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Lexis Library

1 Introduction to Lexis Library

Lexis Library is a full text Internet-based database covering UK, Commonwealth, European and US primary legal materials. It also provides the full text of many practitioner works and has a legal journals collection.

Lexis Library is not an expert system giving you the answer to a problem, it simply provides the raw documents. You still need to analyse and interpret the information retrieved and apply it to the particular problem facing you. Please note that there is also extensive online help available from within Lexis Library in the form of online tutorials as well as the usual help screens.

A. Content

You will already be familiar with some of the printed sources which have been made available on the Lexis Library database. Frenchay Library holds the hard copy versions of some of the publications but a single library could never hope to duplicate the vast range of legal sources made available online via Lexis Library. These include:

UK cases The Law Reports 1865 – (listed as ICLR: Appeal cases; ICLR: Chancery Division etc) All England Law Reports 1936 – The Weekly Law Reports Legislation Statutes and Statutory Instruments of England and Wales Welsh Assembly Acts and Measures Scottish Parliament Acts and SIs Journals For example New Law Journal, Medico-Legal Journal, International Journal of Refugee Law, American Journal of International Law. Legislation and cases from other jurisdictions including: Dominion Law Reports, New Zealand Law Reports, American Law Reports. Secondary Sources including: The full text of Halsbury’s Laws of England, Halsbury’s Statutes (listed as UK Parliament Acts) and Halsbury’s Statutory Instruments (listed as UK Parliament SIs). Also practitioner works such as Clarke, Hall and Morrison on Children.

B. Scope

Updating of Lexis Library varies from section to section. Click on the information symbol next to a particular resource to see how frequently it is updated. Further information on the

Library Services

www1.uwe.ac.uk/library

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coverage provided for different resources can be found under the Sources tab. Click on the information symbol next to a particular resource.

2 Carrying out searches

The standard Lexis Library homepage is pictured below.

It is possible to search from the Lexis Library homepage, or to choose a content specific search screen by selecting the corresponding tab at the top of the homepage. We suggest that if you are looking for a specific type of material (e.g. legislation, case/cases, forms & precedents or a journal article/articles), you do not search from the homepage but instead first select the corresponding tab at the top of the homepage. The search screens all operate in very similar ways. The example on the following page describes how to carry out a simple search for cases.

Options for constructing a basic search: e.g. Cases Search Form After clicking on the Cases tab at the top of the Lexis Library homepage you will see a screen similar to the one on the next page. You can enter information you have into any or all of the search fields available to find the case(s) you are looking for.

Select one of the tabs at the top of the page to search for a specific type of information, e.g. a case or a journal article.

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Case name – Locate a case by words in the case name. For example, to find Douglas v Hello, enter Douglas into the first field and Hello into the second. Sources – Choose to search across all subscribed case sources or choose a particular publication from the drop-down list. Note that this is not a complete list of sources, so click on More sources to access a complete list. More Sources – Use this link to find sources beyond those listed in the Select Sources drop-down list. In this example, select cases from the ‘Publications Type’ menu displayed, and tick individual sources to be searched. Click on OK - continue, and these will appear in the Sources box.

Search terms – Enter a word, phrase or a search string, e.g. “right to silence”, e.g. negligence w/s elephant. Click on Search tips for more information on how to connect your search terms. Citation – Note that it is not necessary to type brackets around your numbers. For example, to find [2003] 1 All ER 1, you can enter 2003 1 All ER 1. Judgment Date – Limit your search by date. Choose from the drop-down list of pre-defined dates or select your own defined date range. Summary – Finds words in the catchwords, headnote or summary of a judgment. Court – Specify the court in which the case you require was heard.

If you already have a reference (citation) to a specific print series of law reports you may find the Browse option useful.

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Judge(s) – Limit your search by the judge who presided over the case. For example, to find cases where Lord Denning sat on the panel of judges, enter Denning in the Judge(s) field. Counsel – Limit your search by counsel. Enter the name of counsel if known into the Counsel field. Case Type/ Digest – Choose to search across all or a specific type of case (such as Law Report, Transcript, Digest/Summary or Practice Direction).

The key advantage to searching from one of the source specific search pages as opposed to the Lexis Library homepage is that you are presented with more options to enter information and focus your search specific to that source of information (e.g. party names, judgment date, court). Once you have entered all of the information you have into the appropriate search fields, click on and Lexis Library will search across all of its content to find those results which match the information you have provided. You will then be taken to the Search Results Screen.

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Viewing your Search Results From the Search Results Screen, you can access the text of any of the documents you have located, save, print or email these, as well as various other options. Sort – This allows you to sort your results by source order or relevance. Search within results – Refine your search results by entering additional terms and clicking on Go. This will only search within the results you have already returned, so it can help you to narrow your search even further if you have initially brought back too many results Click on the title of the document to access the full text of that document.

Initial results screen.

Click on the image to add documents to ‘My Documents’. Documents are stored temporarily in the ‘My Documents’ area for 24 hours only. You can use the options on the left hand side of the screen to browse through the results of your search by topic, source name (e.g. series of law reports it was published in), source type (full text case report or digest) etc

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Full text results screen By clicking on the title of any of the documents in the search results list you can access the full text of the document, as seen below.

You can click on any of the options in the Find out more box to reveal related documents which may be useful.

You can also click through to the full text of some related documents via hyperlinks within the main text.

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3 Case Overview

CaseSearch is an online case citator. It allows you to track the history of a case, finding out how the decision has been applied in subsequent cases and allows you to track the appeal status of a case. It is updated daily and provides procedural history, annotations, keywords and summaries. Subsequent judicial consideration of a case is flagged up by a ‘traffic light system’ of symbols highlighted below.

To access the CaseSearch Search form:

• Click on the Cases search tab and then click on Case Overview under the Cases heading in the navigation menu on the left of the screen.

Case Overview screen

Performing a search using Case Overview 1. Construct your search using keywords, individual fields (such as Case Name or Citation) or a combination of both. Then click on Search. 2. Search Results will be displayed outlining Cases Name & Citation, Court/Tribunal, Judgment date and Signal.

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Case Overview Results screen

3. Click on a Case Name to display information about:

a. Case History

b. Cases referring to this case

c. Catchwords & Digest

Case Overview results screen

Case Overview can also be useful to gain a quick overview of a cases journey through the different courts.

Click on the name of the case you are interested in to display the full Case Overview record for that case.

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Case Overview Records

A typical Overview screen will give you some or all of the information as indicated in the screenshot below. It will also indicate (using the symbols indicated above) the treatment any of the cases mentioned has received (i.e. are they currently considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’ law).

Case Overview’s key advantage is that it provides a quick overview of a case, its current standing, its passage through the courts, and any previous cases it considered or subsequent cases it was considered by and the appeal status of the case.

References and links to cases which this case considered.

Cases which have since referred to the case you have located, including hyperlinks to the full text of case reports where available,

The history of the case (i.e. its passage through the courts) including hyperlinks to the full text of case reports where available.

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Case Overview Coverage of Cases and Report

Case Overview cites cases which have been reported in various series of law reports, including those listed below.

- The Law Reports, AC, Ch, QB, Fam etc - All England Reporter - All England Law Reports - All England Law Reports, Commercial Cases - All England Law Reports, European Cases - The Weekly Law Reports - Building Law Reports - Butterworths Company Law Cases - Butterworths Human Rights Cases - Butterworths Medico-Legal Reports - Common Market Law Reports - Criminal Appeal Reports - Criminal Appeal Reports (Sentencing) - Criminal Law Reports - Entertainment and Media Law Reports - Estates Gazette Law Reports - European Court of Human Rights Cases - European Court Reports - Family Court Reports - Family Law - Family Law Reports - Fleet Street Reports - Housing Law Reports - Immigration Appeal Reports - Industrial Cases Reports - Industrial Relations Law Reports - Intellectual Property and Technology Cases

- Justice of the Peace - Law Reports of the Commonwealth - Law Society Gazette - Lloyd’s Law Reports - Lloyd’s Law Reports (Insurance and Reinsurance) - New Law Journal - Personal Injury and Quantum Reports - Planning Law Cases Reports - Property and Compensation Reports - Rating and Valuation Reports - Rating Appeals - Reports of Patent Cases - Road Traffic Reports - Scots Law Times - Scottish Civil Law Reports - Scottish Criminal Cases Reports - Session Cases - Simon’s Tax Cases - Simon’s Tax Cases (Special Commissioners Decisions) - Simon’s Weekly Tax Intelligence - Solicitor’s Journal - Tax Cases - Value Added Tax and Duties - Weekly Law Report

International Cases

The search screen for these can be accessed from with the case screen, from the same menu as Case Overview described above.

Tip:- Case Overview provides an excellent place to start when looking for relevant case law on a

topic. It is always worth remembering that Westlaw UK offers a similar service, called Case

Analysis which, used in conjunction with Case Overview, can offer access to additional related

cases and materials. The print equivalent of both online resources is the Current Law Case Citator.

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4. Searching for Legislation

Searching for Legislation where title is known 1. To search for an Act only tick the Act box

2. To search for an SI only tick the SI box

3. Untick both the Act and SI box to display legislative results across jurisdictions. If you

do not untick both boxes Welsh Assembly Acts and Measures will not be returned in

your results

4. Enter the name of the legislation you are looking for (partial titles are accepted) and

click find

5. To search for a particular section enter the title followed by sX e.g. Equality Act 2010

s6

Searching for Legislation that may exist in an area 1. Click on the Legislation tab at the top of the home page:

2. Use as many or as few of the fields as required for your purposes. If using search

terms remember to separate your words & phrases using the word and e.g. school

transport and requirement

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3. Alternatively you can search by topic using the add topics to search link

4. You can use topics and search terms in conjunction

Working with Legislation Results Each section of an Act/SI is returned as its own result because of the added functionality. If you click on the title result the arrangement of the Act/SI is displayed and you can quickly navigate to your required provision

1. There is a handy symbol to indicate the status of a section at the top of the results

page:

When you see “Stop press” click to open it up; it will give you information about recent and prospective amendments

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2. The ‘Table of Contents’ button allows you to open up the whole Act/SI and move

quickly between sections

3. Halsbury’s Annotations (The Golden Nugget) contains information including

commencement dates, pertinent Hansard (where appropriate) and words and

phrases judicially considered

4. The ‘Find out more’ box gives you quick links to books, cases and journals relating to

the section of the Act/SI you are viewing

5. The ‘Find out more’ box also contains links to Status Snapshot. This gives you an at-

a-glance view of commencement and amendments to the legislation:

The Golden Nugget!

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6. The ‘Find out more’ box also contains a link to ‘Is it in Force?’. This allows you to

easily see where there are differences between England and Wales. Where there is

a difference the English position is indicated by (E) and the Welsh by (W):

7. The notes box at the bottom of the section houses valuable information on

commencement, appointment and amendments:

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8. You can also create alerts from your results pages; this will prompt the system to

email you with updates relating to the search you have run.

European Legislation 1. Click the legislation tab:

2. Select “International Legislation” on the left-hand side of the screen:

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3. You can enter search terms or search by the title of the legislation:

4. You can search within results, filter by topic or by legislation title as you can with

UK legislation (on the left hand side of the page):

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EU Directives Implemented in England and Wales

1. When looking at a Regulation which implements an EU directive Halsbury’s EU

Legislation Implementator will be linked from the “find out more” box on the right

hand side of your results page. Click on the Commentary link:

2. You can then narrow by source name on the left hand side of the results screen:

3. The Halsbury’s EU Legislation Implementator results will provide live links to the UK

legislation:

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5. Selecting individual sources

If you want to search or browse through a particular source (e.g. Halsbury’s Laws of England or Buckley on the Companies Acts), you can locate a source from the Lexis Library homepage, and then search or browse within that source. 1. Enter the title or part of the title of the source you are looking for into the Find a source box on the homepage. Then click on to the corresponding Find button.

2. You will then be taken to a results screen similar to the one below.

You can enter the name of a source you are looking for into the Find a source box…

Or check your Bookshelf to see if this is already stored here. If it is, you can click on either of the options to search or

browse

Select the source you are interested in by clicking on the ‘tick box’ next to that source and then on OK – Continue. If you tick the tick box to sa

Alternatively, to browse the table of contents for a source,

click on Browse next to that source if available.

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It is also possible to browse through the contents of specific areas of the database, for example cases or legislation, by clicking on the Browse tab within the specific search screen, and working through the menus.

Legislation Browse screen.

You can choose to browse a specific collection within Lexis Library instead of searching, by selecting browse from the menu on the left of the screen.

Select the resource you are interested in, and click on the symbol to browse through the contents of that resource.

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6. Practice Areas

The Practice Area pages provide a search form and sources specific to a particular market area or job function. The Practice Areas tab contains up to 6 subtabs. The first subtab is labeled All Practice Areas and lists the Practice Area pages available to you. You may choose which Practice Areas appear on the remaining subtabs by selecting them on the All My Practice Areas subtab. If you wish, you can designate one of the Practice Areas as your Start Page. To do this, click on the link for the Practice Area to display it. Then click on Make this My Start Page. For example, if your research consists of primarily of taxation searches, you may wish to have the Tax & Accountancy Practice Area displayed as your Start Page.

Personal Injury Practice Area Screen.

Quick Find – Allows you to perform a search for a case, piece of legislation, form or journal article quickly and easily.

My Bookshelf – A list of key sources relevant to the practice area. You can add or remove additional sources available via Lexis Library to this list using the links available.

Glossary – Definitions of terms with links to key content

1. LexisPSL – direct links to relevant content on LexisPSL (see below for information on LexisPSL)

2. New updates – subscribe to regular legal updates for the practice area covering cases, legislation, journals, analysis and news

3. Search – search across content specific to the practice area by keyword. NB you do not need to use connectors, simply enter your key words e.g. insurance act of god

Note: The order of your Quick Links order will vary according to Practice Area

To access the Practice Area pages, select the Practice Area tab at the top of the screen. To select a different practice area click on the blue change link.

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7. Lexis PSL

Within the Practice Areas you can access links to LexisPSL (Lexis Professional Support Lawyer). LexisPSL is a practical guidance tool which distils the quality content of LexisLibrary into practitioner guidance. It contains Practice Notes, core Precedents, key Case Law, core Legislation, Flowcharts and Checklists for legal procedures and News Analysis. It contains links to the rest of Lexis Library materials for when you need deeper information

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8. Printing, downloading and e-mailing documents on Lexis Library

When you locate any document on Lexis Library you will have the options to print it out, download it to your computer, or e-mail it to yourself or a colleague. Just choose the relevant icon from the top right corner of the page:

Downloading documents to your computer

You can save any document from Lexis Library as an HTML file, Word

document or PDF file. Click on the Download Delivery ( ) icon towards the top right hand of the document screen. The Save Options page will be displayed, where you can select your Output options:-

You can also save individual documents from a Search Results List. Once the result list is displayed, add to ‘My Documents’ where you will be able to print, e-mail or download documents.

E-mailing documents

You can e-mail any document from Lexis Library as a Word document or PDF file, to yourself or to a number of your fellow students/colleagues.

Click on the e-mail ( ) icon in the top right hand of the document. The E-mail Options page will be displayed, where you can decide between a PDF, Word document, HTML, Generic or text file, include an e-mail message, and select various Output options (see Downloading documents to your computer):-

Format: select what file format you wish to save the document(s) as (e.g. word, pdf, rich text, html)

Search terms in bold/underlined type: the search terms you used to find this document will be highlighted within the text.

Caution:- The copyright licence under which you are allowed access to Lexis Library does not permit you to e-mail any document to a friend or colleague who does not study at or work for the University of the West of England, or to use documents accessed for commercial purposes.

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Printing documents

You can print any document from Lexis Library. Click on the Print ( ) icon in the top right hand of the document. The Print Options page will be displayed where you can select your Output options (see Saving documents to your computer):-

From this screen you can also choose whether you want the original search terms to be highlighted in your printed document.

You can also choose to just print the results screen.

Saving or printing an entire legislation Act/SI in PDF

You can retrieve and print the full text of a large piece of legislation as a PDF document (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer in order to read this version of the document). This can save you selecting all the individual sections of a large act such as one of the Companies or Finance Acts.

This guide can be made available in alternative formats on request. FBL Librarians June 2015 S:\LIB\FBL\Guides and tutorials\Guides\Law Guides\Guides 2015-2016\Librarydatabaseguides Ref.no.LAW\SH\15-16

Click here to open a pdf copy of the entire act or statutory instrument you can then save or print.