Can anybody give me common sense, concise information on how to look up UK law cases in both and i.t. format?

I have just started studying law and need a brief, clear way of looking up law cases, precedents etc. in both paper and computer forms. The manual produced by the college was not too helpful! Would be happy if I just was told what steps to take in the paper form first as I don't always have access to a p.c. I know the college libraray has a wealth of manuals that are updated regularly but I am not sure how to use them correctly.Can anybody give me common sense, concise information on how to look up UK law cases in both and i.t. format?
Hi Gareth.





First of all don't panic it is not as complicated as it looks.





You initially need to identify the area of law you are looking at.





Crim law, property law, Tort etc.





Each case will have the parties concerned e.g smith v smith.





As part of this the citation will immediately follow. So this then becomes smith v smith [1999] 1 All ER 225.





The citation above means [The year] Volume 1. All England Law Reports. Paragraph 225.





Some citations do not have a volume number. It may read


[1999] Crim.L.R 512





In this case it means [Year 1999] Criminal Law Reports at Paragraph 512.





There are a number of letters that you will see in the citation.





these are the reporting bodies, i.e who reported it. Here are a few for you.





WLR = Weekly Law Reports


QB = Queens Bench


KB = Kings Bench


AC = Appeal Court


All ER = All England Law Reports


T.L.R = Times Law Reports


H.L = House of Lords





There are many more but don't be put off.





If there is a precident then the citation will look like this





Smith v Smith [1999] 1 W.L.R. 275 at 277





The number 277 is the paragraph where the words of the judge are that refer to the precident.





For European law cases the citations are written differently.





Pecastaing v Belgium (Case 98/79) [1980] ECR 691.





Note the case number. it means case 98 in 1979. This is when the case went before the court. [1980] is when the final decision was made by the court.





Almost all Law text books will have a list of cases in the front, just after the contents page. The cases will all look like the examples above and the pages where the case has been referred to.





You will also see in the text a case name with a little number next to it. This tells you the footnote reference. If it is for cases you will see e.g smith v smith [1979] with the little number, then the citation either at the bottom of the page as a foot note, or at the end of the paragraph or section.





Hope this is not too confusing for you and clears things up a bit.





Good luck with your course.