Finding Cases on Your Reading List

Finding Cases Online

For a refresher on case law, go back to Overview, Law Reports.

Most UK law reports are available electronically in subscription databases. The Bodleian Law Library (BLL) legal databases page lists many databases available to Oxford students. Undergraduate students will find most of the law reports on reading lists are available on Lexis Library and Westlaw. This quick video introduction to finding cases on Westlaw and Lexis (also below) will help you find most cases (Please note that at the moment because of techical issue the video shows the old Westlaw UK platform, we will be updating the video as soon as we can). For hard-to-find cases the notes below may help.

Search in the right database and do the simplest search first.
Sometimes you need to know what the abbreviation in a citation stands for before you can find the case.
Be aware of common reasons searches might fail and how to troubleshoot.
And finally, make sure your research is up to date.

Searching by subject is mostly covered in Cold Start Research although this page may have helpful advice about which database to use.

Search in the right database

Online sources for the main UK law reports are listed below. If you know what the abbreviation in the citation stands for 'Search our Law Reports & Journals' on the BLL website is useful for finding both print and online sources for law reports.

Dates	Abbrev	Report series	Database
1220-1865	ER & various	English Reports / Nominate Reports	CommonLII, HeinOnline, Lexis+ UK & Westlaw
1865-	AC, QB, KB, Ch, Fam etc	The Law Reports	Lexis+ UK, Westlaw & ICLR
1936-	All ER	All England Law Reports	Lexis+ UK
1953-	WLR	Weekly Law Reports	Westlaw & Lexis+ UK
1919-	Lloyd's Rep	Lloyd's Law Reports	i-Law
1954-	ECR	European Court Reports	Westlaw & the EU's Eur-Lex database
1979-	EHHR	European Human Rights Reports	Westlaw, see also the ECHR's HUDOC database
		Transcripts of judgments from 2001, and some older	BAILII - British and Irish Legal Information Institute

Not all law reports on reading lists are UK cases. Australian, Canadian and even US cases crop up on undergraduate reading lists. Information about abbreviations generally indicates jurisdiction. The Case Overview feature in Lexis+ UK can be another useful way to to verify that a citation is correct and to find out which jurisdiction it is. Case Overview is akin to The Digest, which includes Commonwealth cases and goes back to the 1500s. Canadian and US cases are mostly easily found by citation in Westlaw International. Free sites that provide cases and legislation from other jurisdictions are listed on the Introduction page.

Do the simplest search first

For Westlaw, search in the Cases section of the database, rather than from the front page. For Lexis try the box on the main screen or go to Content-cases-advanced search.
The simplest and quickest search is using the citation to search as this should be a unique thing to the case. The law report citation comprises the year, the volume number if any, the abbreviation and the first page, eg

Possible solutions, in addition to the advice given above:

If neither the party names nor the citation enable you to find a case, add any information you have about the case (eg, subject, court, judge, year) via the Advanced Search or Option features. Add one additional piece of information at a time.
To find out if a databases has a specific law report, look at the 'Browse' page in the Cases section. Check the date coverage by clicking on the little i for information icons, or by opening the search page for the specific law report.
If you cannot find a law report online, go to the law library and browse the shelves - all law reports are shelved alphabetically at 120 for each jurisdiction, or ask a librarian.

Using hard copy law reports

There is always the option to find law reports in hard copy within the library. You can check on SOLO to see whether your college library holds the series or the Bodleian Law Library should hold the series. You will need to know what the abbreviation stands for and so use the Cardiff Index if you don't know it, there is a tutorial on how to use the index here. You will need to use the law report citation to navigate your way around the shelves or ask the librarian if you have trouble. Unfortunately neutral citations will not have a corresponding hard copy series (as these are a 'case number' rather than a report). You will need to find out what law report series (if any) the case has been reported in. You can do this by using the indexes or ask a librarian.

Updating your research

Each of the main legal databases has their own way of providing information about how a judgment has been subsequently considered in court. This information is crucial in a court system that follows precedent (see the Overview for a reminder about the doctrine of precedent).

In Westlaw Cases, search for the judgment you are investigating. In the results, open the link to the Case Analysis, then scroll down to 'Cases Citing this Case', to find subsequent judicial history.
In Lexis+ UK, search for the case from the Home Page using the citation first, if this does not bring up your result to the top, don't scroll down. Go to Content-Cases - advanced search and use the citation box.
In VLex Justis search for the case using either the basic search or advanced search. Click on the relevant result and the information will be there under the 'cases citing' tab. This database does not only provide updating information it will also link to the database holding the report.

Westlaw and Lexis both claim to be up to date. Lawtel generally has more recent judgments than Westlaw (both are Sweet & Maxwell databases). BAILII publishes transcripts of cases from the higher courts and tribunals very quickly, and can be searched or browsed by court list or by the recent cases link. Cases on BAILII use only the neutral citation, and when the case is reported, add the best report to the citation.