25 Using Case Citators

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 been appealed 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.

Check case citators to understand whether a decision is still good law.

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 can access the citator via the CaseBase link in your search results.

Watch Explore CaseBase Citator (YouTube, 2m40s)
Watch How to find paragraph 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).

Screenshot from WestLaw Australia showing the KeyCite information for Patrick v Stevedores Operations No 2 Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia. The image shows the links to negative treatment, history, citing references and table of authorities.
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.

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

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Legal Research Essentials Copyright © 2023 by The University of Queensland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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