Searching Case Law
Search case law by field:
| Citation | Case Name | Docket Number | Date | Keyword | Multiple Fields |
Search case law with tools:
Find Cases by Citation
SelectCite
GlobalCite
Searching a single field from the Search Page
1. Find a case by citation.
Type single or multiple citations into the Case Cite dialog box on the Search Page. Click Run Search near the bottom of the window. Loislaw will retrieve the case and display a Results List page that contains the title, citation, date, and a textual excerpt or headnote. From the Results List, click the hyperlinked case name and citation to retrieve the full text of the opinion.
Note that both official and parallel citations are searched simultaneously from the Case Cite dialog box.
The forgiving feature of citation searches: 'normalization' of citations
The Case Cite dialog box does not require a strict match between a user’s entry and a valid official citation. While the entry needs to approximate the form of an official citation, Find Cases by Citation will often work without regard to case differences, punctuation, or minor typos: users may actually omit periods or spaces (for example), or use lower case letters for the abbreviation of a reporter, and still retrieve the correct document.
The process of matching a casual entry to an official citation is called 'normalization.' The same operation is performed by Find Cases by Citation, Loislaw’s shortcut tool for citation searches that is always available at the top of the screen.
Case law citations from virtually all American reporters and jurisdictions are recognized and normalized through the Case Cite dialog box.
While Loislaw will normalize casual abbreviations and punctuation, note that Loislaw does not change an invalid volume or page number to conform with a valid citation. If the Search Page returns “Note: Your search found no hits,” check the citation again and make sure that volume and page numbers are correct. For more information regarding the reporters included in a database, click Currency near the bottom right of the Search Page.
2. Find a case by case name.
Subscribers may enter a casual case name (e.g., the last names of a plaintiff and defendant in the form "Smith v. Jones") in the Case Name field. Searching by casual case name in this manner can produce multiple results, and may not be as precise as a citation search. (Note for example that entering "Roe v. Wade" into the U.S. Supreme Court Reports Search Page returns more cases than just the landmark decision at 410 U.S. 113.) However, the option of using a casual name is handy when the official citation is not known (or perhaps more complex to type than the casual reference).
The Case Name field also encompasses the full names of all parties as listed in the decision, in addition to the casual reference. Search for minor parties, the full titles of parties, the names of affiliated institutions or agencies, etc., all from the Case Name box.
3. Find a case by docket number.
Enter a docket number in the Docket Number dialog box to retrieve a case when the permanent citation is not known (or not yet assigned). Searching this field may be necessary when a case has been issued as a slip opinion, but has not yet received final pagination or an official citation.
4. Find a case by date range.
Cases are dated differently, depending upon the publishing standards and policies of a given jurisdiction. Loislaw offers date-field searching according to the protocols set by the jurisdiction. In any given jurisdiction, date fields may include:
- date of submission or filing;
- date of argument; or
- date of decision.
On each Search Page for case law databases, Loislaw offers a Date Range search. The Date Range is preconfigured to search several different default date ranges.
To find cases dated within a certain span of time, use the Date Range drop-down menu.
Note that the Date Range drop-down menu may be used alone, for simple date searching, or in combination with other fields, for delimiting a keyword search by date.
For simple date-range searching, select one of the following time periods:
- within 1 month;
- within 3 months;
- within 6 months;
- within 1 year;
- within 3 years; or
- within 10 years.
Then click Run Search near the bottom of the window.
For more complex date-range searching involving other fields, enter a keyword into a text field and then select a date range from the drop-down menu. For example, to find all cases in the last six months whose majority opinion was written by a given justice, enter the name of the justice in the Justice of Majority Opinion field, and also select "within 6 months" from the Date Range drop-down menu. Click Run Search near the bottom of the screen to see all majority opinions written by that particular justice within the last 6 months.
Please note that the default Date Range is set to "All Dates". Unless this default setting is changed by the user, the Search Page will not evaluate results chronologically and the date will not affect results.
For particularly nuanced and targeted searching, users may customize the date-range by selecting "between" from the drop-down menu. Loislaw exposes text boxes for entering the start date and end date of a custom search. The custom date search is inclusive, so the results can include not only cases from intervening dates, but also cases bearing the start date and end date.
The "between" setting accommodates date-range searching that extends farther into the past than three or six months (or any other predefined range). To confine a search to cases from a single day, enter the same date in both the start date and end date.
5. Find a case by keyword.
Several different fields may be searched by keyword. Enter single or multiple keywords (and connectors) in any of the following fields to search the text of an opinion: Search Entire Text, Text of Majority Opinion, Text of Dissenting Opinion, etc.
In addition to the main text of an opinion, Loislaw typically offers several other fields for targeted keyword searching. For example, searches may be conducted against the Plaintiff & Defendant Names field or Appellant/Appellee Names field. Type a name into the appropriate dialog box from the Search Page to search one of these fields. When searching for proper names in these fields, consider using the near connector to find different versions of the name.
Please note that the structure of case law will vary from one jurisdiction to another. Loislaw tailors each Search Page for a given jurisdiction, and will only display text boxes for the fields available within that jurisdiction's reporter(s). Choosing multiple case law may limit the available fields to 'Search Entire Text' only.
Searching multiple fields from the Search page
Many searches may be performed across multiple fields on a given Search Page. The possibilities are practically infinite; a few possible combinations are explained below.
6. Find a case in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Reports by topic and location of lower court proceeding.
Use two search fields, as follows, entering:
- the original federal district location (e.g., 'central district') in the Judge and Court Appealed field (which includes the location of the lower court proceeding in addition to the name of the trial judge); and
- a keyword in the Text of Majority Opinion field.
7. Find a case in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Reports that was appealed by a particular attorney.
Use two search fields, as follows, entering:
- the last name of an attorney in the Attorneys on Appeal field; and
- a keyword in the Text of Majority Opinion field.
8. Find a case in which a judge or justice dissented.
Use two search fields, as follows, entering:
- a last name in the Dissenting Justice field (or Justice of Dissenting Opinion field, depending upon the database); and
- a keyword in the Text of Dissenting Opinion field.
Note that the Search Entire Document field can always be combined with any other field. This combination is particularly helpful when keywords could occur anywhere in a document, but users wish to delimit results by date, name of dissenting justice, or some other unique aspect of a case.
For more information on delimiting a keyword search by date, see complex date-range searching, above.
Searching with Find Cases by Citation and SelectCite
Loislaw offers two quick-retrieval tools for searching case law: Find Cases by Citation and SelectCite.
9. Find a case by citation using Find Cases by Citation.
As an alternative to searching citation fields from a Search Page, users may enter a citation directly into Find Cases by Citation. The Find Cases by Citation dialog box is always available in the top frame of the main Loislaw window. Find Cases by Citation searches the citation fields of all case law databases.
Find Cases by Citation is very forgiving in its ability to recognize irregular or variant entries: it is not necessary to enter an exact citation. Each entry is evaluated programmatically, and compared against many known forms of official citations.
Within a certain range of variation, Loislaw will select the right form, normalize the citation entered by the user, and retrieve the desired case.
See Find Cases by Citation and SelectCite for more information. See also above, The forgiving feature of citation searches: 'normalization' of citations.
10. Find a case by citation using SelectCite.
SelectCite is a tool similar to Find Cases by Citation. SelectCite is available when users search any single case law database. (Please note that SelectCite is not available when searching multiple case law, or different types of law simultaneously.)
After selecting a single database on a Choose a Database page, users will see a SelectCite link near the top of the following Search Page. Click the link, then enter the volume, reporter, and page number as appropriate. Note that all possible abbreviations for reporters are predetermined by SelectCite. Choose a reporter from the drop-down menus.
SelectCite can retrieve up to 5 cases at a time. When all cases are entered, click Run Search to retrieve the documents. Click Clear All Fields to begin again.
See Find Cases by Citation and SelectCite for more information.
Searching for cases with GlobalCite
11. Find all indexed cases that cite the active document.
To retrieve a list of all indexed cases that cite the active document, click the GlobalCite button near the bottom of the View Document window.
When viewing the full text of a case, users can retrieve a list of all indexed primary law (including other cases, statutes, regulations, and acts) that cite the case being viewed. GlobalCite provides annotation-quality insight into a case's subsequent treatment by other citing courts. It also sheds light on a case's interpretation in regulations and legislative acts, for example. Wherever another law-making body cites the case, GlobalCite is there.
GlobalCite tracks every citation of an indexed case in Loislaw's treatise holdings, too. Treatises often enlighten the historical or interpretative context of a case and contibute toward an attorney's understanding of its value in practice.
See GlobalCite for more information.
For more information regarding indexing and searchability, see What is indexing? from Loislaw's FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
12. Find all indexed cases that cite a particular statute.
To retrieve a list of all indexed cases that cite a statute, click the GlobalCite button near the bottom of the View Document window displaying a statute.
GlobalCite returns results for all types of primary law and other documents indexed into Loislaw's permanent collection. To view cases only, click Cases Only—Chronological Order near the top of the GlobalCite Results List. For more information on ordering search results in GlobalCite, see The GlobalCite Results List.
13. Searching beyond the scope of a current subscription
Loislaw searches all selected databases, regardless of the user's subscription status. Cases retrieved through a Search Page or through SelectCite may fall outside the user's current subscription.
Loislaw displays a dollar sign ( $ ) in the Results List for any case not included in a subscription. To subscribe to the database and retrieve the full text of the case, call Loislaw sales at (877) 471-5632.
Please note that GlobalCite and Find Cases by Citation are never limited by the scope of a current subscription. The full text of documents retrieved from GlobalCite and Find Cases by Citation are always accessible. There are no additional charges for hyperlinking outside a subscription when users follow links from any document within their subscription.