Researching case law: IntroductionConstruction Law

Libraries and Learning Innovation

Jennie Wilson Academic Librarian for the School of the Built Environment

Like any research you need to learn the conventions of understanding and referencing citations. A citation is a short form to provide information on where to find the full information source. One case can have several different law reports in different publications, so how do you know which publications to use to find reports on the case you are researching? And if there is more than one, how do you know which is the most authoritative one to refer to?

This tutorial should take ten minutes to complete.

How do you get started when researching case law?

It will cover:• How to get started when researching case law• How does the law get reported?• Deciphering cases- What do citations look like?• Law Report hierarchy • Abbreviations• Looking at a law report• Finding a Law Report in hard copy• Finding a law report online• Short tasks

This tutorial aims to help you with the first steps in searching for reported cases.

Cases heard in court are transcribed word for word. The transcript is an exact record of what happened in court.Law reports are created by companies who add value by adding their professional commentary. Law Reports are numerous, different series, in their own hierarchy. These contain reports of noteworthy cases.The hierarchy of reports are from top to bottom:• Main Law Report series : The full report will be published later in either (or both) the All England Law Reports or Weekly law Reports series. And finally an authoritative version might be published up to 9 months later in the official Law reports series.• Specialised Law reports : Reports of cases on specific subjects are published later.• Law Journals : You will find summaries in journals soon after the case is heard, these would not be used in court.• Newspapers : The Times reports about 10% of cases the day after judgement.

How does the Law get reported?

The hierarchy of reports are from top to bottom:

Main Law Report series : The full report will be published later in either (or both) the All England Law Reports or Weekly law Reports series. And finally an authoritative version might be published up to 9 months later in the official Law reports series.Specialised Law reports : Reports of cases on specific subjects are published later.Law Journals : You will find summaries in journals soon after the case is heard, these would not be used in court.Newspapers : The Times reports about 10% of cases the day after judgement.

How does the Law get reported?

You may see citations, or references, to cases in reading lists from tutors, and other information sources. But what do they mean?

How do you recognise a reference to a case as opposed to a reference for a journal article, a statute or other information type?

It is important to recognise what different citations refer to because this determines how you find the source.

Deciphering cases

Civil cases are shown as: Claimant (plaintiff) v Defendant

These cases are between two parties; they might be individuals, or companies, or both. The first name cited is the claimant (respondent), the second name is the defendant (appellant).V is always expressed as “and”.

Party names: Civil cases

Criminal cases are shown as: R (The Crown) v the defendant

These cases concern the Crown (the Government) and an individual, company or organisation. “R” stands for Rex (King) or Regina (Queen) and cases are typically expressed as e.g. “The Crown against Smith”, or just “Smith”.

Party names: Criminal cases

The references below are in the OSCOLA referencing style, the system preferred on most Law degrees.

This is a neutral citation for a case: R. (on the application of Petty) v DPP [2001] UKHL 61 [2002] 1 A.C. 800.

This is a list of other reports on this case:[2001] 3 W.L.R. 1958[2002] 1 All E.R. 1[2002] 2 Cr. App. R. 1[2002 1 F.L.R. 268

You can see that a case might be reported in numerous places; however there is an authority which you will learn throughout your studies. Our databases typically list the most authoritative source first.

What do citations look like?

Carlill v Carbollic Smoke Ball• This case, heard in 1892, was first reported in the press,

and then the authoritative law report Queens Bench, which should always be cited above all other series.

Law Report hierarchy

Finally reported in the Law Reports Queens Bench

 

First reported in the Newspaper The Times 

In most legal citations the titles of journals and law report series are abbreviated, like WLR in the example: [1954] 3 W.L.R. 257But you need to know the full title to find them in a law library.

With time you will learn many of these but there will be some you don’t know or remember, and for that we can use Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/.

So WLR stands for Weekly Law Reports, which is in hard copy in the Library.

Abbreviations

From 2001 cases started to be assigned neutral citations. The neutral citation is the official method of citing the transcripts of law cases issued directly by the courses as opposed to law reports published later by publishers. This means that each judgement has a unique identifier assigned to it by the court itself.R. (on the application of Petty) v DPP [2001] UKHL 61 [2002] 1 A.C. 800.The easy way to identify a neutral citation is because the first two letters refer to the jurisdiction; in the example case it is UK.If the only citation you can find for a case is the neutral citation you will have to find the transcript, not a law report.

Neutral Citations

This is a reference to a case Post-2001: R. (on the application of Petty) v DPP [2001] UKHL 61 [2002] 1 A.C. 800.

The example above however contains both: • Neutral citation [2001] UKHL 61 • Law report citation [2002] 1 A.C. 800

To find the law report cited here you would first need to look up the abbreviation A.C. You could use the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations. A.C. stands for Appeal Cases, and then you need Volume 1 for 2002, page 800.

Post-2001 cases, neutral citations and law report citations

There is a difference between cases reported pre-2001.

This is a reference to a case pre-2001: Morelle LTD v Waterworth [1955] 1 Q.B. 1

You must first start by deciphering the report series “Q.B.”. You could use the Cardiff Index.

To find the law report cited here – [1955] 1 Q.B. 1 – you would look for the report series Queen’s Bench, and once you find the series you would look in Volume 1 for 1955, page 1.

Pre-2001 cases

Looking at a law report: the beginning

Names of judges

Name of CourtNames of Parties

Date the Case was heard

Catchphrase summaryHeadnote: Facts and

decision

Statement of the nature of

proceedings Summary of procedural history

Looking at a law report: the middle

Start of judgementTypically followed by other judges in

agreement or disagreement

Looking at a law report: the end

Names of Solicitors Orders of the

Court

 

You might have used a library catalogue before to find a book, and you probable typed the title of the book into a search box.

When we look for a law report we must type the title of the Law Report into the Catalogue e.g. All England Reports or Weekly Law Reports. We can check the years covered and can then go to the shelves and start to locate the report.

Finding a Law Report in hard copy

There are several different online sources that provide case information.

Some are subscription databases that give you access to published law reports online, and often contain added value in links to related documents. They allow you to search for cases without a full citation, making it easier to search if you only have partial information.

The Library pays to subscribe to some of these services. There are also free websites that provide summaries of cases, or even full judgements. Some give information on cases that are not reported in the law reports.

Finding a Law Report Online

Westlaw and Lexis are particularly useful for case research, features include:• Search with partial information• See the case analysis document that summarise the main

points and outcome.• Shows a list of citations of all the law reports on the case in

order of authority.• Links to the full text of any reports on Westlaw• A link to the official transcript for many cases• Additional information, with direct links through to related

cases, legislation, related journal articles

Finding a Law Report Online

Justcite is another product which searches across Westlaw and Lexis so you might like to use this first in your research, it will then take you through to Westlaw or Lexis respectively.

Other online sources:• Lawtel UK• BAILII website is good for finding information on unreported

cases

Finding a Law Report Online

1. Tasks to develop your skills:2. Try searching Westlaw for one or two cases relevant to one of your

assignments or research projects.– If you are not sure what might be a good case to look for on a particular

area of law, try looking in a textbook on that area of law. Textbooks will tell you details of significant cases in that area.

– Look at the Case analysis documents for each case you find. Think about when and why this information might be useful.

3. Find a law report in the library. You can use the citations you have found on Westlaw for task 1 above.

4. Try searching the LexisNexis database for the same case using the case search menu. Compare with Westlaw.

5. Finally use Justcite with the same case as above and see how that collates Westlaw and Lexis information and gives further links.

6. Which did you prefer using for general case research?7. Which had full text access to the most authoritative law

report on your case(s)?

Next steps

It has cover:• How to get started when researching case law• How does the law get reported?• Deciphering cases- What do citations look like?• Law Report hierarchy • Abbreviations• Brackets in OSCOLA• Looking at a law report• Finding a Law Report in hard copy• Finding a law report online• Short tasks

This tutorial shows you the first steps in searching for reported cases.

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