A Guide to Westlaw UK

Introduction

This guide will introduce the content and take you through the steps of carrying out effective searches for cases, legislation and journal articles on the Westlaw UK database. Following the numbered steps will demonstrate the navigation and functionality of Westlaw UK. It is not intended that you follow this guide through from beginning to end rather that you refer to it and follow individual sections for help when searching.

What is Westlaw UK?

Westlaw UK is provided by publisher Sweet & Maxwell part of Thomson Reuters. It contains case law, legislation, journal articles and practitioners’ works. Most of the UK material is full text, but some of it, particularly information found in the Legal Journals Index provides just brief citation and abstract information. It also contains information on EU law and International materials.

What law materials are available?

Case law

Full text law reports from the most authoritative sources, beginning 1865, including those from the Incorporated Council of England and Wales:

• The ICLR Law Reports • Weekly Law Reports • Industrial Case Reports

There are around 75 other case reports including:

• Lloyd’s Law Reports • Criminal Appeal Reports • European Human Rights Reports

Legislation

All consolidated UK Public and General Acts which were still in force in 1991, and all subsequent UK Public and General Acts. The archive dates back to 1267.

It also contains a selection of UK statutory instruments (SIs) of general application published between 1948 and 1991. All subsequent UK (Westminster) SIs are included, as are English-language SIs made by the National Assembly for Wales.

EU case law and legislation

Law reports from the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.

Taken from the Official Journal C Series. Legislation from the Official Journal L Series beginning 1952. Treaties between Member States beginning 1951.

Journal Articles

The key to finding out what journal articles are available on a topic is to use a journals index and Westlaw UK is the only database that contains:

• The Legal Journals Index • The Financial Journals Index

The Legal Journals Index also includes the full text of several journal titles published by Sweet & Maxwell.

News

This is not part of our Westlaw UK subscription however a full News service is available in the LexisLibrary database.

Getting Started

1. Go to the Library homepage http://studentlibrary.southwales.ac.uk/ select the link to FINDit.

2. Log in using your UNI username and password, if prompted.

4. Use the Databases A-Z list, scroll to W for Westlaw UK or choose Databases by Subject – Law.

3. Select Find Database.

5. Click on Connect to access.

Case Law

You can use Westlaw UK to find:

Basic searching:

• A specific case – reported or unreported • Cases discussing a point of law

Advanced searching:

• Whether a case has been referred to (cited) in any other cases • Cases which refer to a particular statute or section of a statute

Case Law - Basic Searching and Browsing

Alternatively:

To find a specific report of a case enter the case Citation e.g. [1932] AC 562.

To find several cases on a particular point of law enter Free Text keywords e.g. consumers food liability. To insist on searching for a phrase use quotation marks e.g. “tortuous liability”.

Search Tips:

1. Select the Cases link to get to this page

2. To find reports of a specific case enter the

Party Names e.g. donoghue and stevenson

into the search box as above.

3. Select Search.

• Leave out the AND connector between the Party Names or Free Text keywords, this is automatically implied.

• See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK.

• Leave out the correct formatting of citations, just enter the citation with spaces but without brackets, capital letters, full stops etc and Westlaw UK will match it to the nearest citation.

Case Law - Search Results

1. Results are presented in reverse chronological order. (If you had several pages of results you might wish to view results by relevance, to do this you can

select the Sort By Relevance link.)

2. To view the full text of a case report - select the citation links in the Results list. They run in order

of persuasive authority, left to right.

3. Select [1932] A.C. 562.

5. There is also a link here to the very useful Case Analysis document for this

case.

(Explanation follows).

6. Also note the case Status icon (Explanation follows).

4. Note the system of Star Paging in the full text result meaning the exact pagination of the original printed law

report is retained and can therefore be cited in court and academic work.

What is a Case Analysis Document?

1. Select the Case Analysis link for Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] A.C. 562

2. Note that your keywords or search term(s) are highlighted in yellow, you can use the Search Term navigation to jump to the next use of the word in each document (useful if there are multiple results).

3. Note the Case Analysis Document contains brief details relating to each case:

• Where reported This lists all the case report series that have published the case, with links to the full text where available, they run in order of persuasive authority.

• The Case Digest

The Case Digest may include lots of brief, but very useful information:

• Subject and keywords – helps you to quickly grasp the area of law and key issues. • Summary and abstract – key phrases and short analytical summary covering the issues

and enough facts to put the issues in context, the outcome and judge’s reasoning. • Appellate history – the direct judicial history of the case with links to any lower, higher or

linked court proceedings and descriptors for whether the case was affirmed, overruled or reversed.

• Related cases – list of other cases between the same parties but on different points of law

• Significant cases cited – list of cases which the judge has referred to in a significant way. • All cases cited – list of all cases that have cited the case being viewed. • Key cases cited - Provides a list of editorially selected cases citing the case. • All cases citing - List of all cases that have cited the case being viewed. • Legislation cited – links to cited sections of legislation in force. If legislation is not

available on Westlaw UK no links will be available. • Journal articles – list of articles citing the original case, some links to full text. • Books– links to specific sections of commentary titles citing the case.

What are Case Status Icons?

Note this is a visual system indicating the status of a case, as can be seen on the previous screenshot.

It allows you to immediately see whether a case has been overturned, reversed or superseded.

- indicates that a case has been judicially considered and received positive or neutral treatment as part of its direct or indirect history.

- indicates that a case has received mixed or mildly negative judicial consideration.

- indicates that at least one point of law has been overruled or reversed. This is an immediate notification that the case is no longer good law.

Breadcrumb Trail

Note that on each page of Westlaw UK you will see a page header, telling you where you are. Under this there is a breadcrumb trail which tells you the path you have taken to get to where you are. It details all the sections and subsections separated by arrows. If you want to reverse your journey you can trackback to any level. NB using your browser’s back and forward buttons may not allow you to trackback, use the navigation embedded in Westlaw UK instead.

1. Use the breadcrumb trail to trackback to the Cases page.

Case Law - Browsing

3. Select Law Reports and Transcripts, try browsing for a case from the Weekly Law Reports.

Case Law - Advanced Searching

1. At the Cases search screen select the Advanced Search link (you can toggle between Basic Search and Advanced Search.)

2. 3. In the Cases Cited (Party) box fill in the party names donoghue and stevenson. 4. Select Search

B

A

1. Back at the Cases search screen you can also Browse for information by selecting either the Case Analysis Documents (a list of all report series monitored but not always full text) or the Law Reports and Transcripts (all report series available in full text)

2. Both list law reports alphabetically, a list of years or volumes will be displayed, then

from one of these an alphabetical list of cases will appear.

B: Search for cases that cite a particular statute by filling in the

Legislation Title box or particular part of a statute by also filling in the Legislation

Provision No. box.

A: Search for any cases that have cited a particular case by

filling in either of the Cases Cited boxes, with either party

names or a citation.

There should be around 688 Results, remember this number may grow as new cases cite to the original 1932 case.

Restricting your Search

• By Date

This is particularly useful if you are retrieving too many results and need to manage the information overload. At the Advanced Search screen it is possible to narrow down your search to a particular point in time by using the Date restrictions at the bottom of the Advanced Search screen.

You can choose from the last 7 days, to this year and the previous two years or choose from the drop-down menu and restrict to a date ‘on, between, before or after’.

5. Try narrowing your Cases Cited (Party) donoghue and stevenson search to this year and the previous two years and notice how many results you have now.

• Search Within Results

This search box appears at the top of your Results Found list and is another useful tool for narrowing down your search and making it more precise.

6. Repeat the search from steps 2-4 then Search Within Results for “contributory negligence”.

There should be around 2 results now.

Legislation

You can use Westlaw UK to find:

Basic searching:

• A specific statute/SI or part thereof (in its current version) • Legislation on a particular topic (in its current version)

Advanced searching:

• A specific statute/SI or part thereof at a point in time (going back to 1991).

The Basic Search screen only searches the current version of legislation. To search historical legislation use the Advanced Search.

To find legislation on a particular topic enter keywords into the Free Text box.

To find a piece of legislation select from the Provision Number drop down menu and put the provision number in the box.

Search Tip:

• Free Text searching - if you enter keywords with no connectors they are automatically linked with the AND connector. e.g. if you enter fair trial Westlaw UK will search for the keyword fair AND the keyword trial, if you wish to search for this as a phrase you have to enter it in quotation marks “fair trial”. Doing this will make your search more precise and you will retrieve fewer but more accurate results.

• See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK.

Legislation - Search Results

1. Select the Legislation link to get to this page.

2. To find a specific Act or SI enter the title of it into the

Act/SI Title search box e.g Human Rights Act 1998.

3. Select Search.

1. Select the Arrangement of Act link.

2. Note that the Arrangement of Act/SI document details all the provisions within a piece of legislation allowing you to link directly to any section, paragraph etc. If a provision has been repealed or revoked this information is displayed here. When in individual sections you can also navigate using the Next or Previous Provision links.

1. Note results are ranked first by Acts in alphabetical order, then by SIs in reverse chronological order.

2. If you have searched for a piece of legislation by title (without additional

terms or provision numbers) the result will display links to the Arrangement

of Act or Arrangement of SI

4. To view the full text of an Act as a pdf select the pdf link. After viewing close the window.

3. In the left-hand menu there is also a link to the very useful Overview Document for this Act. Select this link now. Note that it includes information about the Act or SI as a whole:

• All prospective amendments • Commencement of all provisions • All modifications (non-textual amendments) • A citator of all textual amendments • EU legislation implemented by the Act/SI • All SIs made under the Act and the SI which enabled the Act

4. Now select the General Materials link. Note this also provides very useful information about the Act/SI as a whole and about Parts, Chapters, Schedules and elements of legislation which do not have a Legislation Analysis document. (see below). It includes:

• Modifications • For SIs, the provisions which enabled the SI • EC or EU law implemented • Related legislation, cases, journal articles.

(A link to Legislation Analysis document appears only if you go into an individual provision and relates only to that individual provision but provides similar details to the General Materials document described above.)

What are Legislation Status Icons?

Note this is a visual system indicating the status of a provision which is displayed within a results list or when a provision is displayed on screen.

It allows you to immediately see whether the provision has been repealed, superseded or has pending amendments.

- provision represents a law in force

- provision is not yet in force

- provision is partially in force

- provision has been repealed

- provision has been superseded

- provision has pending amendments that have not been incorporated into the text

- provision has prospective amendments

Legislation - Browsing

Back at the Legislation search screen you can also Browse for legislation by selecting either Acts or Statutory Instruments by Year or Title, or browse Jurisdiction of the UK or Scottish parliament.

Legislation - Advanced Searching

This allows you to restrict your search to current legislation or expand it to include legislation no longer in force, enabling you to see how a provision has changed over time (NB available from 1991), historic (superseded) versions are marked .

Journals

You can use Westlaw UK to find:

Basic searching:

If searching Point in Time; Westlaw UK will retrieve the legislation as it stood at that date, incorporating any amendments made prior to that date.

• A specific journal article • Journal articles about a particular topic

Advanced searching:

• Journal articles which have referred to (cited) case law • Journal articles which have referred to a particular statute or section of a statute

Journals - Basic Searching and Browsing

Alternatively if you are looking for all articles on a particular topic enter your keywords in the Free Text search box.

Search Tips:

• Leave out ‘and’ between each keyword, this is automatically implied • To insist on a phrase use quotation marks e.g. “professional conduct”. • See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or

select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK. • To conduct a good search of the journal literature don’t rely just on what is available in

full text as this is only a very small percentage of what is actually published, approximately less than 1%!

(To track down articles that are not full text, search FINDit Find Journal for the journal title as it may be available from another supplier, if not check the Library Catalogue as it may be on the shelves in the library, if not then send for item on inter-library loan.)

2. To find a specific journal article that you already know details of enter brief details into the Article Title and Author boxes. E.g. fighting fraud and author sarker.

1. Select the Journals link to get to this page.

3. Select Search.

Journals - Search Results

Westlaw UK searches both the abstract and the full text documents with links to both if available (unless you have specified only to search one or the other).

Journals - Browsing

Back at the Journals search screen you can also Browse for articles by selecting either Legal Journals Index (LJI) or Financial Journals Index (FJI) or Full Text Articles only. (NB the indexes begin in 1986 and the FJI is no longer updated.)

Journals - Advanced Searching and Browsing

Results will show the article title in bold, the citation which you should note for authority, coursework bibliographies or reference lists and the subject and keywords. These give a brief indication of the areas of law covered in the article, keywords tend to describe narrower areas and subject terms describe very broad topics.

This allows you to search for journal articles that cite a particular case or for articles that cite a piece of legislation. This commentary (secondary source) can be a useful starting point for research but remember to update any primary sources that the article refers to.

Print, Save and Email

This drop-down menu appears on the top right of the results search screen

Select the relevant link and if in cases or journal articles you can further select the full text or the brief analysis/abstract information. Documents can be saved or emailed as Word or pdf files, if emailing don’t forget to enter a subject line that means something to you as the email will be sent directly from Westlaw UK.

List of Connectors

Any questions or feedback about this guide can be emailed to Sue House sue.house@southwales.ac.uk