What Find Case Law provides

Court and tribunal judgments

We publish judgments from:

• Appellate courts – Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court
• First instance courts – Crown Court, County Court (selected cases)
• Tribunals – Employment, Immigration, Tax, and other specialist tribunals

Coverage varies by court and tribunal. Some have comprehensive recent records, while others include selected cases of legal significance.

Official and authoritative

Find Case Law works directly with the judiciary of England and Wales. Judgments are provided by courts and tribunals themselves, making this the official source for:

• accurate judgment text as approved by judges
• authoritative citations and case details
• timely publication of new decisions
• reliable long–term access through The National Archives

What we include – and what we don't

What's in Find Case Law

We include judgments that serve the public interest and support open justice:

• substantive decisions like full judgments explaining legal reasoning and outcomes
• important procedural decisions like significant rulings on practice and procedure
• appellate and first instance like decisions from all levels where publicly available

What's not included

Find Case Law is not a comprehensive record of every court case in England and Wales. We don't include:

• most magistrates' court decisions as they handle thousands of cases daily and most are not published
• cases subject to restrictions such as judgments that cannot be published due to reporting restrictions, anonymisation requirements, or other legal constraints
• cases not in the public interest including some cases that don't contribute to public understanding or legal development

The scope is determined by publication policies of individual courts and tribunals, balanced with considerations of public interest, judicial resources, and privacy.

Why these limitations exist

Courts and tribunals produce far more documents than could meaningfully be published:

Volume – Magistrates' courts alone handle over 1.5 million cases annually. Publishing all decisions would be impractical and would not serve users who need to find relevant precedent.

Privacy and protection – Some cases involve sensitive personal information, children, or national security matters that require protection even when a judgment is needed.

Public interest – Publishing focuses on cases that help people understand the law, set precedent, or involve matters of public importance.

Judicial resources – Preparing judgments for publication requires judicial time. Courts prioritise cases where publication serves the public interest.

How we're expanding

Find Case Law is continually growing:

• we're working to include judgments from additional courts and tribunals
• adding older judgments to provide deeper coverage
• adding features that help users find and understand judgments
• making judgments easier to access for all users

The service launched publicly in 2022 and we’re constantly adding new features and expanding what’s available.

Finding what you need

If a case isn't in Find Case Law

The absence of a case from Find Case Law might mean it:

• falls outside our current coverage dates for that court
• wasn't selected for publication by that court
• is subject to reporting restrictions
• was decided by a court we don't yet cover comprehensively

Check our Courts and date coverage to see what's available for specific courts.

Alternative sources

For cases not in Find Case Law:

• BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) – Free legal database with additional coverage
• Court archives – Contact the specific court for records of cases
• Commercial legal databases – LexisNexis, Westlaw, and other services offer comprehensive coverage
• Legal advice – Solicitors and barristers can help locate specific cases
• Scotland – The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service

Who provides Find Case Law

Find Case Law is provided by The National Archives in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, and the Judicial Office.

As the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, The National Archives has preserved legal records for centuries. Find Case Law continues this tradition in the digital age, ensuring that court judgments remain accessible for current use and future generations.

Partnership with the judiciary

We work closely with courts and tribunals to:

• receive judgments directly from judicial sources
• implement appropriate publication policies
• respect judicial decisions about what to publish
• support the principle of open justice