Why case law? 0 Why are the decisions of past cases important?
0 Judicial Precedent
Slide 3
Appellate Courts 0 Cases in the appellate courts are key to
making law because they bind all other courts. 0 House of
Lords/Supreme Court 0 Court of Appeal 0 Divisional Courts 0 High
Court (occasionally)
Slide 4
Finding Cases All Cases have: 0 Name 0 Usually the name
reflects the two parties in a case 0 Date 0 Year of the case (there
can be some variation in the year of a case) 0 Citation 0 Neutral
(references court) or specific to law reports
Slide 5
Case Name 0 The name of a civil case will usually involve two
individuals or companies: E.g. Donoghue v Stevenson (the two
parties were Mrs Donoghue and Mr Stevenson) 0 The name of a
criminal case will usually involve Regina (the Queen meaning the
state represented by the CPS): E.g. R v Cheshire (the case involved
the prosecution of Mr Cheshire)
Slide 6
Citations 0 A case is cited with the year, a set of letters and
the number 0 The letters may be neutral citations, specifying the
court: 0 E.g. UKHL House of Lords/ UKSC Supreme Court 0 E.g. EWCA
Civ Court of Appeal (Civil Division) 0 E.g. EWCA Crim Court of
Appeal (Criminal Division) 0 E.g. EWHC High Court [the Divison may
follow in brackets] 0 The letters may also specify the set of
reports the case is in: 0 AC Appeal Cases Reports 0 All ER All
England Reports 0 WLR Weekly Law Reports
Slide 7
Example Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100; [1932] AC 562 0
Name 0 Donoghue v Stevenson 0 Date 0 1932 0 Citation 0 Neutral:
[1932] UKHL 100 0 Court specific: [1932] AC 562
Slide 8
Research Sources 0 The British and Irish Legal Information
Institute: www.bailii.org www.bailii.org 0 Lexis Nexis and Westlaw
0 Expensive sources some solicitors firms may have access
Slide 9
Basic Search - Enter keyword More detailed/specific search
options Best used to find cases
Slide 10
Example Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100; [1932] AC 562 0
Name 0 Donoghue v Stevenson 0 Date 0 1932 0 Citation 0 Neutral:
[1932] UKHL 100 0 Court specific: [1932] AC 562
