LAW Foreign Cases and Decisions
Accessing the law of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom (U.K.) includes England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. When researching U.K. case law, begin by looking at the court system. England and Wales; Northern Ireland; Scotland have their own courts. the Privy Council makes decisions only for Commonwealth countries and these are not binding on U.K. courts. Since the Privy Council is made up of Supreme Courts Judges the decisions are persuasive. Not all cases are available electronically, so you may need to find them (especially older cases) in print.
European Union (E.U.) law has had an impact on U.K. law since the European Communities Act of 1972. The House of Lords ruled in Factorame litigation that E.U. law overrides domestic law. When the E.U. law applies to U.K., look for E.U. Directives. Statutory instruments may be passed under the E.U. Directive. E.U. decisions come from cases that are binding. The decisions are binding only on the parties, not on other member states. E.U. also has recommendations and opinions which are persuasive but not binding.
British documents may be dated by "regnal" year (for example 55 Elizabeth II) meaning the year "of the reign".
Impact of U.K. law on Canadian Law
In Canadian law, U.K. law is only persuasive and the degree of persuasiveness is affected by statutory provision, court level, judge and/or facts. England, Wales and Northern Ireland are common law jurisdictions. Scotland is a hybrid of common and civil law.
Electronic sources for cases
Some cases are available on the Internet, on court websites and the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) site as well as other databases. When "noting up" these options are not comprehensive so use more than one.
- VLexJustis This link opens in a new windowTo access database right click title and select 'open link in (in)private or incognito window'VLexJustis comprises full text documents and meta data of legislation, case law, books & journals, draft bills, news, blogs, and more. Content can be filtered by jurisdictions. Broad jurisdictions include: North America, South America, Central America & Caribbean, Europe, Oceania, Asia, Rest of the World, and International Law. There are four ways to search: from the search bar (ideal for broad searches); browse (suitable for narrowing a broad search); advanced search (for more focused, detailed and complex searches); and Vincent (a virtual legal assistant that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to discover legal citations, cited authorities and relevant legal concepts). Quickly identify related authorities and see if your case is still considered good law using the Precedent Map.
- Lexis Advance Quicklaw This link opens in a new windowLexis Advances Quicklaw provides access to an extensive database of over 2 million cases, jurisdictional sources, including exclusive sources like Halsbury's Laws of Canada and Canadian Tort Law. This database includes QuickCite, which ensures decisions are based on good authority by cases. Lexis Advance QuickLaw provides access to Canadian law (legislation, jurisprudence, and doctrine) as well as law sources from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.
- Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population.
- House of Lords Judgments: archiveThis page lists HTML versions of all House of Lords judgments delivered from 14 November 1996 to 30 July 2009.
- Incorporated Council of Law ReportingICLR is a not for profit organisation that was established in 1865 as the authorised publisher of the official series of The Law Reports for the Superior and Appellate Courts of England and Wales
- The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court.
- Legal History: The Year BooksMedieval English Legal History
An Index and Paraphrase of Printed Year Book Reports, 1268 - 1535
Boston University School of Law - English ReportsCommonLII database contains the English Reports (1220-1873).
- Lexis+ AI Canada This link opens in a new window
- Available to Faculty of Law students only
- Password access only
Content includes Canadian, US, UK, international and foreign legal materials, and Practical Guidance. - Westlaw Edge (UofC Law School only) This link opens in a new windowFaculty of Law students and faculty may obtain an individual password.Westlaw Edge is a full text and indexing database that provides access to a variety of law and finding tools. It includes Canadian statutes and regulations, reported decisions from Canadian courts and tribunals, Canadian law journals and law reviews. Westlaw includes nearly 15,000 databases covering most US primary and secondary legal materials and legal research tools. It also includes over 700 full text law reviews and has legal material from the UK, Australia and the EU.
Print sources for cases
- Current Law YearbookCall Number: KD296 .C82Publication Date: 1947-Located in law library 1st Floor. Contains annotated cases arranged by subject. Also had a subject index and case tables.
- The English and empire digest : with complete and exhaustive annotationsCall Number: KD296 .E5Publication Date: 1919-1932Located in law library 1st Floor.
- The All England Law ReportsCall Number: KD288 .A64Publication Date: 1948-2011Located in law library 1st Floor. Reports of cases decided in the House of Lords, the Privy Council, all divisions of the Supreme Court, and Courts of Special Jurisdiction and Law Times Reports.
The library purchases books from the U.K. If you have a case citation, use the library catalogue to see if the reporter is available in print.
Secondary Sources
Start legal research with secondary sources, including encyclopedia, books and journal articles.
The U.K.'s legal encyclopedia is Halsbury's Laws of England (KD310 .H38) available in print on the 1st floor of the law library. Halsbury's Laws provides a brief introduction to the topic and includes laws, subject index, consolidated table of cases, consolidated table of statutes, consolidated index and supplement.
Use the library search box on the main library page to locate books. The leading U.K. publisher is Sweet and Maxwell.
The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals is available on the database HeinOnline. If a journal is there, it will may available in full text.
- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals This link opens in a new windowThe Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, produced by The American Association of Law Libraries, provides access to legal literature worldwide, covering all forms of foreign (non-Anglo-American) law. This includes comparative law and legal systems, such as Islamic law; socialist law; public and private international law; and transnational commercial law. The data is not limited by country of publication, but rather type of publication. Thus, while publications concerning British and American law are not included, British and American publications concerning foreign law are included. Coverage begins with 1985, digitized version of print edition available back to 1960.
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowContains the full text of numerous legal journals and monographs, U.S. government documents, foreign and international law materials, legal classics, world trials and more.
- Last Updated: Aug 12, 2024 1:17 PM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/Foreigncases
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