Case law

Case law is a primary source of law. There are many free sources of case reports available but since the law is subject to change books and legal decisions can be overturned, you must be careful that you are using the most up-to-date information. Here are some key sources of case law:

Principal sources of current case law with case reports, updates and commentary
Free open-access sources of UK and European Union case law
Key sources for older case law

Principal sources of case law

The two key legal databases for finding case law are Westlaw UK and LexisLibrary. These are specialist databases which are updated daily to ensure that you are accessing current law. In addition to case law and legislation, you can find secondary sources like journal articles and commentary in major legal texts. Use your Athens username and password to access the databases on and off campus.

Westlaw including Scottish Session Cases 1898 to present, Scots Law Times 1909 onwards, English Reports 1220-1867 and the Law Reports from 1865.

For help using the database, you may want to try a Westlaw tutorial (lasting about an hour). You can dip in and out of specific areas without completing the whole tutorial.

LexisLibrary including Session Cases from 1930, Scottish Civil Case Reports from 1986 and the Scottish Criminal Case Reports from 1981. LexisLibrary also has the English reports 1220-1867 and Law Reports series from1865.

Try the LexisLibrary 10 minute or 90-second bite-sized tutorials for help with specific tasks or functionality.

Tip: Legal writing uses abbreviations for both case reports and journals. In order to locate the case report (in print), you need to know what the abbreviation stands for. In addition, you need to know the accepted abbreviation for the purposes of citation if you only have the full title. The key resource for legal abbreviations is the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.

Other useful databases:

Case law - UK

BAILII British and Irish Legal Information Institute web site has British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material. It is a free, open access website.

Case law - European Union

EUR-lex provides free access to European Union law and other public documents, including case law from 1954.
HUDOC provides free online access to the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Commission of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers.
CURIA is a searchable database of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union from 1954 to present. What the court does.

Locating older case law

Scottish Session Cases 1821-1898 The main Scottish case law reports, the Session Cases are available online via Westlaw UK from 1898 onwards. If you want to read an earlier case, the library has the full set of Session Cases in print from 1821 onwards on the third floor of the library open shelves at 340.09411 S20. The volumes are arranged by year.
Scottish Law Reporter 1865-1924 Cases from House of Lords, Court of Session, Court of Justiciary and Court of Teinds. In print on level 3 in compact shelving at 340.09411 S1.
Scottish Law Review: Sheriff Court Reports 1885-1963 in print on level 3 compact shelving at 340.09411 S18.
Scottish Jurist 1829-1873 Cases from House of Lords, Court of Session, Court of Justiciary and Court of Teinds. In print on level 3 in compact shelving at 348.41102205 S15 .
Morison's Dictionary of Decisions 1540-1808 22 volumes of Scottish cases. The cases are in 19 volumes with 3 additional volumes of case digests and supplementary material.
English Reports 1220-1867 Over 100, 000 English cases from 1220-1867 available online in Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary and Hein Online.