1 Sources of Information Richard O’Neill University of Hertfordshire

2 Legislation Parliament Parliament website Debates Hansard House of Commons House of Lords Standing Committees Bills House of Commons weekly Information Bulletin Government UK Government website The Stationary Office HMSO

3

4

5

6

7 Hierarchy of Law Reports

8 Law Reports The Law Reports In 1865 the reporting of cases was systematised by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, which started publishing series of reports organised according to the court, collectively known as The Law ReportsIncorporated Council of Law Reporting The Law Reports only report to include arguments of Counsel and checked by the judge The Law Reports cover cases heard in: The House of Lords and Privy Council The Court of Appeal Criminal and Civil Divisions Chancery Division Family Division Queen's Bench Division Employment Appeal Tribunal and the ECJ

9

10 Law Reports Other law reports Law journals may be only source early reports e.g. New Law Journal; Criminal Law Review; Medical Law Review Professional Journals Solicitors’ Journal Newspapers The Times Law Reports (1884 -)

11 Electronic case reports Electronic Sources for Case Law need to distinguish between law reports and transcripts growth in electronic transcripts of cases on the web many of these cases will subsequently be reported House of Lords judgments - available on the web from 1996, within 2 hours of the decision The Court Service - database of selected recent cases from the Court of Appeal and the High Court BAILII - searchable case law databases

12

13

14

15 Subscription Services - case reports Subscription Services Butterworths - contains The Law Reports, also All England Direct - the All England Law Reports from 1936 All England Reporter – a digest of recent cases with transcripts, not all of which will eventually be reported in All ER Lexis - contains The Law Reports, other reports and unreported cases (transcripts) from 1980 Westlaw - contains The Law Reports and several other series Lawtel - contains a wide-ranging database of full text case transcripts from about 1980 Justis - contains electronic version of The Law Reports, on CD-ROM and online, also electronic versions of several other major series of reports Casetrack - contains a wide-ranging database of full text case transcripts

16 LexisNexis Broad collection of law reports –incl. Butterworths Medico-Legal Reports –All England Law Reports –The Law Reports (AC, QB, Fam. Ch.) US & world resources –extensive materials Full text legal journals –similar coverage to Westlaw, different selection of UK journals Provides the full, amended text of SIs from 1948

17

18 Westlaw Westlaw UK contains –Law reports –Case locator & Legislation locator for analysing cases and legislation –Legal Journals Index –Full text journals –Current awareness –Human Rights service –Commentary –UK legislation database (all Acts from 1267 that are still in force) Westlaw also contains –US Case law and legislation –Full text US, Canadian and Australian legal journals –Index to Legal Periodicals –Multinational materials

19

20

21 Other sources Justis –Includes Weekly Law Reports –Family Law Reports –The Law Reports –Statutes Current Law Statutes –Printed Halsbury’s Statute –Printed –IS IT IN FORCE? –Statutory Instruments summary Lawtel –Human Rights commentary –Up to date, good for new materials –Daily update –Statutory Law section to search an act –Statutory Status Table for each act –Statutory Instruments section  EUR-Lex

22 Case reports Electronic Sources for Case Law need to distinguish between law reports and transcripts growth in electronic transcripts of cases on the web many of these cases will subsequently be reported House of Lords judgments - available on the web from 1996, within 2 hours of the decisionHouse of Lords judgments The Court Service - database of selected recent cases from the Court of Appeal and the High CourtThe Court Service BAILII - searchable case law databasesBAILII

23

24

25

26 Indexes and Digests Printed indexes Contain digests of cases with references to cited cases and legislation - contain indexes to cases which indicte where they have been reported Digest - published by Butterworths Current Law -published by Sweet & Maxwell

27 Case reports Periodical Indexes The Legal Journals Index - major source for tracing articles in legal journals covers over 400 UK and European English- language publications available on Westlaw Index to Legal Periodicals - good coverage of the more academic-orientated UK legal journals Lawtel - includes an articles index for about 60 law journals from around 1998 Butterworths Law Direct - includes an articles index for about 80 law journals from 1995

28 Case reports Finding cases Citation known Law reports Westlaw Lexis Justis All England Reports Lexis Butterworths All England Direct Weekly Law Reports Justis Citation unknown Searching databases

29 Useful websites Crown Prosecution Service – Department of Constitutional Affairs – Home Office – Judicial Studies Board – The Law Commission – Legal Services Commission –