Library guides: Law: Case citators

Case citators

What is a case citator?

A case citator is a legal research tool for finding cases by party name/s, citation or topic. Citators allow you to track the history of a case and its subsequent treatment by the courts, as well as determine if a case is still good law. Citators also enable researchers to identify secondary materials which discuss a case as well as legislation judicially considered.

Case citators are available for both Australian and international cases.

Parallel or Alternative Citations
Click here to view a short video that explains parallel citations. Note: AGLC (4) in rule 2.2.2 states that the most authoritative version of a case should be cited.

Australian case citators

CaseBase (via LexisNexis)
A case citator and annotator covering Australian and New Zealand law reports; plus journal articles.
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CaseBase is a comprehensive case citator and annotator covering more than 60 Australian and overseas report series and the unreported decisions of the High Court, the Federal Court, the Supreme Courts of all Australian States and Territories, the Family Court, the NSW Land and Environment Court, the Cth Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Federal Magistrates Court, and other selected jurisdictions. Case entries include case details (name, date decided, judges, court and citation), parallel citations, CaseBase signals which summarise the subsequent judicial consideration the case has received, a list of cases that have subsequently considered the case, a list of cases considered in the case, judicially considered words and phrases, catchwords, digests, articles considering the case, and, for online subscribers, a link to the full text of the decision or articles cited where available.
Cases (via Westlaw AU)
Cases is the latest case discovery tool from Westlaw.
Westlaw AU - Training and Support resources
Select 'User Guides' or Videos.
CaseLaw via Supreme Court Library Queensland
provides access to decisions from Queensland Courts and Tribunals.
The Queensland District Court Reports
Authorised reports from Queensland's District Court. You may be required to set up a free access account.
JADE Citator Search
BarNet JADE Citator Search is the new way to find legal principle. Type in the name of a case or piece of legislation and JADE Citator Search will reveal how a particular passage has been used in judicial reasoning. You can even search at the paragraph or section level.
LawCite (via AustLII)
LawCite contains index records of the citation histories of almost five million cases, law journal articles, law reform documents and treaties. The citator is international, containing citation records in significant numbers from court decisions in 75 countries.
Australian Coronial Law Library
Contains state and commonwealth cases concerning Coronial law.

International case citators

vLex Justis
A legal information database featuring case law, books, journals, digests and news, with a particular focus on United Kingdom and European Union law but with content from many other jurisdictions, including Australia. UK case law coverage is from 1162 and UK legislation from 1235. Australian case law coverage is from 1986.

Oxford Law Citator
The Oxford Law Citator exposes the relationships between different pieces of legal content (whether or not published in full text by OUP), and facilitates legal research by providing onward paths to related information, allowing users to: find trusted, definitive citations; interrogate, explore and compare content; locate high value analytical commentary from OUP on specific legal developments, cases, legislation and treaties, and access the full text of source materials on OUP sites and official versions on reliable, free sites out on the wider web. The Citator integrates and links the content of all subscribed online law resources from OUP. Griffith University has access to the Oxford Reports on International Law and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law.
RefLex
RefLex is CanLII's citator. It automatically processes citations to decisions and legislative materials in order to make numerous enhancements to CanLII's content, thus improving navigation and research on the website. RefLex abides by CanLII's philosophy of extensive, but conservative reliance on technology. As a result, users may notice that, in some instances, the product favours accuracy over completeness.
United Kingdom Case Law Locator (Thomson Reuters Westlaw)
Available from the Thomson Reuters Westlaw platform, United Kingdom Case Locator has reported and unreported U.K. and E.U. cases; in addition, it checks direct and indirect history. Coverage begins with 1865.