Find cases
Case law, or common law, can be described as the principle of law arising from the decisions, and reasons for decisions, made by judges in court. Decisions, or judgments, from superior courts and tribunals are available initially as an unreported judgment, with selected decisions subsequently reported in law reports.
Searching for cases can done in different ways. Sometimes you will have a known law report citation and you can find the case by that citation. Other times you will have to do a broad search and find cases on a specific topic of law.
Searching for cases
When you are searching for cases in various legal databases be aware that there are different terms and connectors used. Download this ‘Basic Search Tips for Major Legal Databases’ as it provides a summary of the wildcards and connectors used in popular legal databases.
Note
Depending on what information you have on a specific case, there are detailed instructions on searching using different approaches. Select the relevant search approach you are interested in from the left menu under the Find Cases heading.
Australian Case Law Databases
These are the main databases or websites to research for Australian cases:
- Lexis+ AustraliaContains the full text of Australian unreported judgments and law reports published by Lexis Nexis (e.g. Australian Law Reports). It includes the search tool CaseBase case citator.
- Westlaw Australia (formerly Westlaw AU)Contains the full text of Australian authorised law reports (e.g. Commonwealth Law Reports), subject law reports (e.g. Australian Criminal Reports) and Australian unreported judgments. It includes the KeyCite case citator tool.
- CCH iKnowConnectIncludes a range of Australian subject law reports (e.g. Australian Family Law cases).
- AustLIIUnreported judgments from all Australian jurisdictions including tribunals. It also contains some historical law reports.
International Case Law databases
These are the main databases to research for International cases:
- ICLR OnlineContains the official series of The Law Reports for the Superior and Appellate Courts of England and Wales (from 1865). They are the authorised UK law reports (e.g. Appeal Cases). It also includes a case citator.
- Westlaw UKContains subject specific law reports and unreported judgments. It includes a case citator.
- Lexis+ AustraliaContains full text of All England Law Reports, New Zealand Law Reports and other law reports published by Lexis Nexis.
- Lexis Advance (US Research System)Contains the full text of unreported judgments and law reports from predominantly U.S and Canada. Includes the Shepardize® case citator.
- Thomson Reuters WestlawContains the full text of unreported judgments and law reports from a range of international jurisdictions. However, coverage is predominantly U.S. and Canada. It includes the KeyCite citator.
- WorldLIIProvides a single search facility for cases in various repositories in affiliated Legal Information Institutes (e.g. AustLII; BAILII; CanLII; HKLII; LII (Cornell); and PacLII).