Law reports
These are the court decisions usually reported by barristers. They are found in:
- general series such as the All England Law Reports and the Weekly Law Reports (both shelved at 344.4207)
- subject series such as Criminal Appeal Reports and Family Law Reports (shelved at 344.42075)
The 'official' set, called the Law Reports, is found at 344.4207 and aims to include all cases that establish new or modified legal principles or are otherwise considered to be useful to the legal profession. All cases in this set are also reviewed and approved by the judges before publication.
See the Floor Plans of the 4th Floor for the location of the Periodicals section, in which law reports are shelved.
Unreported cases can often be found in transcript form held by the court or tribunal before which the case was heard, but usually obtainable for a fee from the shorthand writers attached to the particular court.
Online access to law reports
Most published cases can be found in full-text on the following databases:
Cases are being added continually and now go back to 1865. Before that date, the printed series of reports will probably be the only source. Many unreported judgments, from the 1970s onwards, are also available on these databases.
Transcripts of judgments by the official shorthand writers Smith Bernal are available on Casetrack.
Many recent decisions, both published and unreported, are also accessible on the Internet, particularly from:
- British and Irish Legal Information Insitute (BAILII)- access to freely available British and Irish cases from 1996
- House of Lords Judgments - delivered since 14 November 1996
- Judiciary of England and Wales - selected judgments from 209 onwards of the Court of Appeal and High Court
- Supreme Court - from 31 July 2009
- Tribunals Judiciary - decisions of Upper and First-tier Tribunals