The Code of Federal Regulations contains a regulation on how to cite the Code of Federal Regulations. It reads as follows:
The Code of Federal Regulations may be cited by title and section, and the short form “CFR” may be used for “Code of Federal Regulations.” For example, “1 CFR 10.2” refers to title 1, Code of Federal Regulations, part 10, section 2.
See for yourself at 1 CFR 8.9.
Standard citation formats are extremely useful. That would be why, even without regulation’s guiding hand, the private sector evolved the Chicago and MLA styles, among others.
Yet another example of spontaneous order at its finest.
