign," reflecting its role in marking or referencing specific sections within documents, especially in legal and scholarly works. An alternative appellation, "silcrow," emerged as a portmanteau blending "pilcrow" (the paragraph mark ¶) with the Latin signum sectionis ("section sign"), possibly influenced by scribal abbreviations like "sicle" in medieval manuscripts.[10] Internationally, the symbol bears names tied to its functional equivalence with paragraph or section markers in various languages. In German, it is known as Paragraphenzeichen, underscoring its frequent use in denoting paragraphs of law or text.[11] In French, the term is symbole de paragraphe or signe paragraphe.[12] The foundational Latin designation signum sectionis persists in etymological discussions and influences many Romance and Germanic terms.[10] In contexts using non-Latin scripts, the symbol § is typically rendered identically via Unicode but transliterated or named locally for legal and reference purposes. For instance, in Russian (Cyrillic script), it is called znak paragrafа (знак параграфа), literally "paragraph sign," and appears in statutory citations.[13] In Arabic-script legal texts, it is referred to as ʿalāmat al-qaṣm (علامة القسم), meaning "section mark," maintaining its utility in cross-referencing provisions.[14] Naming conventions for the section sign have shifted over time, evolving from descriptive terms in 18th-century typographical manuals—such as "double S" or "sectional symbol"—to formalized designations in modern style guides. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style, first published in 1906 and updated through its 17th edition, standardizes it as the "section symbol" for editorial consistency in publishing.[15] These changes parallel broader standardization in printing practices, originating from Roman scribal abbreviations for sectio (detailed in Historical Development).[16]Primary Uses
In Legal and Reference Works
The section sign (§) serves as a standard typographical marker in legal documents to reference specific sections, enabling precise navigation and citation within codes, statutes, and regulations. In the United States Code (U.S.C.), it precedes the section number, as in 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which addresses civil actions for deprivation of rights. In European Union directives, subsections are typically denoted using article numbers with paragraphs in parentheses (e.g., Article 5(1) in Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright), though the § symbol is used in some member states' national codifications influenced by civil law traditions.[17] Citation conventions in legal styles incorporate the section sign to maintain clarity and uniformity. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation mandates its use for federal statutes, with a single § for one section and double §§ for ranges, as in 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331–1332, followed by the year in parentheses.[18] It is often paired with the paragraph symbol (¶) when citing documents structured by both sections and numbered paragraphs, such as in court filings or opinions, e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (referencing § 12 with ¶ subdivisions).[1] In contrast, the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) prefers abbreviations like "s" for section in UK and EU contexts, as in Data Protection Act 2018, s 3, though the § symbol may appear in original texts for continental influences. Historically, the section sign has appeared in annotations to foundational legal texts, including the U.S. Constitution, where it facilitates references like U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3, denoting Congress's commerce power in scholarly analyses. Post-1945 international treaties, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions implemented in U.S. law, employ § in domestic codifications like 18 U.S.C. § 2441 for war crimes provisions derived from treaty obligations. Global legal systems exhibit variations in the section sign's application, with mandatory usage in codified civil law traditions. In Germany's Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), enacted in 1900 and still authoritative, every provision is designated by §, such as § 903 governing ownership rights, ensuring systematic reference in judicial and scholarly works.[19] This contrasts with common law jurisdictions, where the symbol supplements but does not universally structure primary legislation.In Academic and Publishing Contexts
In academic papers and theses, the section sign (§) serves to denote and reference specific subsections, promoting clear organization and precise cross-referencing within scholarly work. While its use aligns with guidelines in styles like the Chicago Manual of Style for citing sections in non-legal texts—for instance, directing readers to "Author (2020, § 2.1)"—APA and MLA styles incorporate it selectively, often for referencing subdivisions in broader documents beyond strict legal contexts. [20] [21] This application facilitates efficient navigation in theses and research articles, where subsections require explicit markers for analytical depth. In book indexing and tables of contents, the section sign aids in structuring complex content, especially in encyclopedias and multi-volume works, by labeling subsections to streamline reader access. For example, in extensive reference publications, § precedes numerical identifiers to delineate topics within larger entries, enabling quick location of specialized information without exhaustive page scanning. [2] Publishing typographical conventions emphasize proper spacing for the section sign to maintain readability and prevent awkward line breaks; it is invariably followed by a non-breaking space when paired with a number, such as § 5. In French typography, no space precedes the symbol, treating it akin to integral punctuation for seamless integration into text flow. [22] Since the early 2000s, digital publishing has expanded the section sign's utility in e-books and PDFs, where it integrates with hyperlinked navigation systems to connect references directly to marked sections. Tools like Adobe Acrobat enable authors to embed clickable § citations that jump to corresponding content, improving interactivity in scholarly e-publications and enhancing user experience in non-linear reading formats. [23]Technical Specifications
Unicode Encoding
The section sign (§) is assigned the Unicode code point U+00A7 with the official name SECTION SIGN, and it was included in the initial repertoire of the Unicode Standard version 1.1.0, published in June 1993.[24] This character resides in the Latin-1 Supplement block (U+0080–U+00FF), which extends the Basic Latin block to support Western European languages and typographical symbols.[25] In UTF-8 encoding, U+00A7 is represented by the two-byte sequenceC2 A7, ensuring efficient storage for this non-ASCII character while maintaining backward compatibility with ASCII text.
The encoding aligns with the ISO/IEC 8859-1 standard (also known as Latin-1), where the section sign occupies position 0xA7 (decimal 167), a mapping directly inherited by Unicode to facilitate interoperability with legacy 8-bit systems developed in the 1980s.[25] In HTML and XML documents, it can be inserted via the decimal numeric character reference § or the hexadecimal reference §, with the named entity § also standardized for convenience in markup languages. This compatibility has been essential for rendering the symbol in web content since the early days of HTML.
Variants such as the double section sign (used to reference multiple sections, e.g., §§), lack a dedicated Unicode code point and are instead formed by repeating U+00A7 consecutively, allowing flexible typographical composition without additional encoding overhead.[25]
Prior to widespread Unicode adoption, legacy systems relying on 7-bit ASCII (limited to code points U+0000–U+007F) could not natively represent the section sign, often leading to substitutions like "Sec." or "§" approximations in plain text files. The shift to UTF-8 encoding, formalized in 1993 and gaining dominance in the late 1990s through protocols like HTTP and software migrations (e.g., in operating systems and databases), resolved these issues by supporting the full Unicode repertoire, including U+00A7, without disrupting ASCII subsets. This transition significantly improved global text handling for symbols like the section sign in internationalized applications.