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The Search box searches titles, citations and key words across all of the documents on JustCite. Type in the name of a document, a citation or one or more keywords, click on the green Search button and JustCite will take you to a Results screen which will display a list of any documents that contain the term or terms you have typed in.
JustCite will suggest possible searches as you type. So, if you aren’t sure exactly which search terms you want to use, start typing one or two and see what JustCite comes up with.
The search box can be found at the top of each page within the JustCite service.
You can make your search more specific by applying one or more search operators to your search terms.
The search box also allows you to find well known documents by their common name. For example, typing ‘UCTA’ will bring up the Unfair Contract Terms Act, typing 'spycatcher case' will bring up Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers (No 1), and typing ‘MAD Directive’ will bring up Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on insider dealing and market manipulation (market abuse).
Advanced Search
Cases
The coverage of cases on JustCite extends back to 1163 for UK cases. There are also Canadian cases back to 1898, Australian cases back to 1973 and a number of other Commonwealth jurisdictions also covered. More detailed notes on the coverage can be found here.
In JustCite you will do most of your searching via the main search box. However, the Advanced Search is useful for handling certain specific search problems which the main search box is not designed for, such as when you know separate pieces of information about a case, for example one party name, the rough time period and the court.
You can improve your search by applying one or more search operators between multiple terms.
Fields for Advanced Search - Cases
Parties – Enter all or part of one or more of the parties' names.
Citation – The citation is a case’s unique reference and is usually composed of a year, a series abbreviation and a page or case number. Sometimes there may be a volume number required as well. This field allows you to put in the relevant parts of a citation into one of four boxes. You can enter neutral citations as well as case report citations with this field. See also: recognised citation formats for cases
Court – This field searches the name or abbreviation of the court. As so many courts in different countries have the same name, we provide a standardised list of names you can browse here: list of court names.
Year – Type a four digit year in the first box of this field to return cases from that year. By entering four digit years in both boxes you can return cases that took place between the two years. If required, you can type in either ‘after’ or ‘before’ in front of a four digit year to specify a cut-off point in your research as well.
Subject – This field searches over all cases on a specific topic. The subject matter for each case is drawn from the catchwords and summary that appear in the reporter’s headnote. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try thinking of different words that have similar meanings and add the ‘OR’ search operator between them.
Legislation
The legislation coverage on JustCite goes back to 1235 for UK Acts, 1949 for UK SIs and 1999 for Irish Acts and SIs.
In JustCite you will do most of your searching via the main search box. However, the Advanced Search is useful for handling certain specific search problems which the main search box is not designed for.
Fields for Advanced Search - Legislation
Title – This is the short title of the Act or SI. For example ‘Companies Act 2006’ or ‘The Registered Design Rules 2006’.
Reference – If you know the statutory reference for a piece of legislation you can type it in here, but you must enter a full stop after the ‘c’ for the search engine to pick it up, e.g. 2007 c.1 s7. Statutory Instrument references are always in this format: SI 2008/312, where the first four digits are the year. See also: recognised reference formats For legislation.
Repealed – As JustCite includes both In Force and Repealed legislation, this field allows you to specify whether you wish to include both groups within your search.
EU Materials
The EU Materials coverage extends back to 1951, covering everything from CELEX (the official legal database of the European Union) and the Coal and Steel Treaties that preceded it. There are three different search fields that all search different sections of the EU documents to match whatever word or words you type in. You can enter information in multiple fields to help narrow our search down and find relevant documents.
In JustCite you will do most of your searching via the main search box. However, the Advanced Search is useful for handling certain specific search problems which the main search box is not designed for.
Fields for Advanced Search – EU Materials
Title – This searches over the official title of EU documents. It could be the name of a case, the title of the legislation or the title of an EFTA document. Because EU legal documents tend to have long, descriptive names, you can also use this field as a subject search.
Reference – If you know the official CELEX number you can type it here, for example 31993l0104. This field also searches over the colloquial names for EU legislation, for example ‘The distance selling directive’ or ‘the framework directive’, and will convert that nickname into a CELEX number.
Journal Reference – This field is for a publication reference for an EU document, for example: Official Journal C 340, 10/11/1997 p. 0172 - Consolidated version.
Articles
The articles coverage on JustCite extends back to 1986. However, most of the indexed titles go back to the mid-2000s. More information on the coverage can be found here.
In JustCite you will do most of your searching via the main search box. However, the Advanced Search is useful for handling certain specific search problems which the main search box is not designed for.
You can improve your search by applying one or more search operators between multiple terms. These cover the Boolean operators (and, or and not) as well as proximity operators and wild cards.
Fields for advanced search - Articles
Title – This searches the title of the article
Reference – This searches the publication reference, citation or other unique identifier of an article. See also: recognised citation formats for articles.
Subject – This searches over the precise legal key words that define what the article is about. These keywords are applied by Justis Publishing editorial staff.
Abstract – This searches the description or summary of what a particular article is about. These abstracts are written by Justis Publishing editorial staff.
Search Operators
These are words and symbols you can use to refine your search and are broken down into the following areas:
- Boolean Operators
- Wild Cards
- Proximity Operators
- Date Ranges
- Phrase Searching
Boolean Operators
These are words that change the function of your search in some way. They are also known as connectors. The three operators are AND, OR and NOT and have the following effects when used in searching:
AND operator – typing AND between two words tells the search engine to return only documents containing both words. Note that on JustCite the AND operator will always be implied between two or more words unless you either use a different operator or enclose the words in double quotation marks (see below). Therefore a search for medical negligence is equivalent to medical AND negligence.
If you want JustCite to treat the word ‘and’ as a search term rather than an operator, you must enclose it in quotation marks.
OR operator – using the OR operator between your search terms returns results containing any or all of the words you have typed in. This will broaden the scope of your search but will not always provide the most relevant results to your query.
NOT operator – use this operator to narrow a search by omitting any documents that contain a certain word. Rather than search for the word ‘not’, typing NOT between two words tells the search engine that you want any documents that contain the first word, but not to return any documents if they also contain the second one. For example, negligence not clinical will bring up any documents that have the word negligence in them, but if any of those documents also have the word clinical in them, they will be omitted from your results screen
Note that Boolean operators are not case sensitive
Wild Cards
Asterisk (*) – this will match any word beginning with a particular set of letters, and is of particular use in matching words with related meanings which share a common stem. For example, typing child* will match both ‘child’ and ‘children’.
Question Mark (?) – substitutes one or more letters in the middle of a word, e.g. compl??ent' finds complacent, complement and compliment.
Hyphen (-) – a space, no space or a hyphen between words, e.g. data-base finds data base, database and data-base.
Proximity Operators
Proximity operators allow you to search for one term within a certain number of words of another term. Proximity operators are similar to AND operators but are capable of greater precision. If a simple AND search returns too many results, try the same keywords with a proximity operator.
smuggling within 20 of (alcohol or tobacco)
Example | Meaning |
---|---|
A within 5 of B | A must be within 5 words of B |
A near B | A must be within 10 words of B. It is the same as A within 10 of B |
Proximity operators are very useful when searching for phrases, especially when a document may have been translated from another language. For example, product liability may have been translated as liability for the product. To find all mentions of the phrase, you should search for product near liability or product within 3 of liability.
The word near means within 10.
You can use a short form of within x of:
A w/25 B
Date Ranges
Most JustCite data sources contain date information in a format that allows you to search for a range of years.
The DATE operators are:
Operator | Symbol | Definition |
---|---|---|
BEFORE | < | Before the date |
AFTER | > | After the date |
You can combine date searches with other types of search.
Phrase Searching
Phrase Searching - By enclosing two or more words in double quotation marks, JustCite will search for those exact words in that exact order without any change. This can greatly reduce the number of returned documents; for example compare control order with “control order”.
Note that JustCite will interpret search operators within the phrase as literal search terms
Results
Results screen
If your search finds more than one match you will be taken to a results screen, showing a list of the document titles and a host of other important information about each document.
By default, results are sorted according to their JustCite Ranking. A document’s JustCite Ranking is determined by a number of factors including how often your search term appears in the index of information and how many other documents are cross linked to the result. JustCite Ranking is a good indication of a document's importance, but there are a number of other options for sorting and filtering.
To view the full JustCite information screen for a document simply click on the title.
Profile Cards
Results on JustCite are presented as 'Profile Cards' - an overview of the information JustCite has about a particular document.
The information that appears on a profile card varies depending on the document type it represents:
Cases
Title of the case
Year in which the case was first reported
Most authoritative citation for that case
Key words or phrases that summarise the case
Document type label indicating that it is a case
Flag indicating the jurisdiction in which the case was heard. Move your mouse over the flag to see more detailed information on the jurisdiction
Indication of how the case has been treated by subsequent cases, broken down into positive, neutral and negative treatments
Positive, neutral and negative treatments
When one case is referred to within another it can be dealt with by the judge in a number of different ways. Judicial treatments can be characterised as either positive, neutral or negative.
Positive TreatmentsAny instance in which the case has been cited with approval will be entered as a positive treatment. This will include subsequent cases which actively follow the reasoning in the instant case, and decisions of appellate courts which approve decisions of inferior courts as correct.
Positive treatments are coloured green within JustCite.
Neutral TreatmentsThis means that the case was referred to in a subsequent case but, while it did not form the basis for the subsequent decision, neither was it dismissed as wrong, outdated or irrelevant. It is usual for a number of cases to be cited in building the reasoning behind a case (the point they deal with might not be in contention).
Neutral treatments are coloured yellow within JustCite.
Negative TreatmentsThis means that the case was referred to in a subsequent case, but the judge in the subsequent case either overruled it or otherwise declined to follow it, either because they considered it irrelevant or incorrect, or because they considered themselves bound by, or simply preferred, some other authority. Once a case is overruled it is no longer authority for any question of law it decides and so it is vital to know which cases have been overruled to prevent them being used in court. Negative treatments are coloured red within JustCite.
Legislation
Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
Year the legislation was passed
Statutory reference
Individual section title (if Act) or keyword (if SI)
Document type label indicating that it is a piece of legislation
Flag indicating its jurisdiction
EU Materials
Title of the EU document
Year the document was published
Electronic EU reference (usually a CELEX number)
Publication reference
Document type label indicating that it is an EU document
Flag indicating its jurisdiction
Articles
Title of the article
Year the document was published
Article or journal reference
Key words or phrases that summarise the article or journal
Document type label indicating that it is an article
Flag indicating its jurisdiction
Sorting and Filtering Results
You can manipulate the results list by:
- reordering the results; or
- filtering the results
Reordering the results
By default results are ordered according to their JustCite Ranking. Using the dropdown on the right of the screen you can sort results from newest to oldest (reverse chronological) or oldest to newest (chronological).
Filtering the results
There are three different ways you can narrow down the list of results:
Filter by material type - To narrow down your results to show either only Cases, Legislation, EU Materials or Articles & Journals, simply click on the relevant title on the left hand side of the list of results. The number in brackets after the document type shows the number of results of that particular material type.
Text filter - To keep only results containing a particular keyword, type the word or a part of the word into the text filter box on the left of the list of results. JustCite will filter the results to show only those results containing the keyword somewhere in their JustCite information. If you enter only part of a keyword JustCite will match all results containing any word beginning with the letters you entered. For instance, entering ‘insolv’ into the text filter will match results containing the word ‘insolvent’, ‘insolvency’ etc.
Remember, JustCite is not a full-text database so you are only searching the titles, references and subject matter of these documents; you cannot refine by judges’ names, for example.
Filter by jurisdiction - To narrow down your results to show only documents from certain jurisdictions, click on the ‘Refine by jurisdiction’ link on the left hand side of the results list. This will bring up a pop-up box that lists the different jurisdictions that make up your current set of results. Tick the boxes of those jurisdictions that you wish to keep in the results list and click Apply; results from other jurisdictions will be filtered out.
To remove one or more filters, click the red ‘x’ next to the filter type under Remove Filters on the left-hand side of the screen.
Document Information Page
All the information that JustCite has about a document can be found here.
Cases
The document information page is divided into a number of different sections, each of which gives details on a different aspect of the case:
Overview & Citations
This is the default view. It provides you with a summary of available information for a case, including:
- Title
- Subject matter
- Key Cases Considered
- Key Subsequent Cases
- Different citations for where this case has been reported – broken down by court
- Legislation Considered
- Recent Articles
- EU Information
In order to view the full text of this case, click on the citation you wish to look up, then select the third-party database of your choice from the drop-down list. A new window will appear to take you directly to the full text of the case on the respective data provider's service. Some of the third-party destinations JustCite uses are subscription-based, which means you may be required to enter an ID and password before being taken to the full text.
The list of full-text providers for a particular citation can be personalised to display only the services to which you have subscriptions.
Cases Considered
This provides you with a list of any earlier cases that were cited within the case you are viewing. This will provide you with the following information on the cases:
- In which court the case in question cited the case
- How the case was treated, e.g. Applied, Referred to, or Distinguished
- Title of the case
- Most authoritative citation for that case
- Key words or phrases that summarise the case
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
Legislation Considered
This provides you with a list of any legislation that was discussed during the case, broken down into sections and subsections of Acts if applicable. This will provide you with the following information on the legislation:
- In which court the case in question cited the legislation
- Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
- Statutory reference
- Individual section title (if Act) or keyword (if SI)
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
EU Information Considered
This provides you with any EU document that was discussed within the case and covers both EU cases and EU information. This will provide the following information about the EU document:
- In which court the case in question cited this EU document
- Title of the EU document
- Electronic EU reference (usually a CELEX number)
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
Subsequent Cases
This provides you with a list of any cases that have cited the case you are currently viewing, meaning they referred to this case in court. This is important as it will allow you to check if a case is still ‘good law’ by seeing what negative treatments (if any) it has had. This will provide you with the following information on the cases:
- In which court the case in question cited the case
- Title of the case
- Most authoritative citation for that case
- Key words or phrases that summarise the case
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
Articles
This provides you with a list of any of JustCite’s indexed articles or journals that mention this case in any way. This can help with further research into a particular case or into legal subject matter. This will provide you with the following information about the article or journal:
- Article or journal reference
- Key words or phrases that summarise the article
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
Legislation
Act Name
This is the name of the Act being viewed. As Acts can be broken down to their own composite sections, this will be the title of the Act itself, rather than the short title, which is the name of the specific provision.
Reference
This is the statutory reference for this particular piece of legislation
Status
This is an indication of whether the legislation has been repealed. If it has been repealed this will be indicated in capital letters. If it has not been repealed then it will prompt you to look at the Amending Items to see whether it has been changed in any way since it was passed. You may also need to check Amendments made to the Whole Act record to see if any changes are listed there.
Recent Articles
This provides you with a list of any of JustCite’s indexed articles or journals that mention this legislation in any way. There will only be the three most recent articles listed here, but a complete list can be found by clicking ‘Articles’ on the menu on the left of the screen. This can help with further research into a particular case or into legal subject matter. This will provide you with the following information about the article or journal:
- Title of the article
- Article or journal reference
To view the full JustCite record for one of these documents, click on its title and it will take you to the relevant part of the website.
Recent Subsequent Cases
This is a list of all of the cases that have had something substantive to say about this piece of legislation. There will only be the three most recent cases listed here, but a complete list can be found by clicking ‘Citing Cases’ on the menu on the left of the screen. This can help to determine how a particular piece of legislation has been interpreted in court. This will provide you with the following information about the case:
- In which court the case in question cited the legislation
- Title of the case
- Most authoritative citation for that case
- Key words or phrases that summarise the case
Amending Items
This area can be found on the left of the information page and will detail any previous legislation affected by the piece of legislation currently being viewed. This would include, for example, any amendments made by the piece of legislation, any repeals made by it or any savings expressed within it. An explanation of what the different terms mean that describe the relationships between pieces of legislation can be found here. Each legislation record will provide you with the following information:
- Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
- Statutory reference
Amended Items
This area can be found on the left of the information page and will detail any subsequent legislation that affects the piece of legislation currently being viewed. This would include, for example, any amendments made to the piece of legislation, any repeals made to it or any savings expressed for it. An explanation of what the different terms mean that describe the relationships between pieces of legislation can be found here. Each legislation record will provide you with the following information:
- Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
- Statutory reference
Articles
The information page is divided into a number of different sections, each of which gives details on a different aspect of the article:
Author
This is the name of who wrote the article
Subject Terms
These are the specific legal keywords that summarise the article. This information is added by Justis Publishing editorial staff.
Abstract
A summary of the article, this will include a general description of what the article is about as well as listing any particularly key cases or legislation that are discussed within it. This information is added by Justis Publishing editorial staff.
Publisher & Copyright Holder
This is the company who originally published the article.
Date
This is the date the article was first published.
Statutes
This area can be found on the left of the Information Page and lists any pieces of legislation that were discussed within the article. Each legislation record will provide you with the following information:
- Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
- Statutory reference
Cases
This area can be found on the left of the Information Page and lists any cases that were discussed within the article. Each case record will provide you with the following information:
- Title of the case
- Most authoritative citation for that case
- Key words or phrases that summarise the case
EU Cases
The information page is divided into a number of different sections, each of which gives details on a different aspect of the case:
Overview
This is the default view. It provides a summary of available information about the case, including:
- Document Title
- Summary
- Document Number – this is the document’s CELEX number
- Precise Legal Point – the provision which the ECJ interpreted or applied in the case
- Recent Subsequent Juridical Citations – recent judgments of the ECJ citing the case
To view the full text of the judgment, follow the links on the right to the full-text source of your choice.
Juridical Citations
This gives you a full list of EU materials referred to in judgment, including judgments, opinions and legislation.
Subsequent Juridical Citations
This gives you a full list of subsequent judgments, opinions etc. referring to the instant case.
EU Directives & other EU Materials
The page is divided into a number of different sections, each of which gives details on a different aspect of the case:
Overview
This is the default view. It provides a summary of available information about the document, including:
- Document Title
- Summary
- Document Type – e.g. Directive, Parliamentary Question etc.
- Document Number – this is the document’s CELEX number
- Notes – this field will always contain the implementation deadline for Directives
- Recent Amendments
- Implementing SIs – how the Directive is implemented in UK law
Subsequent Cases
This gives you a list of cases with something substantive to say about the interpretation or application of the Directive. You can filter the entries to show only cases from a certain court by clicking the name of the court on the left.
Legislative Base
This gives you a list of the provisions which empower the Commission and the Parliament to legislate on the subject matter which the Directive concerns.
Legislative Citations
This gives you a list of prior legislative provisions which are referred to in the text of the Directive but which are not amended by the Directive and which do not form part of the legislative base. Usually they are simply provisions mentioned in the recitals, but occasionally they are express savings.
Amends
This gives you a list of prior legislative provisions amended by the Directive. Note that the corresponding Proposal (i.e. the draft Directive) will appear here.
Amended By
This gives you a list of subsequent legislative provisions which amend the Directive somehow. Corrigenda (documents correcting minor errors in the text of the Directive) will also appear here.
My JustCite
My JustCite toolbar
The toolbar is available if you have signed in as an individual user and gives you personal options relating to your current session.
Recent
This gives you a list of all the recent searches you have undertaken with JustCite, which documents you have looked up and which full text links you have clicked on. Clicking on one of these items again will either rerun the search, bring the document up again or take you back through to the full text, depending on which of the three categories it falls into.
Saved
You can save any search you have done, or any document you have looked up, by clicking on the ‘save’ option. This means it is stored permanently against your JustCite sign-in and whenever you are in the system you can go back to a previous search or document by using the ‘Saved’ option within the JustCite toolbar
Client Code
If you want to store all of the searches and documents of a particular session against a particular title (it could be the name of the person you are carrying out the research for, or the practice area the research pertains to) then you need to apply a client code to your search or document. Client Codes can be applied in three ways:
- 1. Enter a code when you sign in - your entire research trail for the session will be saved under that code.
- 2. Click on the ‘Client Code’ button on the My JustCite toolbar and select a code – the code will be applied to your entire research trail until you either sign out, clear the code or select a different code.
- 3. Apply a Client Code retrospectively from My JustCite by selecting the relevant trail items and selecting the appropriate action from the Client Code Actions drop-down.
You can then filter your saved trail items by Client Code using the links on the left of the My JustCite screen. Therefore, Client Codes make it easy to find saved searches or documents by practice area, or research commissioner, or any categorisation system you choose to use.