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Researching case law on the internet
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Commonwealth Case Law/Common Law Jurisdictions |
| The World
Legal Information Institute database contains all British and
Irish law reports and legislation which is available on the web. In
addition it contains all Australasian, HK, Canadian, South African and other resources
from various dates. If looking for cases referring to leading cases such
as Chaplin v Hicks the search will highlight references to that case in
all jurisdictions (so there is no need to carry out individual country
searches).
Search Tip: Different searches produce different results. If looking for cases which refer to Tate & Lyle Food and Distribution Ltd v Greater London Council [1982] 1 WLR 149; [1981] 3 All ER 716, QBD for example, the choice of words used in the search is important. Punctuation and symbols such as '&' may not be used consistently so it may be necessary to experiment. Example results are as follows: Tate & Lyle (exact phrase) = hundreds
of hits (see note below) If the case contains a name or words which are likely to be unique then use those words and select 'exact phrase' - Note sometimes the exact phrase function does not work and is replaced by an 'any of these words' search |
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US Case Law |
| A separate search
is required for US materials: http://www.findlaw.com
Searches using a leading common law or commonwealth authority may not produce any results unless the case is an old one such as Hadley v Baxendale. This is due to the fact that the legal system in the US has, despite being based on the common law (with the exception of Louisiana), developed independently. Again, punctuation can be important. Compare for example the results when searching for Hadley v Baxendale when a full stop is placed after the 'v' and when it is not (search under US Supreme Court). When searching using keywords note that different terminology may apply. |