25 Using Case Citators

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additions / deletions

The main role of a case citator is to provide extra information about cases. In Australian legal databases, any judgment of a superior court will have a citator record that includes information about the:

 	
status of the case
 	
publication and citation details
 	
litigation history — whether the case has gone on appeal and been subsequently affirmed or reversed
 	
subsequent judicial treatment — how later judges have treated the decision
 	
consideration of earlier cases
 	
secondary sources that cite the case
 	
legislation considered by the case.

Always check case citators to understand the case.
Accessing the citator document
CaseBase (Lexis+)
If you search for Patrick Stevedores Operations No 2 Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia (No 3) (1998) 195 CLR 1, on the Lexis+ platform you will be able to access the citator via the CaseBase link in your search results.


Watch Explore CaseBase Citator (YouTube, 2m40s)
Watch How to find paraph levels citations of a case (YouTube, 3m01s)


Westlaw Australia
If you search the same case on the Westlaw Australia platform you will be able to access the citator information with the record (KeyCite).

[caption id="attachment_345" align="alignnone" width="529"] Screenshot of the KeyCite information for Patrick Stevedores Operations No 2 Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia (1998) 195 CLR 1 from Westlaw Australia. Reproduced with permission. Copyright held by Thomson Reuters.[/caption]



Watch Finding cases citing another on a point of law in Westlaw Australia (Thompson Reuters, 2m1s)
Watch Westlaw Australia KeyCite (Thompson Reuters, 2m58s)