Caselaw
The Library maintains a wide collection of Irish, UK, European and international legal reports in print and electronic form. As well as in the Library law reports area, the main case reports can be found online on the following databases:
| Irish Law Reports Monthly | Westlaw.IE |
|---|---|
| Irish Unreported Cases | Courts Service, Justis, Lexis, IRLII |
| Law Reports Appeals Cases, Chancery, Kings/Queens Bench, Prob.Fam |
Justis, WestlawUK, Lexis |
| European Court of Justice | Justis, WestlawUK, Eur-Lex |
| European Court of Human Rights | HUDOC, Lexis |
| Irish Reports | Justis, Lexis |
Access to the main caselaw databases (Justis, Lexis, WestlawIE, WestlawUK etc) is available through the Library Catalogue.
Note: we also hold unreported judgments from the High Court and Supreme Court from 1968-2005 in the Law Office.
Case Law Abbreviations
If you are new to law, one of the trickier aspects is getting used to legal citations. Below is a list of the main law report citations:
| Irish Reports | I.R. |
|---|---|
| Irish Law Reports Monthly | ILRM |
| Appeals Cases | AC |
| Chancery | Ch. |
| Kings Bench / Queens Bench | K.B./Q.B. |
| Family | Fam. |
| All England Reports | ALL ER |
| European Court of Human Rights | ECHR |
| European Court of Justice | ECJ |
The provides more detailed explanation of how to understand case citations and a listing of the major case reports available in print and electronic form in the Library. The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations is a very useful resource for locating full titles of journals and reports.
Quick Guide to Finding an Irish or UK case Online
These days the easiest way to find a case is online. The Justis Database is very easy to use and provides an excellent starting point for Irish and UK cases. For example, if you want to find the following case: McKee v Attorney General [1974] 1R 284
• Open the list of our caselaw databases (you may need to logon if you are off campus).
• Find the Justis database and click on link.
• On the opening Justis screen click 'Continue to Justis' button.
• Next click on 'Cases' option at top of screen.
• A case search page opens. Enter the parties in the search boxes provided and click on 'Search.
• The McKee case will be displayed with two summarised versions (digests) as well. Click on the parties names to open the full text.
