united-kingdom legal-research
resources for reviewing legal cases in the UK
<p>Is there a (free) resource in the UK for someone to obtain details of various cases brought to court, for example details of case history, court rulings?</p>
<p>I have come across, for example, <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/</a> but this appears restricted to legal students or professionals</p>

<p>The main free resource is <a href="https://www.bailii.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bailii</a>. I've sometimes also found cases on <a href="https://www.casemine.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Casemine</a>, which is free. The most popular paid resources are <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Lexis</a> and <a href="https://uk.westlaw.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Westlaw</a>.</p>
<p>In general, the paid databases are more complete and provide additional useful features such as cross-referencing statutes and cited/citing cases, information on whether the case is still good law or not, and others. For this luxury you will pay a heavy price: typically a few thousand a year depending on what type of subscription you take out. If you are lucky you can get free access via a university course.</p>
<p>With that said, Bailii can sometimes have judgments not found on the others; particularly unreported judgments. Ideally as a professional you would have access to all three if you can afford to do so.</p>
<p>If you want a specific case and can't find it on any database you may be able to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/apply-transcript-court-tribunal-hearing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ask the court to provide a transcript</a>, usually for a fee.</p>
