A Guide to Westlaw UK
Introduction
This guide will introduce the content and take you through the steps of carrying out effective
searches for cases, legislation and journal articles on the Westlaw UK database. Following
the numbered steps will demonstrate the navigation and functionality of Westlaw UK. It is
not intended that you follow this guide through from beginning to end rather that you refer to
it and follow individual sections for help when searching.
What is Westlaw UK?
Westlaw UK is provided by publisher Sweet & Maxwell part of Thomson Reuters.
It
contains case law, legislation, journal articles and practitioners’ works. Most of the UK
material is full text, but some of it, particularly information found in the Legal Journals Index
provides just brief citation and abstract information. It also contains information on EU law
and International materials.
What law materials are available?
Case law
Full text law reports from the most authoritative sources, beginning 1865, including those
from the Incorporated Council of England and Wales:
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The ICLR Law Reports
Weekly Law Reports
Industrial Case Reports
There are around 75 other case reports including:
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Lloyd’s Law Reports
Criminal Appeal Reports
European Human Rights Reports
Legislation
All consolidated UK Public and General Acts which were still in force in 1991, and all
subsequent UK Public and General Acts. The archive dates back to 1267.
It also contains a selection of UK statutory instruments (SIs) of general application published
between 1948 and 1991. All subsequent UK (Westminster) SIs are included, as are Englishlanguage SIs made by the National Assembly for Wales.
EU case law and legislation
Law reports from the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.
Taken from the Official Journal C Series. Legislation from the Official Journal L Series
beginning 1952. Treaties between Member States beginning 1951.
Journal Articles
The key to finding out what journal articles are available on a topic is to use a journals index
and Westlaw UK is the only database that contains:
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The Legal Journals Index
The Financial Journals Index
The Legal Journals Index also includes the full text of several journal titles published by
Sweet & Maxwell.
News
This is not part of our Westlaw UK subscription however a full News service is available in
the LexisLibrary database.
Getting Started
1. Go to the Library homepage http://studentlibrary.southwales.ac.uk/ select the link to
FINDit.
2. Log in using your UNI username and password, if prompted.
3. Select Find Database.
4. Use the Databases A-Z list, scroll to W for Westlaw UK or choose Databases by Subject
– Law.
5. Click on Connect to access.
Case Law
You can use Westlaw UK to find:
Basic searching:
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A specific case – reported or unreported
Cases discussing a point of law
Advanced searching:
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Whether a case has been referred to (cited) in any other cases
Cases which refer to a particular statute or section of a statute
Case Law - Basic Searching and Browsing
1. Select the Cases link to get to this page
3. Select Search.
2. To find reports of a
specific case enter the
Party Names e.g.
donoghue and stevenson
into the search box as
above.
Alternatively:
To find a specific report of a case enter the case Citation e.g. [1932] AC 562.
To find several cases on a particular point of law enter Free Text keywords e.g. consumers
food liability. To insist on searching for a phrase use quotation marks e.g. “tortuous liability”.
Search Tips:
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Leave out the AND connector between the Party Names or Free Text keywords, this is
automatically implied.
See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or
select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK.
Leave out the correct formatting of citations, just enter the citation with spaces but
without brackets, capital letters, full stops etc and Westlaw UK will match it to the
nearest citation.
Case Law - Search Results
1. Results are presented in reverse
chronological order. (If you had several
2. To view the full text of a case
report - select the citation links in
the Results list. They run in order
pages of results you might wish to view
results by relevance, to do this you can
select the Sort By Relevance link.)
of persuasive authority, left to
right.
3. Select [1932] A.C. 562.
4. Note the system of Star Paging in the full text result
meaning the exact pagination of the original printed law
report is retained and can therefore be cited in court
and academic work.
5. There is also a link here to the very
useful Case Analysis document for this
case.
(Explanation follows).
6. Also note the case Status
icon (Explanation follows).
What is a Case Analysis Document?
1. Select the Case Analysis link for Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] A.C. 562
2. Note that your keywords or search term(s) are highlighted in yellow, you can use the
Search Term
navigation to jump to the next use of the word in each document (useful if
there are multiple results).
3. Note the Case Analysis Document contains brief details relating to each case:
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Where reported This lists all the case report series that have published the case, with
links to the full text where available, they run in order of persuasive authority.
The Case Digest
The Case Digest may include lots of brief, but very useful information:
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Subject and keywords – helps you to quickly grasp the area of law and key issues.
Summary and abstract – key phrases and short analytical summary covering the issues
and enough facts to put the issues in context, the outcome and judge’s reasoning.
Appellate history – the direct judicial history of the case with links to any lower, higher or
linked court proceedings and descriptors for whether the case was affirmed, overruled or
reversed.
Related cases – list of other cases between the same parties but on different points of
law
Significant cases cited – list of cases which the judge has referred to in a significant way.
All cases cited – list of all cases that have cited the case being viewed.
Key cases cited - Provides a list of editorially selected cases citing the case.
All cases citing - List of all cases that have cited the case being viewed.
Legislation cited – links to cited sections of legislation in force. If legislation is not
available on Westlaw UK no links will be available.
Journal articles – list of articles citing the original case, some links to full text.
Books– links to specific sections of commentary titles citing the case.
What are Case Status Icons?
Note this is a visual system indicating the status of a case, as can be seen on the previous
screenshot.
It allows you to immediately see whether a case has been overturned, reversed or
superseded.
- indicates that a case has been judicially considered and received positive or neutral
treatment as part of its direct or indirect history.
- indicates that a case has received mixed or mildly negative judicial consideration.
- indicates that at least one point of law has been overruled or reversed. This is an
immediate notification that the case is no longer good law.
Breadcrumb Trail
Note that on each page of Westlaw UK you will see a page header, telling you where you
are. Under this there is a breadcrumb trail which tells you the path you have taken to get to
where you are. It details all the sections and subsections separated by arrows. If you want
to reverse your journey you can trackback to any level. NB using your browser’s back and
forward buttons may not allow you to trackback, use the navigation embedded in Westlaw
UK instead.
1. Use the breadcrumb trail to trackback to the Cases page.
Case Law - Browsing
1. Back at the Cases search screen you can also
Browse for information by selecting either the Case
Analysis Documents (a list of all report series
monitored but not always full text) or the Law Reports
and Transcripts (all report series available in full text)
2. Both list law reports alphabetically, a list
of years or volumes will be displayed, then
from one of these an alphabetical list of
cases will appear.
3. Select Law Reports and Transcripts, try browsing for a case from the Weekly Law
Reports.
Case Law - Advanced Searching
1. At the Cases search screen select the Advanced Search link (you can toggle between
Basic Search and Advanced Search.)
A: Search for any cases that
have cited a particular case by
filling in either of the Cases
Cited boxes, with either party
names or a citation.
B: Search for cases that cite a
A
B
particular statute by filling in the
Legislation Title box or
particular part of a statute by
also filling in the Legislation
Provision No. box.
2.
3. In the Cases Cited (Party) box fill in the party names donoghue and stevenson.
4. Select Search
There should be around 688 Results, remember this number may grow as new cases cite to
the original 1932 case.
Restricting your Search
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By Date
This is particularly useful if you are retrieving too many results and need to manage the
information overload. At the Advanced Search screen it is possible to narrow down your
search to a particular point in time by using the Date restrictions at the bottom of the
Advanced Search screen.
You can choose from the last 7 days, to this year and the previous two years or choose from
the drop-down menu and restrict to a date ‘on, between, before or after’.
5. Try narrowing your Cases Cited (Party) donoghue and stevenson search to this year
and the previous two years and notice how many results you have now.
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Search Within Results
This search box appears at the top of your Results Found list and is another useful tool for
narrowing down your search and making it more precise.
6. Repeat the search from steps 2-4 then Search Within Results for “contributory
negligence”.
There should be around 2 results now.
Legislation
You can use Westlaw UK to find:
Basic searching:
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A specific statute/SI or part thereof (in its current version)
Legislation on a particular topic (in its current version)
Advanced searching:
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A specific statute/SI or part thereof at a point in time (going back to 1991).
The Basic Search screen only searches the current version of legislation.
historical legislation use the Advanced Search.
To search
1. Select the Legislation link to get to this page.
3. Select Search.
2. To find a specific
Act or SI enter the
title of it into the
Act/SI Title search
box e.g Human
Rights Act 1998.
To find legislation on a particular topic enter keywords into the Free Text box.
To find a piece of legislation select from the Provision Number drop down menu and put
the provision number in the box.
Search Tip:
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Free Text searching - if you enter keywords with no connectors they are automatically
linked with the AND connector. e.g. if you enter fair trial Westlaw UK will search for the
keyword fair AND the keyword trial, if you wish to search for this as a phrase you have to
enter it in quotation marks “fair trial”. Doing this will make your search more precise and
you will retrieve fewer but more accurate results.
See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or
select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK.
Legislation - Search Results
1. Note results are ranked first by Acts
in alphabetical order, then by SIs in
reverse chronological order.
2. If you have searched for a piece of
legislation by title (without additional
terms or provision numbers) the result
will display links to the Arrangement
of Act or Arrangement of SI
1. Select the Arrangement of Act link.
4. To view the full text of an Act as a pdf select the
pdf link. After viewing close the window.
2. Note that the Arrangement of Act/SI document details all the provisions within a piece
of legislation allowing you to link directly to any section, paragraph etc. If a provision has
been repealed or revoked this information is displayed here. When in individual sections
you can also navigate using the Next or Previous Provision links.
3. In the left-hand menu there is also a link to the very useful Overview Document for this
Act. Select this link now. Note that it includes information about the Act or SI as a
whole:
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All prospective amendments
Commencement of all provisions
All modifications (non-textual amendments)
A citator of all textual amendments
EU legislation implemented by the Act/SI
All SIs made under the Act and the SI which enabled the Act
4. Now select the General Materials link. Note this also provides very useful information
about the Act/SI as a whole and about Parts, Chapters, Schedules and elements of
legislation which do not have a Legislation Analysis document. (see below). It
includes:
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Modifications
For SIs, the provisions which enabled the SI
EC or EU law implemented
Related legislation, cases, journal articles.
(A link to Legislation Analysis document appears only if you go into an individual provision
and relates only to that individual provision but provides similar details to the General
Materials document described above.)
What are Legislation Status Icons?
Note this is a visual system indicating the status of a provision which is displayed within a
results list or when a provision is displayed on screen.
It allows you to immediately see whether the provision has been repealed, superseded or
has pending amendments.
- provision represents a law in force
- provision is not yet in force
- provision is partially in force
- provision has been repealed
- provision has been superseded
- provision has pending amendments that have not been incorporated into the text
- provision has prospective amendments
Legislation - Browsing
Back at the Legislation search screen you can also Browse for legislation by selecting
either Acts or Statutory Instruments by Year or Title, or browse Jurisdiction of the UK or
Scottish parliament.
Legislation - Advanced Searching
This allows you to restrict your search to current legislation or expand it to include legislation
no longer in force, enabling you to see how a provision has changed over time (NB
available from 1991), historic (superseded) versions are marked .
If searching Point in Time; Westlaw
UK will retrieve the legislation as it
stood at that date, incorporating any
amendments made prior to that date.
Journals
You can use Westlaw UK to find:
Basic searching:
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A specific journal article
Journal articles about a particular topic
Advanced searching:
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Journal articles which have referred to (cited) case law
Journal articles which have referred to a particular statute or section of a statute
Journals - Basic Searching and Browsing
1. Select the Journals link
to get to this page.
3. Select Search.
2. To find a specific journal article that
you already know details of enter brief
details into the Article Title and
Author boxes. E.g. fighting fraud and
author sarker.
Alternatively if you are looking for all articles on a particular topic enter your keywords in the
Free Text search box.
Search Tips:
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Leave out ‘and’ between each keyword, this is automatically implied
To insist on a phrase use quotation marks e.g. “professional conduct”.
See the Appendix at the end of this guide for other keyword terms and connectors or
select the List of Connectors link in Westlaw UK.
To conduct a good search of the journal literature don’t rely just on what is available in
full text as this is only a very small percentage of what is actually published,
approximately less than 1%!
(To track down articles that are not full text, search FINDit Find Journal for the journal title
as it may be available from another supplier, if not check the Library Catalogue as it may be
on the shelves in the library, if not then send for item on inter-library loan.)
Journals - Search Results
Westlaw UK searches both the abstract and the full text documents with links to both if
available (unless you have specified only to search one or the other).
Results will show the article title in bold, the citation which you
should note for authority, coursework bibliographies or reference
lists and the subject and keywords. These give a brief indication of
the areas of law covered in the article, keywords tend to describe
narrower areas and subject terms describe very broad topics.
Journals - Browsing
Back at the Journals search screen you can also Browse for articles by selecting either
Legal Journals Index (LJI) or Financial Journals Index (FJI) or Full Text Articles only.
(NB the indexes begin in 1986 and the FJI is no longer updated.)
Journals - Advanced Searching and Browsing
This allows you to search for journal articles that cite a particular case
or for articles that cite a piece of legislation. This commentary
(secondary source) can be a useful starting point for research but
remember to update any primary sources that the article refers to.
Print, Save and Email
This drop-down menu appears on the top right of the results search screen
Select the relevant link and if in cases or journal articles you can further select the full text or
the brief analysis/abstract information. Documents can be saved or emailed as Word or pdf
files, if emailing don’t forget to enter a subject line that means something to you as the email
will be sent directly from Westlaw UK.
List of Connectors
Any questions or feedback about this guide can be emailed to Sue House
[email protected]