BROOKERS online
HOW TO FIND CASE LAW
September 2010
ACCESSING BROOKERS ONLINE
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Connect to internet access in the usual way
(some users may have access through an Intranet).
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Access Brookers Website: www.brookersonline.co.nz (see screen below).
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If your access requires a password, enter the password into the box.
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Your organisation may have an “IP fix”, in which case a password
is not required.
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You will see only the databases to which your organisation is subscribed.
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Where to find cases
Case law can be found in –
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Case law databases
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Commentaries
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Cases index
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Links from legislation to cases
Choosing the most appropriate database
BriefCase contains all case law that Brookers has, including both
reported and unreported cases. The depth of treatment of individual
cases in BriefCase is generally determined by which Court they come
from. For example, a Supreme Court case will receive a more in depth
treatment than a Tribunals or District Court case.
Specialist case law databases such as Property Cases or Building Cases
are all subsets of BriefCase. Because they specialise in a particular topic,
the cases within them receive a fuller depth of treatment.
If you are interested only in a certain type of topic, for example
Employment, then choose Employment Cases. If you are interested in
Employment cases as well as Education and Human Rights cases, then
choose BriefCase.
Finding a case by title
1. Open the case law database that
you want (eg Employment Cases)
2. From the left side, click on
Advanced Search
3. Into the Case Title or Party Name
field, enter the case name (or part
of it) eg Tainui
4. Click Go
5. All cases with the word Tainui in
the case title - or where the name
Tainui was a party in a case - will
be displayed
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Finding cases by topic
Open the case law database you want. Click Advanced Search to start
a new search and/or bring back your old search.
For example, if you were in the Employment Cases database and wanted
to search for forced resignation cases that took place in Christchurch
where your key topic might be stress – try this:
1. Click Advanced Search
2. Into the Search For field, enter the word stress
3. Into the Legal Classifications field, enter the word resignation
When you see the classification with the words forced resignation
pop up, click on it
4. Into the Court or Location field enter Christchurch
5. Click Go
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Finding Reported Cases
For case collections that are part of a Brookers Report series (eg PRNZ,
CRNZ, ERNZ, FRNZ), the relevant case law database has a useful Index to
the reported cases. To identify only reported cases, try the following options:
1. Open a case law database (eg Family Cases)
2. In the Table of Contents, you will see a folder entitled “Index to Family
Reports of NZ” – click on this folder
3. Click on the Volume you require and click on the case you want – the
cases are listed in date order
Example: Volume 3, at foot of page click on Clark v Clark. Note that there
are links to PDFs of the reported judgment and the original judgment (you
must be a subscriber to the PDFs to be able to open these).
Or try this…
1. Open a case law database (eg Company and Securities Cases)
2. Click Advanced Search
3. At the top of the search template, click into the box entitled Limit
Searching to Reported Cases only
4. In the Case Title or Party Name field, enter the name (or part of the
name) of the case you want.
Example: Open Advanced Search, click the box entitled Limit Searching
to Reported Cases Only, and into the Case Title field enter the
words Midavia Rail. The result list will contain all reported case
for Midavia Rail.
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Finding cases mentioned in commentary
Cases that are mentioned within commentary are NZ or overseas cases
that explain or clarify points of law, or are deemed to have precedential
value. To find specific cases that are mentioned in commentary, try this:
1. Choose a database that contains both legislation and commentary
eg Brookers Resource Management
2. Click Advanced Search
3. Into the Cited Case field, enter the name of the case (see example)
4. Click Go
Tip! If you get no results, it might be that the case name you have does
not exactly match with how it is written in the database – try simplifying
your search by entering fewer words.
Example: Sterling Trust v Whakatane District Council could be simplified
to Sterling Whakatane
Tip! Most NZ case names in the commentary will link from the database
to the actual case. Where there is no link, this does not necessarily mean
the case is not available. Try opening the relevant case law database and
entering all or part of the case title into the Case Title field.
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Using the Cases Index
Indexes are provided as an alternative way to find case law.
Databases that contain both legislation and commentary, eg McGechan on
Procedure, usually have a Table of Cases near the end of the Table of Contents.
Click through the Table of Cases index to find the name of the case you want.
Cases are listed alphabetically. They are linked to the commentary in the
databases, and if the case has been reported in a Brookers report series, it is
linked to the report as well.
Linking from Legislation to Case Law
Handy case law links are provided in the legislation databases.
Try this…
1. From NZ Law Partner, open Statutes
2. Find the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act
2006, section 93
3. From the right sidebar, click on Case Law. A list of
databases that mention the above Act and section
will appear
4. Click the case law database you are interested in
(and subscribe to), then click the case you want
5. The cases are listed with the most recent ones at
the top of the list
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CITECASE
CiteCase enables users to verify whether a case is good law and find
citing references to support and strengthen legal argument.
With CiteCase you can:
Research the litigation history of a case (ie whether it has been affirmed
or reversed on appeal)
Identify other cases that have considered your case and in what manner
(negatively, overruling it, positively, following or applying it)
CiteCase uses flags and symbols to indicate the status of a case
Example below indicates a case summary with a red CiteCase flag,
followed by CiteCase litigation history for that case
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THE CITECASE FLAG SYSTEM
CiteCase employs a flag system, which uses visual indicators to alert you to the
nature of a case citation eg whether there is Litigation History, or whether citing
cases give ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ treatment. By using this flag system, you can
easily identify whether a case can be relied on for its precedential value.
Red Flag – warns that a case has some negative litigation history
or case citing, and as such may no longer be good law. This may
be because it has been overturned on appeal (negative litigation
history), or because one or more later judgments have cast
significant doubt over its validity (negative cases citing).
Yellow Flag – A yellow flag is used to warn you that the case should
be investigated further before being relied upon. It warns that a case
has partial negative litigation history or cases citing, but has not
been entirely overruled or reversed. It can also mean a case has been
doubted or distinguished by a later judgment.
Green C – indicates that a case has some cases citing (that are not
part of its litigation history) and that these citations are not known to
be negative.
Blue H – indicates that a case has some litigation history which is
not known to be negative.
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THE CITECASE FLAG SYSTEM
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SEARCH OPERATORS
The shaded boxes indicate the most-frequently used search operators.
Logic
Operator options
space
&
and
And
Document must
contain all words
*
Wildcard
Replaces multiple
unknown characters
“two or more
words”
Phrase
Two or more words must occur
in the order specified
Enter
land tax rates
land & tax & rates
land and tax and rates
judg*
judg*ment
“rules of procedure”
Unordered Proximity
Two or more words occur in
any order, within a specified
number of words
“two or more
words”@X
X = the number of
words you specify
“parental leave time”@10
would retrieve:
“…also the time restrictions on bringing a parental
leave complaint in…
Ordered Proximity
Two or more words occur in
the exact order, within a
specified number of words
“two or more
words”/X
X = the number of
words you specify
“water conservation order”/12
would retrieve:
“…or water conservation order, or a requirement
for a designation or heritage order…”
Or
Document may contain
all or any of the words
Not
Eliminates specified words
from the search
or
|
not
rules or orderd or notices
rules | orderd | notices |
damages not exemplary not personal
^
damages ^ exemplary ^ personal
Thesaurus
Words with a similar
meaning
$
liquidate$
will retrieve: liquidate, cash, sell, change,
exchange, abolish, clear, pay, remove etc
Single Character
Replaces any single unknown
character in a word
?
collect?ble
conv??tion
would retrieve collectable
would retrieve convention,
convection, conviction
NEED HELP?
Call Brookers on 0800 10 60 60 for assistance from the Customer Care Team
or email service@thomsonreuters.co.nz
www.thomsonreuters.co.nz