English case law

Court structure
English law reports
Modern reports
Older reports
Finding cases by name
Finding cases on a subject
Case citators
Online resources

1. COURT STRUCTURE

The modern organization of the courts began with the Judicature Act of 1873 and has continued through the Courts Act of 1971. Currently, the court structure is as follows:

House of Lords: The supreme court of appeal for civil cases in UK and criminal cases outside Scotland.

Privy Council: An appellate court which derives jurisdiction from the right of all the monarch's subjects to appeal to the Crown for redress.

Supreme Court Judicature:

1. Court of Appeal: This court has two divisions; Civil and Criminal and both hear appeals from the High

Court.

2. High Court: This court has three division, Queen's (or king's) Bench, Chancery, and Family (formerly

Probate). Also note that there are divisional courts under each division.

Crown Court: A criminal court with general jurisdiction. Handles most of the serious criminal cases.

Cases from the courts listed above are widely reported in the various reporters.

County Courts/Magistrates Courts: These 'inferior' courts are not widely reported but do handle the bulk of the case load. Civil actions heard by County courts, criminal and civil actions by Magistrates courts.

2. USING ENGLISH LAW REPORTERS:

The following constitute some general rules that apply to English case law research.

1. Cites include the year in brackets when essential to finding the case, e.g. [1969] 1 All E.R.210, and the year in parenthesis when the volume number is sequential from year to year.

2. Parties in civil cases are referred to as Smith and Jones rather than Smith versus Jones, although they are cited as Smith v. Jones. In criminal cases, the parties are referred to as the Crown against Williams not versus and will be cited R. v. Williams. Most case indexes use the initial letter "R."

3. Cases involving the Crown are cited as R. v. defendant (the R indicating Regina or Rex depending on which monarch was reigning at the time that the action was brought).

3. MODERN REPORTS 1865-DATE

The Law Reports

Published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales.

PERIOD COVERED: Began publication in 1865. Originally 11 titles from 1865-1875, six titles 1876-1890 and four titles from 1891-date, reflecting the changes in the court structure.

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: Published approximately 9 months or more after the date of the decision. Usually each series will publish more than one volume per year.

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: Currently the Law Reports comprises the following four series; Appeal Cases (House of Lords and Privy Council), Chancery Division (High Court - Chancery, and Court of Appeal), Queen's (King's) Bench Division (High Court - Queen's Bench and both divisions of the Court of Appeal), and Probate Division more recently known as the Family Division. Usually the Law Reports are shelved in this order thereby reflecting the Court hierarchy. Cases from the Court of Appeal are reported in the series corresponding to the court the case originated, unless it was further appealed to House of Lords when it would be reported in the Appeal Cases.

ACCESS: Decennial digests from 1865-1950, Red bound indexes (known simply as the Red indexes) for the years 1951-60, 1961-70, 1971-80, 1981-90 and 1991-1993. Pink indexes (issued quarterly) for recent material. Indexes include table of cases, subject index, cases, statutes and statutory instruments judicially considered. The pink and red indexes also index cases reported in a number of other law reporters.

OF NOTE: These reports also include the arguments of counsel. The decisions are read by the judiciary and should be considered official for citation purposes.

CITATION: Caparo Industries Plc v. Dickman [1990] 2 A.C. 605. Citations to the earlier series of Law Reports (pre-1891) are by volume number not date. Since 1875 L.R. has been omitted from the citation.

Weekly Law Reports

PERIOD COVERED: 1953-Date

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: Weekly paper issues and 3 annual volumes.

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: Each issue includes pagination for more than one volume which may cause confusion. Reports cases from the same courts as the Law Reports.

ACCESS: Red and pink indexes as noted above for Law Reports. Each issue also contains a cumulative table of cases, a subject index, and a listing of cases and statutes judicially considered.

OF NOTE: Cases reported in volume 1 are not reported in Law Reports volumes.

CITATION: Holgate v. Duke [1984] 2 W.L.R. 660

All England Law Reports

Published by Butterworth's.

PERIOD COVERED: 1936-Date

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: Weekly paper reports, 3 or more annual bound volumes.

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: House of Lords, Privy Council, both divisions of the Court of Appeal, and all divisions of the High Court. Shelved by year and then by volume number within year.

ACCESS: All E.R. indexed by a 3 volume Consolidated Tables and Index 1936-1992 and annual Tables and Index pamphlets since 1992.

OF NOTE: All E.R. loose issues include a noter-up service. Annual Review volumes are published which include articles detailing events in an area of law over the past 12 months.

CITATION: Mills v Cooper [1967] 2 All ER 100

Among the 60+ other modern law reporters the more popular include Criminal Appeal Reports, Lloyd's Law Reports, Justice of the Peace Reports, Simon's Tax Cases, Road Traffic Reports, Industrial Cases reports, Local Government Reports, Knight's Industrial Reports. On occasion the only available report of a case is in a newspaper (Times or Financial Times) or in a law journal (e.g. Solicitor's Journal, New Law Journal, Law Society Gazette).

4. OLDER REPORTS (PRE-1865)

1100s-1563

During this period cases were reported in the Year Books and Plea Rolls. The Year Books have been reprinted by the Selden Society, while the Plea Rolls have been selectively reprinted by both the Selden Society and the Pipe Roll Society. Originally the Year Books were published, beginning in the 1480s, in law-French therefore making usage very difficult. Reprints have been translated. Original purpose of Year Books is unknown however it is more likely that they were used for educational reasons rather than for precedent. Citations to the Yearbooks are as follows: YB 11 Hen.6 Hil. pl.10 (this refers to the yearbook for the 11th year of the reign of Henry 6th, Hillary term, pleading number 10).

1571-1865

The Nominate Reports.

Over 260 "old reports'' are referred to generically as the Nominate Reports. This term refers to the fact that the reports are named after the individual publishing the reports (e.g. Giffard). Many of these reports were collections and therefore were not reporting current material. There is much overlap and a wide range in the quality of the reporting. Four of the more heavily cited nominate reports are Plowden, Coke, Burrow and Durnford & East (the first to cover terms of court).

The English Reports (Full Reprint)

PERIOD COVERED: 1220 - 1865

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: 178 volumes (the last two volumes are index volumes). A reprint of over 100,000 cases contained in the nominate reports.

ACCESS: Two case index volumes at the end of the set and a separate pamphlet that provides a chart to indicate which nominate reports are in which volume of the English Reports.

OF NOTE: When two or more versions of the same case were available in different nominate reports the more accurate version was chosen for inclusion in the English Reports. Dates of cases are not always available.

Revised Reports

PERIOD COVERED: 1786 - 1866

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: 152 volumes of reports of the superior courts still of use to the profession at the time of publication (1891-1920).

ACCESS: Table of cases volume and a subject index-digest in two volumes. OF NOTE: Edited by Sir Frederick Pollock.

All England Law Reports Reprint

PERIOD COVERED: 1558 - 1935

ARRANGEMENT & COVERAGE: 6,000 of the "more important" cases in 36 volumes, some volumes spanning many years.

ACCESS: Case index volume and subject index of cases.

OF NOTE: First 8 volumes cover nominate reports, the later volumes cover material from the Law Times Reports (see below). Headnotes and annotations are provided, also references to Halsbury's Laws of England.

OTHER OLDER LAW REPORTS

Law Journal Reports (1822-1949), Law Times Reports (1859-1947), Times Law Reports (1859-1947)

5. FINDING CASES BY NAME

Is the case after 1865? If yes go to (1), if no go to (3)

Is the case very recent (i.e. within the last few weeks or months)? If yes go to (2), if no go to (1)

(1) Tables of cases accompany the major modern law reporters; Consolidated Tables and Index to All E.R. (only indexes cases reported in All ER), Red indexes to WLR and Law Reports. Tables of Cases also appear in Current Law Case Citator (requires checking more than one volume) and The Digest (main index and cum supp).

(2)Very recent cases may be located by using the latest issue of Current Law (tables in monthly issues are cumulative), checking the most recent pink index to the Law Reports (quarterly), checking the Table of cases in the most recent issues of Weekly Law Reports and All England Law Reports (same limitations as above)

(3)For pre-1865 cases consult the index volumes to English Reports (Full Reprint) or the Table of Cases volume to The Digest (formerly called the English and Empire Digest). If neither of these work use the table in the All England Law Reports Reprint or the Revised Reports may yield an obscure reference.

6. FINDING CASES ON A SUBJECT

The Digest : The Digest (comparable to American digests) can be used for pre- and post- 1865 material. The Digest (formerly known as the English and Empire Digest) includes cases from many commonwealth countries as well as English, Scottish and Irish decisions. The set comprises 51 base volumes (the current "green band reissue" volumes replaced the older "blue band" volumes), a consolidated table of Cases volume, and an annual Supplement volume. A new Quarterly Survey brings the Cumulative Supplement up to date. This set is alphabetically arranged by subject (title), a listing of which is provided inside the front of each volume. When provided with a reference to volume and subject in the table of cases, turn to the front of the referred volume and look up the case again to locate the page number. Each title has a Table of Contents and there is also a Digest Consolidated Index (subject index) to the entire set which provides references to the volume, title, and case number (NOT page number). Volumes are reissued when many changes have occurred and a Reference Adaptor at the back of each volume is used to translate a Green band reissue volume reference to a Green Band 2nd reissue volume reference 1.

Halsbury's Laws of England: This encyclopedic work (in its 4th series) can be a good starting point to locate case material. Like its American counterparts, AmJur and CJS, this set provides an overview of the entire body of law, citing extensively to case law, statutes and delegated legislation (administrative law). Tables and index volumes at the end of the set are particularly useful in trying to locate cases.

Current Law: Current Law is a comprehensive legal information service covering all case and statutory developments from 1947-date. No American equivalent exists although this service does provide a citator service similar to Shepards (see below). Current Law can be broken down into the following component parts:

Current Law Monthly Digest (monthly),

Current Law Yearbook (annual),

Current Law Statutes,

Current Law Case Citator, Current Law Statute Citator, and Current Law Statutory Instrument Citator (see below for more information on the citators).

It is worth noting that many libraries used to carry the Scottish version of the Current Law publications which included all of the information available in the English version plus coverage of Scottish legal developments, however the Scottish versions no longer exist. The monthly digest and the annual yearbook cumulation contain summaries (digests) of recent cases (in addition to summaries of statutes and statutory instruments). Both the monthly digest and the yearbook contain extensive tables including a cumulative table of cases and a cumulative subject index to cases reported. References in the indexes are to entry numbers not page numbers. References to yearbooks are as follows, 90/2253 (referring to the 1990 yearbook entry number 2253) while references to the monthly digests include the month and entry number (digested entries are highlighted in bold, whereas citator entries are in plain text). Subject arrangement in Current Law is broad, not as specific as The Digest, therefore it is not as useful for tracing cases on a particular subject.

7. CASE CITATORS

Current Law Case Citator: Comprises three volumes 1947-1976, 1977-1988 and 1989-1995, 1996-1997. The series is brought up to date by annual yearbooks and the latest monthly digest. Entries provide an extensive list of references to law reports and legal journals for each case (cited since 1947 even if case is pre-47) showing whether it has been considered, approved, overruled, etc. The entries also cite to the Yearbook where the case is digested. This is an important set, however it is not always easy to use.

The Digest: Following the digest of each case is a listing of citations to subsequent decisions that have cited the digested case. The annual cumulative supplement and quarterly survey also provide up to date references to citing cases and includes the treatment (e.g. applied, considered, distinguished, etc.) of the case.

All England Law Reports: The Consolidated Tables and Index volumes and the annual tables and index pamphlet provides treatment of cases reported in All E.R.

Index to the Law Reports: The red and pink indexes provide tables of cases (and statutes) judicially considered. This is kept up to date by the advance sheets to the Weekly Law Reports.

8. ONLINE RESOURCES

Lexis: The main resource for online UK caselaw is Lexis. The Lexis UK library contains reported English case law dating back to 1936. This information is found in the Engcas file.

Westlaw: A fairly new addition to online UK case law. Westlaw have recently added a number of files including

The World Wide Web: Case law resources on the web are still spotty. Although decisions from the House of Lords are usually available within 2 hours, cases from lower courts are usually either unavailable on the web or are available at a much later date. The following sites are the most useful of the UK case law sites:

House of Lords: (1996-) http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldjudinf.htm

Court Service: http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/

Casetrack^*: http://www.casetrack.com/index.html

Justis.com^*: http://www.justis.com/navigate/main.html

¹ The two most common problems encountered by users are failing to note whether they have a reference to a case number or a page number, and not checking to see whether the indexed reference is to a different issue of the base volume.

^* = Fee Based Service

Revised: December, 1999