Question:
How do I find cases on a topic?
Our answer:
There are three major legal databases which enable you to search for cases on a particular topic:
- vLex Justis (Justis Publishing)
- Lexis+ (Butterworths)
- Westlaw (Sweet and Maxwell)
Some cases may be found in only one of these databases, while others may be included in more than one of the databases. The question is, which database should you use?
If you are not familiar with legal databases, it is suggested that you begin by searching all 3 databases. After gaining some experience of performing searches on each of the three databases, you may develop a preference for a particular database.
However, if you wish to be comprehensive in your search, you will usually need to check all three databases, as you may find cases on one database which do not appear on another. For instance, a search for "frustrating event" retrieved 126 UK cases on vLex Justis, 163 cases on Westlaw and 279 cases on Lexis+. We will now look in more detail at searching for cases by topic on each of the three major databases.