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Case law

Considerations

Case considerations

Once you have located a case, an additional component of legal research can be to find cases that judicially consider the case (or parts of the decision) and journal articles that discuss the case. Where the case is interpreted or discussed in a court, this is referred to as judicial consideration.

The subsequent discussion of a case in other decisions is evidence of the operation of the doctrine of precedent. Textbooks and commentary often also provide a valuable discussion of case law where it is relevant to the subject of the textbook or commentary.

Definitions (judicial consideration)

You can use legal databases to search for definitions of [needs clarification - legal concepts? What's the right terminology]

For example, a search string for the definition of slavery might look like:

(character* OR compris* OR defin* OR describ* OR discuss* OR element* OR expla* OR interpret* OR mean* OR phras*) /15  slave*

See the following tabs for instructions for searching in the most common databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

  1. Select "Advanced Search" from the drop-down arrow
  2. Select the 'Boolean Query" tab
  3. Complete the "Enter your search" field: (character* OR compris* OR defin* OR describ* OR discuss* OR element* OR expla* OR interpret* OR mean* OR phras*) W/15 SearchWord
  4. Scroll down and click in the check-box beside "Select the database(s) to search" to clear the checked boxes
  5. Check the box for "All Case Law Databases"
  6. Click on "Advanced Search"

  7. Results can be sorted by relevance, database (recommended), date or title

  1. Select "Advanced Search" from the drop-down arrow
  2. Complete the "Words and phrases" field
  3. Click on "Search"
  4. Results can be filtered by date, search within results or collection

Tip: Sign up for Jade Professional using your Murdoch student email address.

Option 1

  1. Select "Advanced Search - Cases"
  2. Complete the "Words and Phrases Judicially Considered" field
  3. Click on "Search"
  4. Results can be filtered by jurisdiction, court or legal topics.

Option 2

  1. Select "Advanced Search - Cases"
  2. In the Terms field: (character! OR compris! OR defin! OR describ! OR discuss! OR element! OR expla! OR interpret! OR mean! OR phras!) /15 SearchWord
  3. Click on "Search".

Option 1

  1. Select "Content Type - Cases"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"
  3. Complete the "Words and Phrases" field
  4. Click on "Search"

  5. Results can be filtered by jurisdiction, date, practice area or key number.

Option 2

  1. Select "Cases - Advanced Search"
  2. In the "All of these terms" field: (character! OR compris! OR defin! OR describ! OR discuss! OR element! OR expla! OR interpret! OR mean! OR phras!) /15 SearchWord
  3. Click on "Search".

Cases considering Acts (judicial consideration)

In each database:

  • Select Cases Advanced Search 
  • Select relevant jurisdiction
  • Complete the Legislation name and provision text boxes
  • Select relevant Court, if required 

See the following tabs for instructions for the most commonly used databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select LawCite (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete "Legislation Considered" field e.g., Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act
  3. Complete "Section" field e.g., 141
  4. Click "Search". You will then see a list of cases that have considered the relevant act.

Option 2: NoteUp

  1. Select the relevant jurisdiction from the black ribbon on the AustLII homepage
  2. Type the act title and section number in the "Search selected databases" box. Example: Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022  141. Tip: AustLII does not like punctuation, so do not include brackets.
  3. Select the magnifying glass to search
  4. Select relevant Act and Section from the Results list
  5. From the task menu on the right of screen, select the "NoteUp references" link. NoteUp searches for all materials on AustLII referring to this case. Tip: Sort the results by Database to easily identify cases
  1. Select "Jade Browser" tab
    • Select "Legislation Collection"
    • Select "By legislature"
  2. Select "Western Australian Legislation - Acts (WALegAct)"
    • Navigate to the relevant Act
    • Select Le
    • Select Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act
  3. Navigate to relevant section
    • Select section title
    • Select relevant citations

Tip: Sign up for Jade Professional using your Murdoch student email address.

[Revise these instructions - no longer appear relevant]

Option 1: LawNow

  1. Select "Legislation" from the "Explore pod"
  2. Select "Western Australia" from the drop down menu
  3. From the "Acts" column, select "All Acts by Title"
  4. Select the relevant letter from the A-Z table
  5. Scroll down the list of legislation and select the relevant Act title
  6. Scroll down (or use Ctrl+F) to the relevant section and select the relevant section's title
  7. Select the "View Legislation Citator" link (located to the right of the section title)

Option 2: Cases Advanced Search

  1. Under "Advanced Search", select "Cases"

  2. Complete the fields for "Legislation Title" and "Provision Number". Tip: Do not include a designation abbreviation - just the number.

Option 1: Global search 1

  1. Type the Act title and section number in the global search box, then wait for suggestions to appear. (Example: Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022 141)
  2. From the drop down suggestions, select the linked section title
  3. From the "Citing References" tab, select "Cases"

Option 2: Global search 2

  1. Search by Act title in double inverted commas and section number to be within 10 words of Act title (e.g. "Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022" /10 141)

  2. Select "Cases"
    • Option 1: Select View All Cases
    • Option 2: Select Cases from the "Content types" menu

Option 3: Advanced search

  1. Select "Content type", then "All Cases"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"

  3. Complete "Legislation Cited (Title)" and "Legislation Cited (Provision)" fields (Tip: Do not include a designation abbreviation
    - just the number)

Cases considering cases

In each database:

  • Select "Cases Advanced Search"
  • Search by case name or citation 
  • Select "Cited by"

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select LawCite (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete Citation" OR "Party Names" fields. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148.
  3. Navigate to "Cases Referring to this Case)

Option 2: NoteUp

  1. Search by case citation in the search box. Example: "2009 NSWCA 148" Tip: AustLII does not like punctuation, so do not include brackets.
  2. Select relevant case in the Results list
  3. From the task menu on the right of screen, select the "NoteUp references" link. NoteUp searches for all materials on AustLII referring to this case. Tip: Sort results by selecting the Databases tab to easily identify jurisdiction.

Option 1: Citator

  1. Select the "Citator" tab
  2. Complete Case citation. Example:  [2009] NSWCA 148
  3. Select the suggested relevant case
  4. Determine order of Results list. Click on "Search".

Option 2: Citation Report

  1. Search for case by citation or party name. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148
  2. From the CaseTrace panel, click on the "Citation report" link
  3. Navigate to "Cases citing this decision"

Option 3: Visualisations

  1. Search for case by citation or party name. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148
  2. Select the Visualisations button to expand the Visualisations menu
  3. Select "Precedent Tracker"

Option 1: Quick Find

  1. Select "Cases"
  2. Complete "Case citation" OR "Case Names" field. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148
  3. Select "CaseBase" link from the relevant case in the Results list
  4. Navigate to "Cases referring to this case"

Option 2: Advanced Search Cases

  1. Select "Advanced Search Cases"

  2. Complete Case citation OR case name in the References to Cases field. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148

Option 3: CaseBase Graphs

  1. Follow the steps in Option 1
  2. Once on the "Cases referring to this case" page, sort the list using one of these methods:
    • By date
    • By parties' names
    • By annotation. Annotation refers to the editor's terms for arranging similar application of the precedent. This means all those cases which followed, applied, or distinguished the precedent will be listed together
  3. Using the graph, cases can be filtered in the following ways:
    • By court
    • By year
    • By treatment

Note: More specific citation allows for the case to be segmented into paragraphs, with the ‘Paragraph’ filter on the graph. This lists the paragraphs of the primary judgment on the horizontal (x) axis, and the number of subsequent cases citing those paragraphs on the vertical (y) axis. Each column represents the number of times a paragraph is cited by subsequent cases. When hovering the mouse over columns of the graph, a pop-up appears, providing information on the paragraph number and the number of citing cases.

  1. Type the case citation in the global search box (Example: [2009] NSWCA 148), then wait for suggestions to appear
  2. Select relevant suggestion
  3. Select "Cases" from the "Citing References" tab

View these step-by-step instructions for sourcing cases citing cases (judicial consideration) with CCH IntelliConnect, using the example Google Inc v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2013] HCA 1; 249 CLR 435; (2013) 294 ALR 404:

[Replace the powerpoint below with text instructions - need input from other teams as instructions have changed]

CCH IntelliConnect 

 

Journal articles considering cases

In each database:

  • Select "Journals Advanced Search"
  • Search by case name or citation
  • Select "Journals referring to this case"

See the following tabs for instructions for the most commonly used databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select "LawCite" (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete "Case citation" OR "Party names" fields 
  3. Navigate to "Law Journal Articles Referring to this Case"

Option 2: Database search

  1. Select "Journals & Scholarship" from the red ribbon
  2. Add the citation within double inverted commas to the search box (located in the top right corner). Example: "2009 NSWCA 148".
  3. Click on the magnifying icon to Search
  4. Results can be sorted:
    • By relevance
    • By citation frequency
    • By database
    • By date
    • By title

Option 1: Quick Find

  1. Select "Cases"
  2. Complete "Case citation" OR "Case Names" field
  3. Select "CaseBase" link
  4. Navigate to "Publications referring to this case"

Option 2: Advance Search - Secondary Materials

  1. Select "Advanced Search"
  2. Select "Secondary Materials"

  3. Complete case citation OR case name in the "References to Cases" field

  1. Select "Content types", then "Secondary sources"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"
  3. Complete Citation field (Example: 2009 NSWCA 148)
  4. Filter Results by publication type, and select "Law Reviews & Journals"

You can also search for articles journal articales on the following databases:

Use the central search boxes on the home screens to add party names.

Example: "Callow Rupchev".