Case law

Once you have found a case, you will need to be able to find other cases which have considered that precedent (citing the case) and were used to build the argument for a case (cited by the case). This is the process of 'precedent in action': how case law responds to decisions from the past and develops the law for application in the future. Once you have established a link between cases, you then need to examine the application of the precedent over time. 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.

Additionally, a component of legal research can be to find journal articles that discuss the case.

For more information on how to find cases that consider other cases, see the "Finding judicial considerations" section of this guide: