Frequently Asked Questions

In this example, we will search for cases relating to police powers to stop and search. After logging into vLex Justis with your student portal password, enter the search terms stop and search into the search box at the top of the home page. Then filter your results to Case Law by selecting Case Law on the left.  You will retrieve approximately 6900 UK cases, which are far too many records to examine, so you therefore need to refine your search.

This time, enclose the words within inverted commas, "stop and search" and click the magnifying glass symbol to search. vLex Justis will now look for those search terms as a specific phrase, rather than as two separate words. You will notice that the search is now much more specific, retrieving 276 UK results.

You may not have time to look through 276 cases, so you may wish to refine your search further still. Now select the Advanced search (magnifying glass) in the vertical left side menu and select Case Law under content to go to the advanced cases search. Type “stop and search” in the exact phrase search box, and human rights into the grey category search box then click Search. Notice that you have now retrieved 82 results, in order of relevance.

 [AB1]No longer a category. Crime and sentencing?

Searching by category retrieves cases where the specific subject category has been applied to the case. This differs from a free text search which retrieves cases where the search term appears anywhere in the text, and may therefore be less relevant to your research.

For further information about searching vLex Justis see the vLex Justis User Guide.

Next: Searching for cases by topic on Lexis+