It is important to know how to find case law (reported and unreported), legislation, articles, books and eBooks when researching your academic assignments, as this is the kind of content that need to be included for legal argument.
Here is a summary guide of the best resources to use for locating different types of legal information and law resources;
Sources of Law - summary guide
Courts.ie, the website of the Courts Service of Ireland, contains useful information on history and organisation of the Irish Courts.It also contains a useful glossary of legal terms related to the procedures of, and participation in the Irish courts e.g. care order, affidavit, injunction, notice of motion etc.
The tabs in the box below, 'Sources of Law', list the main resources legal practitioners use to find and access legal information. Click on each tab to learn about the resource and where to locate them.
What is a Law Report?
A law report is a publication of the judgment of a case, containing the decision and the judge's reason for making it. Only a proportion of cases decided by courts are selected to be reported, and in most report series, the cases are selected by law report editors - not the courts.
To be reported a case will usually:
What is a law report citation?
A law report citation consists of the following:
the year (in round) or [square brackets]
abbreviation of the law report series
volume number
first page number
e.g. Fionuala Sherwin v An Bord Pleanála and Fingal County Council (Notice Party) [2008] 1 I.L.R.M. 31
e.g. C. v Mid-Western Health Board [2000] 11 E.L.R. 38
How do I find the name of the law report?
The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations is a useful tool for finding abbreviations of legal journal titles and reports. You can search either by abbreviation to title or title to abbreviation.
Irish Law Reports
Employment Law Reports (E.L.R.)
Irish Current Law Monthly Digest (I.C.L.R.D)
Irish Law Times Reports (I.L.T.R.)
The Irish Law Reports Monthly (I.L.R.M.)
The Irish Reports (I.R.)
Neutral Citations
A neutral citation for an unreported case consists of:
e.g. Minister for Justice and Equality v Radu Iancu [2020] IEHC 316
e.g. Buckley v O'Neill [2023] IECA 288
Unreported Irish cases, with neutral citations can be found from the following resources:
Citations
A law report citation consists of the following:
e.g. Jones v Kernott [2010] 1 FLR 38
e.g. Legends Live v Harrison [2017] IRLR 59
How do I find the name of the law report?
The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations is a useful tool for finding abbreviations of legal journal titles and reports. You can search either by abbreviation to title or title to abbreviation.
Lexis+ UK
(Reports include: All England Law Reports, Butterworths Company Law Cases, Butterworths Human Rights Cases, Butterworths Medico-Legal Reports, Construction Law Reports, Family Law Reports, ICLR's (Admiralty & Ecclesiastical, Appeal Cases, Business Law Reports, Chancery Appeal, Chancery Division, Common Pleas, Crown Cases Reserved, Equity Cases, Exchequer, House of Lords, King's/Queen's Bench Division, Privy Council, Probate/Family, Scotch & Divorce Appeal), Justice of the Peace Law Reports, Weekly Law Reports.)
A neutral citation for an unreported case consists of:
e.g. Rose v Rose [2002] EWCA Civ 208
e.g. Rorison v Insurance Corporation of British Columbia 2023 BCCA 474
BAILII (UK and Ireland unreported cases)
CanLII (Canadian unreported cases)
AustLII (Australian unreported cases)
WorldLII (Unreported cases from various countries)
Lexis+ UK (UK and Ireland unreported cases)
Court of Justice (CJEU)
Established in 1952, the Court of Justice (CJEU) in Luxembourg ensures "EU law is interpreted and applied in the same way in every EU country; ensuring countries and EU institutions abide by EU law" (Europa 2016).
The Court comprises the Court of Justice, the General Court, and the EU Civil Service Tribunal (Europa 2016)
The Court settles disputes between national governments and EU institutions; it can also be used by individuals, companies or organisations to take action against EU institutions. It also reviews and has the power to annul EU acts. (Europa 2016)
Curia - Provides free access to case law from the EU Court of Justice, General Court and Civil Service Tribunal from 1997. Includes opinions from the Advocate General
European Court of Human Rights
Established in 1959, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international court which "rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights" (Council of Europe 2016). Judgments made by the Court are binding for the countries concerned.
Access the European Convention of Human Rights here.
HUDOC - provides access to the full text of case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
How Law's are made
A guide to the legislative process is available on the Oireachtas website
Databases and Websites for Irish legislation
Westlaw.IE - contains consolidated, updated legislation from 1800 (the original act and all its subsequent amendments and corrections are combined in a single easy-to-read document), Original (unamended) acts with annotations from 1984 , Irish Constitution, Rules of the Superior, Circuit and District Courts, Legislation Fastcheck (check for commencements, amendments and S.I.'s made under the Act)
The Irish Statute Book website, produced by the Attorney General's Office, provides access to the full text (unofficial version) of all Acts of the Oireachtas. You can search by the name of an Act, by year, or by keyword (in advanced search). Also available are the amendments, commencement orders and any statutory instruments made under the Act.
Oireachtas - Government website which provides information on the DAIL, the Seanad, House Committees, TD's and Senators, Oireachtas business and Irish Parliamentary Debates and events. Also includes
Westlaw.IE - Offences Handbooks - The Offences Handbooks are fully indexed guides to the most up-to-date Criminal, Company and Road Traffic offences. Each entry comprises the enabling provision, a description of the offence, and the most up to date penalty for the offence, in an easy to read table format.
The following types of UK Legislation can be found on this Government website
Useful Resources explaining EU Law
Sources of European Law - a useful guide to EU legislation on the EUR-LEX website
EU Law European Union website - covers EU legislation, regulations, decision making, applications of EU Law, European Policy Making and the Lisbon Treaty
Primary and Secondary Law
European law is made up of primary law, secondary law and supplementary law.
Treaties are the primary law of the European Union and as such must be agreed and ratified (brought into law) by all Member States. Full text of all treaties (current-, founding-, amending-, accession-) are available through EUR-LEX.
Secondary law refers to regulations (binding), directives (binding), decisions (binding), agreements (binding), opinions (not binding) and recommendations (not binding); also white and green papers. All are available through EUR-LEX.
European Union law is supplemented by case law of the European Court of Justice, international law and the general principles of law (EUR-LEX 2010).
European Legislation is available in the L Series of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU, formerly OJEC).
EUR-LEX - Free access, in the 24 official EU languages, to the Official Journal of the European Union, EU law (EU treaties, directives, regulations, decisions, consolidated legislation, etc.), preparatory acts (legislative proposals, reports, green and white papers, etc.), EU case-law (judgements, orders, etc.), international agreements and EFTA documents.