Accord (as a citation signal)
A signal indicating a second source that agrees with, and is functionally equivalent to, the first cited.
In legal citation, 'accord' is the signal used when a writer has already cited one authority for a proposition and wants to add a second authority that says the same thing in essentially the same way. It appears between the two citations and tells the reader: the following source is in accord with the one just given.
The signal has a specific role in the ecology of citation signals. 'See' introduces support; 'see also' introduces additional support that is slightly different; 'accord' introduces support that is materially the same. The distinction matters when a reader is trying to gauge how deep the authority runs. Two courts saying identical things in identical language is different, evidentially, from two courts reaching similar conclusions by different routes.
Outside legal writing, 'accord' is rare but useful in scholarly footnotes where the writer wants to record that several authorities converge without inflating a string citation into a list. It is honest shorthand for 'and this other source, on the same page, holds the same rule'.
Common mistake: using 'accord' to link sources that agree on the conclusion but not on the reasoning. When the reasoning differs, 'see also' is the more accurate signal, and the parenthetical should say how.
“The seller bears the risk until delivery. U.C.C. § 2-509(3); accord Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 234.”
Keep reading the glossary
Small words placed before a citation that tell the reader what the cited source is doing — supporting, contradicting, or merely comparing.
A citation that stacks multiple sources in a single note to support one proposition.
A citation signal introducing a source that contradicts the writer's point.
A Latin citation abbreviation for confer, 'compare' — used to point the reader to a related passage.