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(3) Rule 2.3.1 states that the most authoritative version of a case should be cited.
Australian case citators
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CaseBase (via LexisNexis)CaseBase is a comprehensive case citator and annotator covering over 100 Pacific and international report series, journals and unreported decisions from all major Australian and New Zealand courts and selected tribunals.
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How to search Casebase Case Citator - Tutorial VIDEOThis tutorial goes through using Casebase Case Citator within Lexis Advance. It explains cases and their signals and how you can work with them in Lexis Advance.
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FirstPoint (via Westlaw AU)FirstPoint helps you find information about Australian case law since 1825. It comprises valuable Australian case research from a variety of sources including digests of cases published in the Australian Digest, the Australian Legal Monthly Digest and ALMD Advance. Includes reported and unreported judgments from selected courts and tribunals around Australia and entries from the Australian Case Citator. Links to the full text decision when available.
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Westlaw AU - Training and Support resourcesSelect 'User Guides' or Videos.
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Queensland Legal Indices OnlineThe QLI Judgments database contains selected Queensland judgments from the following Queensland courts from mid 1984 onwards: Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, Court of Appeal, Court of Criminal Appeal, District Court, District Court Ruling, Freedom of Information Tribunal, Full Court, High Court, Industrial Commission, Industrial Court, Industrial Registrar, Local Government Court, Medical Assessment Tribunal, Medical Health Tribunal, Planning and Environment Court, Supreme Court.
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CaseLaw via Supreme Court Library Queenslandprovides access to decisions from Queensland Courts and Tribunals.
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JADE Citator SearchBarNet 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.
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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.
International case citators
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JustisOneJustisOne combines the full text content of Justis and the power of the case citator JustCite into a single database. The Justis database includes a comprehensive collection of cases from common law jurisdictions around the world. UK case law coverage is from 1162 and UK legislation from 1235. Australian case law coverage is from 1986.
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Oxford Law CitatorThe 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.
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RefLexRefLex 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.
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United Kingdom Case Law LocatorAvailable from the Westlaw International 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.
Understanding case citators
In this video Natalie gives a brief overview of some of the differences between databases on the market and in particular the case citators including CaseBase, FirstPoint, LawCite and Jade Barnet. A case citator provides a summary of the case, and importantly tells us what has happened since the case. Specifically, have the courts continued to follow the principal of law from a specific case? You need to be aware that each product has its positive points and limitations. For example, the scope of the service – particularly in relation to timeframe, and to the editor’s selection of cases listed. Natalie discusses when you may use one resource over another, and gives some examples.
