Business Law: Case Law

State Library of Victoria (www.slv.vic.gov.au) 

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What is Case Law?

Case law is the reported decisions of courts which make new interpretations of the law.  These interpretations may be cited as precedents.

Case Citators are used:

• To find the correct citation for a case
• If the case is reported in more than one series of reports
• To find out whether it is reported in an authorised law report series
• To find any earlier or later cases where the case has been considered
• To find journal articles and legislation considering the case

Case citators may link to the full text of the judgement and provide annotations on the case history.  Annotations serve as a summary of the facts of the case and demonstrate how the law is enacted in legislation.

When searching for a case the case citator will search across the case summary including party names, jurisdiction, court and judge. The full text of the case is not searched.