Self Paced Lesson - Case Law - Subject Guide: 3: Source Case From Citation

The first step students usually undertake in legal research is to look at secondary materials such as encyclopaedias and journal articles to find statements about the law, and to take note of citations to key cases and legislation.

The next step is to use those citations to source the case or legislation.

How to Source a Case by Citation

You need to know which database to search or shelf to locate to access a case.

Sourcing Cases:

• Step 1: Solve the abbreviation of the court reporting service into full using Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
• Step 2: Search for the full name of the court reporting service using Library Search
• Step 3: Source the court reporting service on the correct database (e.g. Lexis Advance or Westlaw Australia) from the Results List by selecting the link to Full Text Online or note the shelf/call number to locate the reporting series on the Library shelves (e.g. All England Law Reports, Western Australian Law Reports)

Examples:

Law Report Series Abbreviations

The abbreviation for a series of law reports is usually the initial letters of the words in the title. 

Case law and journal citations are made up of the abbreviation for the case report series or journal.
To find the unabbreviated case report series or journal title you can look at a number of different sources

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

Raistrick's Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (ALGC) Referencing Guide

The La Trobe University Legal Abbreviations Database

When in CaseBase in Lexis Advance you can access an Abbreviation/Subject List from the help menu.

LCANZ - Legal Citations of Aotearoa New Zealand

Accessing a Case Series

The main sources for Australian reported cases are Westlaw Australia , Lexis Advance  and CCH IntelliConnect 

Students also need to be able to access reported decisions from other jurisdictions - particularly the United Kingdom.
For example, English Reports are on the ICLR , Westlaw UK , HeinOnline and CommonLII databases.

The following steps take you through the basics of finding series on databases you should familiarise yourself with, including ICLR, vLexJustis ,Thomson Reuters Westlaw Classic. 

Medium Neutral Citations

Search for medium neutral citations on Jade or AustLII.

You can identify a medium neutral citation as its acronym is for a court, rather than a court reporting series.

eg  AAT, AIRCAwd, FamCA, FCA, FWC, HCA

Not everything is online!

You will be surprised how often cases are only available in print on the library shelves and have to be copied.
eg   Western Australian Reports 1959-1982

A general rule for finding primary material in law libraries:

Material is arranged by jurisdiction, and within a jurisdiction, primary material is arranged in the following order: bills, acts, regulations, case law arranged alphabetically by the series name.
This rule is followed in most large law libraries.

A few notes to help you understand Citation notes

R stands for Regina (The Queen), or Rex (The King). You will see that there is sometimes a variation in the citation of a case. For instance R v Arndel (1906) 3 CLR 557 was initially written up as The King, on the Prosecution of Harard Freeman v Arndel. Today it is cited as R v Arndel.

In more recent cases McInnis v R (1979) 143 CLR 575 might be cited in some places as McInnis v The Queen (1979) 143 CLR 575, or as McInnis (1979) 143 CLR 575

Where many people are part of an action the first party's name is usually cited with & Ors (and others).

If there are only two parties the second party may be cited as & Anor (and another). Sometimes only the first party is cited in a citation, e.g. Mabo & Ors v State of Queensland and Ors (No. 2) is usually cited as Mabo v State of Queensland (No. 2). 

The Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, 2018) requires that '& Ors' and '& Another' not be used, with only the first named plaintiff and the first named defendant being cited (ALGC rule 2.1.1).

Source Cases by Citation in Lexis Advance

Lexis Advance is an extensive collection of Australian legal databases.

Lexis Advance can be accessed via the link on the Law Subject Guide.  

CaseBase Display

More detail on a CaseBase record: What does a CaseBase document contain?

To view the judgment, click on a hyperlinked citation.

Butterworths Citation Number

Unreported versions of cases, when first published on Lexis Advance, were given a citation number unique to the Lexis databases. 

The ‘BC’ version of a case (Butterworths Citation) should not generally be cited.

Lexis Advanced was previously called LexisNexis.

LexisNexis was previously called Butterworths.

Hence the Butterworths Citation number for older cases.

Butterworths and LexisNexis are both legal publishers, with the same parent company - RELX Group (formerly known as Reed Elsevier).

Source Cases by Citation in Westlaw Australia

Westlaw Australia includes most of the Authorised Law Reports.
Westlaw Australia can be accessed via the link on the Law Subject Guide.  

Source Cases in Westlaw Australia by Citation

Task: 
You are looking for a case and have been given parallel citations:
[1992] HCA 23  |  (1992) 175 CLR 1  |  (1992) 66 ALJR 408  |  (1992) 107 ALR 1

Case Display

To access the CLR version of a case (if available):

Step 1: Select Other Versions to view the drop down menu           Step 2: Select CLR Version from the drop down menu
Step 3: Select Original Image of (1992) 175 CLR 1 to access a PDF of the CLR version

Source Cases by Citation in AustLII

AustLII can be accessed via the link on the Law Subject Guide.  

Step 1: Access AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute)

Step 2:  In the search pane at the top of the screen, add case citation "175 CLR 1" or "1992 HCA 23"

Step 3: Select the magnifying glass icon to Search

Step 4: From the Results list, navigate to Mabo v Queensland (No 2) ("Mabo case") [1992] HCA 23; (1992) 175 CLR 1 (3 June 1992); click on the case name 

Step 5:  From the case record, you can access the High Court of Australia case report entry: [1992] HCA 23.
From this page you can access:

• Print 
• LawCite records for this case (where this case has been cited both in Australia and Internationally)
  • Cases Referring to this Case
  • Law Reform Reports Referring to this Case
  • Law Journal Articles Referring to this Case
  • Legislation Cited
  • Cases and Articles Cited
• NoteUp references for this case (where this case has been referenced within all documents on AustLII)
  These can be sorted
  • By Relevance
  • By Citation Frequency
  • By Database (an easy way to sort cases from articles from legislation
  • By Date
  • By Title

Tip: expand the number of Results per page to 100 (default is 10)

Source Cases by Citation in Jade

Jade provides all  Australian legal judgments from Australian Courts and Tribunals.

Jade can be accessed via the link on the Law Subject Guide.  

BarNet is a not-for-profit organisation and JADE is one of their initiatives to provide better legal research to the profession.

Register for free with your Murdoch University student email to automatically receive Jade Professional access.

Your Jade login details have been sent to your Murdoch Student email account: [StudentNumber]@student.murdoch.edu.au.

Jade Professional enables the Visualisations feature, and allows the creation of JADE Alerts.

Additionally, the Citation functionality is enhanced (you will need this to complete the lesson and Library Research Test).

Jade is a valuable legal research tool as it is available for free, unlike databases such as Lexis Advance and Westlaw AU that require a subscription fee.

Case Display

Jade Professional Extras

You will only be able to view the Case Citations for each section of the case if you are logged in using your feee Jade Professional account:

Source Cases in CCH iKnowConnect

CCH iKnowConnect includes commentary and case law on specialist legal topics including:

CCH iKnowConnect can be accessed via the link on the Legal Research Guide.  

Your task: Source the case:

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc v City Of Swan; Lehman Brothers Asia Holdings Limited (In Liquidation) v City Of Swan (2010) 28 ACLC ¶10-011

Students need to be able to access reported decisions from other jurisdictions - particularly the United Kingdom.
For example, English Reports are on the ICLR, Westlaw UK  HeinOnline and CommonLII databases.

vLexJustis

vLexJustis is an online legal research platform that helps you find leading authorities and establish the current status of the law. 

vLexJustis is a full text online legal library of UK, Irish and EU case law.
It includes Daily Cases, Law Reports, Weekly Law Reports, Times Law Reports and Singapore Law Reports.
You can access vLexJustis via the Databases link on the Law Subject Guide homepage.

Locating a Case in Print in the Law Library

Step 1: Solve the abbreviation

Step 2: Search for the series title

• Identify the jurisdiction

Step 3: Source the series location on the shelves

Step 4: Once you have located the series you would be able to find the volume and then the page number.

Your Task: Find this case from the law reports on the shelves in the Library: Mabo v Queensland [No 2] 175 CLR 1

Step 1: Solve the abbreviation CLR using Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

• Look at the list which results from your search in the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations for CLR and use your judgment to decide which is the most likely by considering the jurisdiction and any date limits set.
• You will see the most likely result from those available is the Commonwealth Law Reports.
• In some searches you will find it is necessary to return to the original search screen and change the search options from searching exact to close abbreviation.
• If you still cannot find the series title, check you have the correct abbreviation, and then check other indexes. 

Step 2: Search for the unabbreviated series title once you have identified the series; search for Commonwealth Law Reports using Library Search.

• note the jurisdiction, as the Law Library collections are arranged by jurisdiction

Step 3: Source the court reporting series.
             From the resulting list, select the listing for Commonwealth Law Reports.
             As you are looking for the print version of the series, select the listing that makes no reference to it being (Online) or an [electronic resource].
             The access line in the Results record should say to Check Shelf. 

• Either note the location from the Results list, or click on the result record to access to Catalogue Record
• The resulting page will give location and call number details for the Commonwealth Law Reports
• As you can see, the location is South Wing Level 3, the R denotes that the Commonwealth Law Reports are part of the reference collection which means they can be used within the Library but cannot be borrowed.
• As you are looking for a physical volume, you need to actually go to the Murdoch Law Library, South Wing Level 3, and locate the Commonwealth Law Reports on the shelf. 

Step 4: To find the Mabo case, you must go back to the citation: 175 CLR 1

175: This is the volume number, so when you have located the Commonwealth Law Reports, you need to find volume 175.
Look along the volumes of the Commonwealth Law Reports until you find volume 175.

CLR: You have already ascertained that this is the abbreviation for the Commonwealth Law Reports

1: This is the first page of the case report itself.   Once you have found volume 175 of the Commonwealth Law Reports, turn to page 1 to find the Mabo case.

A series of court reports officially approved by the judiciary or government is known as an authorised or official series of reports.

In each jurisdiction only one series is designated as authorised.

Cases which enunciate a general principle or point of law are usually included in the authorised series of reports.

Australian Authorised Report Series

AGLC Rule 2.2.2 Law Report Series Hierarchy

The authorised version of the report should always be used where available.

The version of a case to be cited should follow the preference order below (from top to bottom):

Authorised or official reports are those selected and approved by the judiciary, their nominees, or relevant governments department (a Council or Board of Law Reporting).
In each jurisdiction only one series is designated authorised.
Cases which enunciate a general principle or point of law are usually included in the authorised series of reports.

In Western Australia, for example, the Attorney General regulates law reporting.
The Law Reporting Advisory Board advises the Attorney General.
The Law Reporting Advisory Board comprises 6 members appointed by the Governor of whom — 
(a) one member shall be a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice and shall be the chairman of the Board;
(b) one member nominated by the Chief Justice shall be either a Judge of The District Court of Western Australia or a Judge of the Family Court of Western Australia;
(c) 3 members shall be legal practitioners nominated by the Council of the Law Society; and
(d) one member shall be a legal practitioner nominated by the Attorney General.
(Law Reporting Act 1981 (WA) s7.)

While series of reports which are not authorised are still acceptable in courts, if a case has been reported in an authorised series as well as another series, it is preferable to cite the authorised report.
An authorised report should always be cited in preference to an unauthorised report, (Rules of the Supreme Court 1971 (WA) 0.34.5.9A)

Unauthorised series of reports are produced more quickly and many are directed towards satisfying the needs of specialist practitioners.
Unauthorised series of reports include many reports of cases which may be published later in an authorised series, however they also include reports which may only be of transient interest, or illustrate the application of authoritative cases.
The Australian Trade Practices Reports and Family Law Reports are examples of series which only report cases relevant to the subject area indicated in the title.

Few series are mutually exclusive. Cases may appear in several series depending on editorial interest and assessment of the importance of the case.
For example significant High Court decisions are reported in each of the following series: the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR), Australian Law Reports (ALR) and Australian Law Journal Reports (ALJR).
The ALR and ALJR are unauthorised series and the CLR authorised.

The Authorised Report Series is a list of authorised reports of various jurisdictions, the citation is given in bold eg, CLR.
Except for reports without hyperlinks, all of the reports listed are held at Murdoch or are available online through one of the case law databases.

The general arrangement of law reports held in the library is by jurisdiction first (eg. Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, United Kingdom, USA, Canada), and then alphabetically by title within the jurisdiction.

Source Cases by Citation Using Case Citators

A case citator is an incredibly useful tool to use for legal research.
Case citators are a type of case law index.

Case citators do not provide the full text of a case but you may be linked to full text versions of the case where the publisher of the citator publishes the case series (i.e. FirstPoint from Westlaw AU will link to the Commonwealth Law Reports).
Citators can assist legal researchers in locating a variety of useful information about the case.

Case citators can be useful in helping you determine:

• The correct citation for a case;
• If the case has been reported in more than one series of case reports (parallel citations);
• If the case has been reported in an authorised law report series;
• Whether any later cases have considered the case;
• What earlier cases were considered by the case;
• If the case considered any legislation;
• If journal articles have considered the case;
• If the case is still considered good law.

Case citators all use a different variety of symbols to provide guidance on whether or not the case is still considered good law.
They use symbols and annotations to explain the current status of the case.
The Citators themselves have useful guides that can help you understand these.

Citation Timeline

Cases referred to (as precedent) in a case, are referred to as being cited by.
So these judgments must have been made before the case.

Cases referring to a case are referred to as citing a case.
So these judgments must have been made after the case.

Students of Murdoch University have access to a number of case citators including:

Australian Citators include:

• CaseBase on Lexis Advance (Guide to using CaseBase)
• LawCite (More information)
• AustLII NoteUp
• JADE Citator Search from BarNet Jade (Help for Jade)
  • Jade Professional has extra visualisations and tools
    • register with Jade using your Murdoch student email to gain free Jade Professional access (it is set up to automatically recognise student email addresses)

International Citators include:

• JustisOne(UK)
• Case Analysis on Westlaw UK
• ICLR (Incorporated Council of Law Reporting) (UK)

Many of the online case citators also provide a case digest feature which provides a summary of the main points of the case and can save researchers time by helping them determine the relevance of the case to the issues researched.
Case digests such as FirstPoint provide this kind of summary.
You should be aware that these summaries are produced by editors who may have very different ideas to yourself about what should be put in a summary.

You have now been introduced to a range of hard copy and online resources to help you find cases when you have a citation.

There is a lot of information covered in this topic so go through it carefully.

The information here is designed to get you started using these databases.

Practice using these databases to become familiar with the way they function.