Library Research Guides: Law: primary sources: Researching cases

Researching cases

Case citators are a valuable research tool used to "note up" cases. Noting a case up essentially looks at a case's past and present status.

When noting up a case you will often find the following information: parallel citations, case history, journal articles or other secondary sources referring to the case, lists of subsequent citing cases and the judicial treatments in those citing cases.

It is important to look at how subsequent cases have used the case, to see if your original case remains good law (whether it has been overturned or upheld, for example).

Explore the tabs below to find links and information on Australian case citators.

Australian case citators

CaseBase via Lexis Advance This link opens in a new window
Access to more than 450,000 case citations, digests and journal articles. Covers all major Australian law reports as well as unreported judgments.

CaseBase Signals & Annotations
Find out what the different signals and annotations mean in CaseBase
What does a CaseBase document contain?
Further help, runs through each section you may find in a CaseBase record
Video - CaseBase Citator
Watch this short video for an introduction to using the CaseBase case citator in Lexis Advance

Westlaw Australia This link opens in a new window
Australian legal material including law reports, unreported judgements, legal research titles, Australian cases by series, jurisdiction and practice areas.
When linking to Westlaw for the first time from a non-Bond PC or wireless device if there is a message: Access with a single-sign-on enter the group ID bond and tick Remember group ID and tick Always use single sign-on. To create a persistent link, copy the url from the Copy Link function and then add &groupid=bond

Westlaw Australia Guide - KeyCite
Explains KeyCite flags and features
Westlaw Australia Guide - Cases document display
Outlines the key features and aspects of a case document in Westlaw Australia
Video - KeyCite: Westlaw Australia
This video discusses what KeyCite is and how to use it in Westlaw Australia to note up cases

AustLii This link opens in a new window

LawCite is AustLII's case citator. It is particularly useful when searching for law journal articles or law reform reports referring to a particular case.

screenshot of AustLII homepage showing LawCite

LawCite This link opens in a new window
LawCite is an automatically generated freely available international legal case and journal article citator.

LawCite Search Form Help
Go through the fields in the LawCite search form
Video - AustLII - Interpreting Case Search Results
This is UTS (University of Technology Sydney) Library's video on interpreting search results in AustLII.

Case law databases

Lexis Advance (including Practical Guidance) This link opens in a new window
Contains Australian law material including Casebase cases, Unreported Judgments, Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, Queensland Reports (QdR),College of Law Practice papers and LawNow. LexisNexis Practical Guidance modules are also included.
Westlaw Australia This link opens in a new window
Australian legal material including law reports, unreported judgements, legal research titles, Australian cases by series, jurisdiction and practice areas.
When linking to Westlaw for the first time from a non-Bond PC or wireless device if there is a message: Access with a single-sign-on enter the group ID bond and tick Remember group ID and tick Always use single sign-on. To create a persistent link, copy the url from the Copy Link function and then add &groupid=bond
AustLii This link opens in a new window
Major web site in Australian cases and legislation. It also has comprehensive links to international and other Australian legal sites.
CCH Online/Intelliconnect This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to CCH caselaw and looseleaf publications for which Bond University Library has a current subscription.

Jade - No subscription required
Judgment and Decisions Enhanced ('JADE') is a free current awareness service and professional legal research platform designed by the legal profession for the legal profession.

Quicklaw (Lexis Advance Quicklaw) This link opens in a new window
Canadian legal research database which provides court decisions from all levels, news reports, provincial and federal statutes, journals, and other legal commentary. Includes a case citator and case digests.
If using Lexis Advance Pacific on the same browser in the same session, you must click on Sign Out in Quicklaw. Quicklaw will timeout when a session remains inactive for a period of 15 minutes - this timeout period is set by Lexis and cannot be changed.
CanLII This link opens in a new window
CanLII is a free resource which provides access to court judgements, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
Westlaw International This link opens in a new window
This link will take you to the Westlaw homepage. From here select 'International Materials', then 'Canada', then you can select the 'Cases' options.
Canadian cases note up automatically in Westlaw through "KeyCite". When you access a case, have a look at the tab options on the top next to where it says "Powered by KeyCite".

On the web: Where to find Canadian case law
The research guide of the Great Library, Law Society of Upper Canada. Provides links to case law, as well as case-related services and information available mainly from the websites of Canadian courts and administrative tribunals.

ICLR Online This link opens in a new window
ICLR Online contains all law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, since 1865. This includes over 77,000 case reports from The Law Reports, The Weekly Law Reports, The Industrial Case Reports, The Business Law Reports and the Public and Third Sector Law Reports. Also includes CitatorPlus a database including over 83,000 cases reported by ICLR, the All England Law Reports, Lloyd's Law Reports, Criminal Appeal Reports, Local Government Reports, Road Traffic Reports and Tax Cases.
Westlaw UK This link opens in a new window
Westlaw UK provides access to UK case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
Do not use the PDF icon, choose Download and then Word, PDF, etc.

BAILII
British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material.

Westlaw International This link opens in a new window
Westlaw is an international online legal research tool providing full text access to case law, statutes, reports, journals and law reviews with a United States of America focus.
For other jurisdictions, select 'International Materials'.
Lexis China This link opens in a new window
Bond University has access to the LexisNexis China Legislations and Cases module only.
Click Go to Lexis China (no login required).
A collection of Chinese laws, regulations, tax information, judicial decisions, and other legal documents, collected from government sources.

LII (Legal Information Institute)
The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a non-profit, public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources.

WorldLii This link opens in a new window
Major website covering international cases and legislation. It also has comprehensive links to international legal sites in a variety of subject areas.

Law: primary sources

Researching cases

Researching cases

Australian case citators

Case law databases

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