In writing, when should one use the abbreviation vs. as opposed to the full versus?
This abbreviation seems to have special status from common usage. What is the origin of that, and in what writing contexts is it important?
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Best Answer
In American legal documents, "v." is normally used as the abbreviation of "versus" when describing the parties in a case, like if Mr Jones sues the XYZ Corporation the case will be called "Jones v. XYZ Corp". Or if the government charges someone with a crime, it will be "The United States v. Fred Jones".
Outside of legal documents, "versus" is normally abbreviated "vs."
As to when to spell it out and when to use the abbreviation, this is a matter of the level of formality of the document. Some "standard" abbreviations are accepted in contexts where most abbreviations would not be, like "etc." and "et al.". I think "vs." would be one step less formal than those, but it would not be out of place to use "vs." in documents where, say, you wouldn't abbreviate "committee" to "cmte." and the like.
That's not a very definitive answer, but many of these language rules aren't.