Frequently Asked Legal Research Questions

How do I find the full judgment of a case?

A judgment is the decision of the judge or judges in a court of law. This is distinct from a law report which is produced by a legal publisher with added content such as head notes and catchwords.

If you have the party names try:

Free web sources

·        BAILII —  http://www.bailii.org/ — either use the Case Law Search section or if you know the specific court, go to the section for that court

·        Court Service web site — www.courtservice.gov.uk — has selected High Court judgments from 1996 onwards

·        House of Lords — www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199697/ldjudgmt/ldjudgmt.htm — judgments from  November 1996 onwards

Hard copy sources

·        Current Law Monthly Digest or Current Law Yearbooks

Subscription-based databases

·        Casetrack

·        Justis

·        Lawtel

·        LexisNexis Professional

·        Westlaw

If you only have the citation try:

Free web sources   

·        BAILII — http://www.bailii.org/ — in Case Law Search, enter the citation in the search box or go directly to Find a Case by Citation

Subscription based databases

·        Casetrack — use the advanced search option

·        Justis — in the cases database, enter the citation in the search box

·        LexisNexis Professional — enter the citation in the cite box

·        Westlaw — in the cases database, enter the citation in the search box

If you only know the subject matter try:

Free web sources

·        BAILII

Hard copy sources

·        Current Law Monthly or Current Law Yearbooks

Subscription-based databases

·        Justis

·        Lawtel

·        LexisNexis Professional

·        Westlaw

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