Law cases


Case law reports only contain details of court judgments for cases which raise a point of legal significance.

UK Cases

  • If you don't know which law report a case appears in you can use JustCite to locate it.  If you are searching for cases on a topic, try LexisLibrary or Westlaw first, as they cover a large number of different law reports. If you are looking for a pre 1865 case try HeinOnline, Justis, LexisLibrary or Westlaw.
  • Each case is given a 'citation', which includes an abbreviation of the law report containing the case. Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations will help you find the full title of the law report.
  • For unreported cases try Lawtel.
  • For recent decisions, The Times newspaper on Nexis UK reports decisions a day or so after the case is heard.
  • The location of the main individual law reports is listed below.

European cases

See the table below for sources of the main EU law reports and their coverage.

Worldwide law cases

The availability of worldwide cases varies depending on the policy of individual countries.

Main individual UK law reports
Title of law report Coverage Location
All England Law Reports 1936 - Lexis+ UK
All England Law Reports European Cases 1995 - Lexis+ UK
All ER Reprints 1558 - 1935 Lexis+ UK
All ER Reprints Extension 1861 - 1935 Lexis+ UK
Business Law Reports 2007 - Westlaw
Criminal Appeal Reports 1967 - Westlaw
English Reports 1220 - 1873 HeinOnline and Westlaw
Estates Gazette Law Reports 1975 - Lexis+ UK
European Human Rights Reports 1979 - Westlaw
Human Rights Law Reports (UK) 2000 - Westlaw
Industrial Cases Reports 1975 - Westlaw
Industrial Relations Law Reports 1972 - Lexis+ UK

Law Reports, The (covers The Court of Appeal, Chancery Division, Family Division, Queen's and King's Bench Division)

 1865 - Westlaw and Lexis+ UK
Times Law Reports 1988 - Lexis+ UK
Times Law Reports 1785 - 1985 Times Digital Archive
Weekly Law Reports 1953 - Westlaw

Main individual EU law reports
Title of law report Coverage Location
All England Law Reports: European Cases 1995 - Lexis+ UK
Common Market Law Reports From 1962. Does not cover all cases but has significant ones. Westlaw
European Court Reports From 1954. Possible time delays to publication due to translation processes so may not cover recent cases EUR-lex and Westlaw
Official Journal 1998 - EUR-lex