To find out what happened in a case, you can consult a law report or a court transcript. Over time, reports of cases have grown into a body of case law.
Law reports are provided by publishers who pay law reporters to sit in court and transcribe what is said when a case is heard. Only about 1-2% of cases heard in UK courts each year get reported because a case must raise a point of legal significance to be reported. Also, the majority of reported cases are from the higher courts (Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court). You can find out more about the UK court structure on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.
More recently, official court transcripts of cases have been made freely available on the Internet.
EU case law
The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries. You can find out more about the Court of Justice on the Europa website.
The Court of Justice comprises:
The official reports of cases are published in the European Court Reports (also known as Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court). They contain the judgments and opinions of the ECJ and Advocates-General:
This video from The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR) explains how a law report of a case is produced.
A case is usually referred to using a case citation.
A law report citation tells you where to find a case in a law report series:
A European law report citation has a similar structure and looks like this:
The case number for an ECJ case includes: prefix to indicate the court (C); case number (26) and year (62).
In January 2001, the official neutral citation system was introduced. It's 'neutral' because the citation is independent of any law report series and instead refers directly to the court:
You can find out more about neutral citations on the BAILII website.
A law report series will usually be referred to using an abbreviation, e.g. WLR for Weekly Law Reports.
To find out what an abbreviation means, check the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations or Raistrick's Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations.
Case reports online
Lexis+ contains many UK law report series, including: The Law Reports; All England Law Reports; Times Law Reports and English Reports (pre-1865 cases). This video shows how to search for case law on Lexis+.
Westlaw UK contains many UK law report series, including: The Law Reports; Weekly Law Reports and English Reports (pre-1865 cases). Its Finding case law video will help you to locate relevant cases.
BAILII is a free website of case transcripts from courts in: England and Wales; Northern Ireland; Ireland; Scotland and Jersey. It also includes decisions from Tribunals.
Printed case reports
BU's print law collection contains materials that are not available electronically. In some cases this means that all of a particular series is provided in print, whereas for other series, such as the All England Law Reports, there is a mixture of both print and electronic. Printed case reports are kept on the second floor of the Sir Michael Cobham Library and include:
How to find a case in a printed report series.
To find: Guest v T. Gaston and Co. [1926] TLR 547 (CA):
a) Check what 'TLR 'means (see What is a law report abbreviation? in the left column). It is an abbreviation for Times Law Reports.
b) Find this law report series on the library shelves and locate the volume for 1926.
c) Turn to page 547.
Current Law Case Citator gives citations for law report series where a case has been reported and identifies a case's judicial history. It includes both UK and EU cases.
Current Law Monthly Digest summarises recent legislative developments. It is cumulated and reprinted in annual volumes as Current Law Yearbook.
Case reports online
The European Court of Justice website has reports of cases heard in the Court of Justice and the General Court. Case reports from these courts can also be found on Westlaw UK by going to EU and ticking Cases.
The Common Market Law Reports can also be found on Westlaw UK. Go to: Cases > Law Reports > C > Common Market Law Reports.
Westlaw's Finding case law video will help you to locate relevant cases.
The first indication that a case is being brought is a summary in the Official Journal of the European Union: C Series which can be found on EUR-Lex.
Print case reports
The European Current Law Monthly Digest summarises recent cases. It is cumulated and reprinted in annual volumes as European Current Law Yearbook.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) was established in 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations as "the principal judicial organ of the United Nations" (art 92). It began work in April 1946.
The ICJ deals with legal disputes submitted by states (contentious cases) and requests for advisory opinions on legal questions referred by United Nations organizations (advisory proceedings).
Useful links
The ICJ was preceded by the Permanent Court of International Justice (1922-1946).
World Courts is a free international case law database. It allows you to search across decisions from over 30 international courts and tribunals using one search box.