Westlaw UK This database is available both on and off campus, and may be accessed from Databases A-Z in the Electronic Library at https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/microsites/library/resources/electronic-library Contents Introduction... 1 Basic Search... 2 Search hints... 2 Finding UK cases... 3 Advanced Search... 5 Browse... 5 Finding UK legislation... 5 Finding articles from UK journals... 6 Finding e-books (practitioner texts or looseleaf)... 8 Westlaw Homepage Tools for Legal Research... 8 Further Help and Support... 9 Introduction Westlaw UK is a full text legal database which contains cases, legislation, practitioners texts and journal articles. It gives access to English/UK reported cases from 1220 onwards. Coverage includes cases published in the official series: The Law Reports (Appeal, Kings and Queens Bench, Chancery and Family), the Weekly Law Reports, the English Reports (very early English cases dating from 1220-1865) and many specialised reports. Westlaw also contains UK legislation in force (statutes and SIs), and cases and legislation from Europe, the U.S. and many other countries around the world. Please note it does not contain any UK legislation which was completely repealed before 1991. www.ljmu.ac.uk/library LIBRARY SERVICES
Basic Search Westlaw s home screen enables you to perform a general search across different types of UK and EU legal material available - cases, legislation and journals. Search hints There is no need to put and or v between different subject words or party names because the database automatically links them with and. If you want to find a phrase, e.g. flood defence you should type quotation marks around the phrase. Plurals are automatically searched for, e.g. flood defence will also find flood defences. By default, your results will be sorted by relevance in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recent first) but by ticking a Content Type on the left hand side, your results can also be displayed by type. Or you can use the topic filters.
Tip - You can return to the main screen at any time by clicking on the Westlaw UK logo at the top left-hand corner of the screen. From this main screen you can access other search screens which are tailor-made for case, legislation or journal searching and which allow much more specific searches to be carried out. This is the most effective way to search. Please note: To search for international materials you must click on the link Services on the blue toolbar at the top of the screen, and then on the option International Materials. This is covered in more detail in our Westlaw International guide. Finding UK cases To search for cases on a subject or to find a specific case click on the Cases option from the navigation bar at the top of the screen. This search screen allows you to search by Party Names, Subject, free text search or Citation. To search for the case SmithKline Beecham plc v Apotex Europe Ltd [2007] Ch. 71 you could search for SmithKline Beecham Apotex Europe as follows: Tip - Use the links to remind you how to use each search box if you forget.
By default, your results will be sorted by date. You can sort them by relevance by clicking on the link Sort by Relevance on the right hand side. Records satisfying your search will be listed. Each record provides links to the full text versions of the case available on the database (blue links), and to the case analysis document for the case. The full text links are listed in order of authority, with the most authoritative report first. The case analysis gives a summary of the case, tells you its history, gives links to other cases and legislation cited, and lists journal articles which discuss the case. Some of these will have hyperlinks if they are available in Westlaw, others won t but may be able to be accessed from other sources (e.g. Lexis Library). For cases cited from countries other than the UK, you will need to use Westlaw International to get the full text. Looking again at the search results, you may see one of two icons to the left of the case name which notify you of the case status whether it is still good law or whether it has been overruled or reversed: 1. The green icon with a letter C inside it indicates that the case has some judicial history. This means it has been cited by later cases in a positive (or at least, not in a negative) way (i.e. it has been applied, followed, considered, approved or referred to by one or more later cases) or the decision has been affirmed by a higher court.
2. The red No Entry icon indicates that at least one point of law within the case has been overruled or reversed, and is an immediate notification that the case is no longer good law. Clicking on the case analysis document will give you the relevant information about this. In the full text of a case, purple numbers with a star next to the number refer to the beginning of a page in the hard-copy equivalent. They are found throughout the text of the case. In the example below, *71 means the case begins on page 71 of the hard-copy, and *72 marks the beginning of the printed text on page 72 of the hard-copy. Advanced Search From the Cases home page, the link Advanced Search offers more ways to search for cases, such as restricting the date or searching by legislation title in order to locate cases which interpret a particular statute. Browse The Browse section on the Cases home page allows you to browse through specific law report series, or it can be used in conjunction with a search you can use Browse to select a law report series and then search only that series by completing one or more of the search boxes. Finding UK legislation Click on the option Legislation from the options at the top of the screen. You can search for legislation currently in force by title ( Act/SI Title search, e.g. Police and Justice Act 2006) or subject ( free text search, e.g. alcohol licensing). You can narrow the search down further by using a provision number, e.g. the number of a specific section of a statute. If you know the year and chapter number of the Act, type these into the title search box to find the Act, e.g. 2006 c 48 or 2006 c. 48 (both will work but you must leave a space after the c). Likewise, if you know the year and SI number of a Statutory Instrument you can enter these in the title field to find the SI, e.g. 2004/568
If you search for a piece of legislation without specifying a provision number, the results list will give a link to a document entitled: Arrangement of Act (or Arrangement of SI ), which provides links to all provisions within the Act or SI, as shown below: Once you have clicked on Arrangement of Act, you will see a variety of icons next to each section, hovering over these icons will tell you what they mean e.g. a red R in and square means that provision has been repealed. Finding articles from UK journals To limit your search to journal articles from UK journals, click on the option Journals from the navigation bar at the top of the screen. The basic search screen allows you to search by article title, author or subject ( free text search).
The Browse option allows you to browse through specific journal titles, or it can be used in conjunction with a search you can use Browse to select Full Text Articles or one specific journal title and then search within those limits by completing one or more of the search boxes. Search results are displayed most recent first. Sorting by relevance instead is possible (on right). If full text is available there will be a Full text article link. Otherwise, there is a Legal Journals Index Abstract link and it is necessary to check other sources (Lexis Library and Discover) to see if you have access to full text. Topics (left pane) can be useful to narrow search. Tip - Show terms in context (right top) can be switched on or off to show where your terms appear in documents.
Finding e-books (practitioner texts or looseleaf) The Books tab at the top of the screen allows you to search or browse the latest editions of some Sweet & Maxwell books. These e-books are the exact electronic equivalent of hard-copy practitioner-level texts or looseleaf works, they are not student textbooks. Works such as Archbold: criminal pleading, evidence and practice, The White Book (civil procedure) and Palmer s company law are available in full text. Westlaw Homepage Tools for Legal Research Westlaw UK Insight Insight articles can be very helpful when starting a new topic. You can search or browse to find topics. The Insight tab gives access to a legal encyclopaedia that aims to provide a comprehensive statement of the law in the UK via a topic-based interface. Each topic is covered under the following sections: Overview of topic, Discussion of detail, Analysis, Further Reading, Latest Update, Related Documents and Related Topics. These sections provide many links within Westlaw to key documents for the subject.
Index of Legal Terms This is the best place when looking for the definition of or legal basis of a term or phrase. Definitions also often contain useful links to relevant documents. Natural Language Search This enables you to ask Westlaw a question (perhaps if you are not quite sure where to start your research, or if you re not quite sure of the search terms you are using). It constructs a search behind the scenes and returns the 100 most relevant documents, which may include a mixture of insight articles, cases, legislation, EU information and journals. Further Help and Support Westlaw UK provides easy-to-follow Training Tutorials and guides accessed from the link Training Tutorial at the top of the webpage, or follow this link http://legalresearch.westlaw.co.uk/learningsupport/training/training-videos/ There is an opportunity to Get Certified in Westlaw UK, both Basic and Advanced options. Once passed Westlaw UK send you a certificate. Improve your skills, research and add another achievement to your CV. http://uklawstudent.thomsonreuters.com/research-the-law/get-certified-westlaw-uk/ The Academic Liaison Librarians who support the Law School are: Nathalie Taylor (Mon-Tues) n.m.taylor@ljmu.ac.uk Maria Hardie (Wed-Thurs-Friday) m.c.hardie@ljmu.ac.uk You are welcome to contact us for further help, and to arrange a one-to-one appointment. Guide Updated: July 2018 By: N Taylor