Editing Section sign (section)

== Use ==
[[Image:Bundesministerium für Justiz logo.svg|thumb|right|Former logo of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice]]

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. §{{nbsp}}580p".<ref name="GL-BB">{{cite web |title=Guides: Bluebook Guide: Federal Statutes |url=http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=261289&p=2383798 |publisher=[[Georgetown Law|Georgetown University Law Library]] |access-date=December 6, 2018 |language=en |date=August 9, 2018}}</ref> The section sign is frequently used along with the ''[[pilcrow]]'' (or ''paragraph sign''), {{char|¶}}, to reference a specific [[paragraph]] within a section of a document. 

While {{char|§}} 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.<ref name="unicode-latin1">{{cite web | title = The Unicode Standard, Version 10.0 – C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement | url = https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf | access-date = 2017-10-07}}</ref><ref name="radar">{{cite web |title=Some text-to-speech voices read the section symbol as paragraph instead of section |url=http://www.openradar.me/32449535 |access-date=2017-10-07 }}</ref> 

When duplicated, as {{char|§§}}, it is read as the plural "sections". For example, "§§{{nbsp}}13–21" would be read as "sections 13 through 21", much as {{char|pp.}} (pages) is the plural of {{char|p.}}, meaning [[page (paper)|page]].
It may also be used with footnotes when [[asterisk]] {{char|*}}, [[Dagger (mark)|dagger]] {{char|†}}, and [[Dagger (mark)|double dagger]] {{char|‡}} 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.<ref name="Standler" /><ref name="Felici">{{cite book |last=Felici |first=James |year=2012 |title=The Complete Manual of Typography |edition=Second |isbn=978-0-321-77326-5 }}</ref>{{rp|212, 233}}

The section sign is itself sometimes a symbol of the justice system,{{efn|The symbol {{unichar|2696|Scales|nlink=Scales of justice (symbol)}} is more typical.}}{{cn|date=November 2023}} in much the same way as the [[Rod of Asclepius]] is used to represent medicine. For example, [[Austria]]n courts use the symbol in their logo.