Section sign §

The section sign is a fixture of US legal writing:

• One section: 42 U.S.C. § 1983, 26 C.F.R. § 1.401-1
• Several sections: double the sign, as in §§ 101–105
• Subsections: add parentheses, as in § 501(c)(3)

Put a space between the sign and the number. A nonbreaking space is even better, because it keeps § from ending up alone at the end of a line.

Under the citation rules most US courts and law reviews follow, the symbol never starts a sentence. Write “Section 107 allows fair use,” not “§ 107 allows fair use.” In running text outside formal citations, many writers spell out “section” anyway.

The pilcrow (¶) marks paragraphs, while § marks sections. Legal documents use both: § for a statute, ¶ for a numbered paragraph of a complaint or contract. The rare ⸹ (top half section sign) is a scholarly variant, not a substitute.

The shape is usually explained as two S’s combined, from the Latin signum sectionis, “sign of the section.”

Outside law, § appears in academic writing for numbered sections of a book or article (“see § 4.2”) and constantly in German and Central European texts for statutes. On many European Mac keyboards it has its own key next to the 1.

• Word: insert a nonbreaking space with Ctrl+Shift+Space between § and the number. Insert > Symbol > Special Characters also lists § as “Section.”
• LaTeX: \S produces §. Use a tie to keep it attached: \S~107.
• HTML: write § 107 so the browser never wraps between the sign and the number.
• Plural citations: §§ is simply two signs. There is no separate character for it.