The decisions made by judges in a court of law are a primary source of law. Unlike statutes, case law is dynamic and ever-evolving and is very much more about the interpretation of the law. It is important to study case law in order to understand the practical application of law to facts and to learn how the courts may interpret statutes.
Printed Law Reports series record some of these decisions; however, it is important to remember that only a small proportion of the cases heard before judges are reported in a Law Report. It is generally only particularly note-worthy cases - controversial cases, cases that establish or overturn a precedent, for example - that are written up as Law Reports.
Law Reports are also available on Westlaw and LexisLibrary. The most authoritative series available is The Law Reports; another series with wide coverage is the All England Reports.
Not every single case heard in the courts ends up being reported as a law report. Only cases of significance appear in law report series, cases that contribute to or influence the law in some way. It is estimated that only about 5% of cases end up as law reports.
Some cases may get a great deal of public or press attention, but may not involve any particularly noteworthy or important legal issues. Just because you have heard about a case in the news does not mean there will automatically be a law report for it. You can use news sources to find information about high profile unreported cases, but use newspaper articles with caution - they often won't contain the entire story and may be presenting the facts in a particular way.
It is important to remember that the cases that get written up as law reports are the cases that are of interest to lawyers. What interests lawyers is not necessarily the same thing that will interest a health care professional or a social worker or a businessperson. These people will be interested in the facts of the case and the decisions made; lawyers are more interested in the arguments and the interpretations of legislation and the precedents established or overturned.
It can be difficult to find further information on unreported cases. It is worth checking Westlaw or Lexis to see if there is a transcript or judgement available. BAILII is also a good place to check, as it often contains publicly available transcripts. Failing this sites, the only option for getting hold of a written account of the case would be in contacting the court in question directly for a transcript, although there is generally a charge for this.
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Comprehensive law database, including cases, legislation, eBooks, commentary.
BAILI (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) provides access to the most comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials that are available for free and in one place on the internet. It can be a useful source of information on cases which may not necessarily have been written up as formal law reports.
It contains the key common law databases of all of the decisions of the Privy Council, many decisions of the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal, important courts such as the Scottish Court of Session, the Irish Supreme Court, European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice and tribunals, and legislation from three jurisdictions (e.g. Northern Irish legislation goes back to 1495). It also contains recent reports and consultation papers from the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Reform Commission, in addition to the Irish Law Reform Commission materials.
Comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials available for free. Can be a useful source of information on cases which may not have been written up as formal law reports.
WorldLII provides a single search facility for databases located on the following Legal Information Institutes: AustLII; BAILII; CanLII; HKLII; LII (Cornell); and PacLII.
WorldLII also includes as part of this searchable collection its own databases not found on other LIIs. These include databases of decisions of international Courts and Tribunals, databases from a number of Asian countries, and databases from South Africa (provided by Wits Law School).
Over 270 databases from 48 jurisdictions in 20 countries are included in the initial release of WorldLII. Databases of case-law, legislation, treaties, law reform reports, law journals, and other materials are included.
Comprehensive database of freely available legal information, including over 270 databases from 48 jurisdictions in 20 countries.
All case reports are referenced by the case name and what is known as the citation. These citations refer to the specific page and volume of the Law Report in which the case is reported; however, these citations are still used even with electronic databases and also enable you to identify a unique case from others with similar names, e.g.:
Miller v Jackson [1977] QB 966 (CA)
- Names of the parties - Miller v Jackson
- Year - [1977]
- Law Report series, abbreviated - QB (Queen's Bench)
- Start page - 966
The names of Law Reports are almost always abbreviated. For more information on legal abbreviations, see the FAQs or visit the helpful Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations for an almost comprehensive database of all abbreviations for Law Reports and legal journals.
Search the library catalogue for the name of the Law Report to see if we hold it in stock (ensure you search for the full name and not the abbreviation).
If all the details you have for a particular case are the party names and no citation, you will need to use the Current Law Case Citators in the Law Library.
These are dark blue volumes, covering 1945 onwards, kept on the shelves adjacent to the other parts of the Current Law series. Each volume covers a particular year, and the cases are listed therein alphabetically. If you don't know the year, you may have to check several volumes.
Once you have found the full citation for the case in the Current Law Case Citator, you can check the Library's holdings to see if we hold that particular series of Law Reports. From there, with the full citation, it should be straight-forward enough to find the correct volume of the Law Report and find the page or paragraph the report begins on.
The Case Citator may also refer you a summary of that particular case contained within the Current Law Yearbook for that particular year; these volumes are annual reviews of important cases from that year, summarised in brief and with further references to the full report via the citation.
NOTE:
If the case name begins with a single letter, such as R v Thompson, for example, the case will be listed at the beginning of that letter of the alphabet. This is especially common with criminal cases, where R stands for 'Regina', ie. the Crown.
If the case name begins with Re ('in the matter of') or ex parte ('the person on whose application the case is heard), this will be listed under the name of the person, e.g. Re Smith, look under Smith.
If you are looking for cases on a particular topic or subject there are a number of different texts you can consult in the Library to help with this.
Textbooks
Key textbooks on a particular area of law are a good source of identifying particularly important, noteworthy or precedent-setting cases.
Halsbury's Laws of England
Comprehensive and authoritative multi-volume encyclopaedia of the law in England and Wales, arranged by subject. Each entry will include a brief summary of the law for that area, including major legislation and cases.
Current Law Monthly Digests
Monthly digests containly summaries of significant UK cases, as well as information about new statutes and statutory instruments, amendments, commencement dates, parliamentary bills and words and phrases judicially considered.
Current Law Yearbooks
Annually-produced compilations of the Current Law Monthly Digests.
Current Law Case Citators
Annually-produced alphabetical indexes of cases for period indicated on the spine, with comprehensive list of citations in order of authority (Law Reports first, newspapers last).
