Westlaw UK and Lexis+ are the two databases where you can find up to date sources of UK legislation and reports of legal cases, as well as other reference material in law.
Both databases have the full text of UK laws and statutory instruments, and the top-level law reports from the Queen’s Bench, Chancery Division, etc. (known as The Law Reports), but they differ in which of the lower-level reports they may have – for example, Westlaw UK has the Weekly Law Reports but not the All England Law Reports. There is similarly little overlap in the legal periodicals which each database holds, so it is advisable to use both databases regularly.
Westlaw UK
From www.findit.bham.ac.uk click on Database Search and type Westlaw into the search box.
Finding legislation
In the Westlaw UK search screen, click on Legislation and Legislation Search. This will give you the legislation search screen.
You can search for legislation on a particular topic by using either the Free Text search, which will look for your terms in the full text of the legislation, or by Subject/Keyword which will match your terms to the headings given by the database (click on More Options to see all the boxes).
If you have a specific statute that you want to find, you can search by its title in the Act/SI Title box.
Example: This video shows a search for the Employment Act 2008 and indicates the range of information that Westlaw provides about it:
Finding case reports
In the Westlaw UK search screen, click on Cases and Cases Search.
You can search for cases by the names of the parties, by keywords in the free text, or using the OSCOLA citation for the case.
Example: This video shows a search for the case Western Excavating Ltd. v Sharp and shows how information about the case is presented:
Westlaw UK and Lexis+ are the two databases where you can find up to date sources of UK legislation and reports of legal cases, as well as other reference material in law.
Both databases have the full text of UK laws and statutory instruments, and the top-level law reports from the Queen’s Bench, Chancery Division, etc. (known as The Law Reports), but they differ in which of the lower-level reports they may have – for example, Westlaw UK has the Weekly Law Reports but not the All England Law Reports. There is similarly little overlap in the legal periodicals which each database holds, so it is advisable to use both databases regularly.
Lexis+
From www.findit.bham.ac.uk click on Database Search and type Lexis+ into the search box.
Finding legislation
In the Lexis search screen, click on the Content tab and select Legislation. This will give you the legislation search screen. Go to the Advanced Search.
You can search for legislation on a particular topic by typing keywords into the general search box at the top, or else using the Terms boxes lower down to search for each of your terms individually, and clicking on Add to add them to your search.
If you have a specific statute that you want to find, you can search by its title and year of enactment in the Title box.
Example: This video shows an example of searching for legislation using topic keywords:
Finding cases
In the Lexis search screen, click on the Content tab and select Cases. This will give you the cases search screen. Go to the Advanced Search.
As with legislation, court cases can be searched for by using keywords and/or by various elements of the case such as the name of the court, name(s) of counsel involved, date of judgement, and so on. Note that if you are using the Case Name or Citation boxes, you need to type the case in accurately. If in any doubt, use the general search box at the top instead.
Example: This video shows a search for case reports starting from a topic keyword search:
Halsbury’s Laws & Stair
Under the Contents tab on the home page, if you click on Halsbury's Laws & Stair, this will take you to two major reference works:
Halsbury's Laws of England: This is the electronic version of the traditional encyclopedic work on all aspects of English and Welsh law which has been available in printed volumes for over 100 years. It is updated by Lexis Library regularly and is a useful starting-point for research on any legal topic. It can be searched either by keyword or by browsing an alphabetical list of topics and their subdivisions. Articles will have links to relevant court cases, legislation and definitions of legal terms used.
Stair Memorial Encyclopedia (formerly Stair's Laws of Scotland): This is a similar encyclopedia to Halsbury's, dealing with Scottish law.
HeinOnline is a large database of principally U.S. and Canadian law materials, but one of its features is a collection called the Law Journal Library which can be used to search for international academic literature on law. The results of searches can be filtered by Jurisdiction (i.e. by the countries to which they apply).
Watch this introductory video produced by the publishers of HeinOnline.
There are further guides to other aspects of using this database available here.
vLexJustis is a database of case reports and legislation from the UK, Ireland and the European Union. Our subscription includes access to: England and Wales Civil Appeal Judgements; England and Wales Criminal Appeal Judgements; English Reports; Irish Reports and Digest; Session Cases Archive; State Trials; UK Statutes as enacted; UK Statutory Instruments as enacted; Aspinall; Singapore Law Reports.
Browse
To get an idea of the contents of this database, go to Browse from the home page and select one of the topics from the menu: Legislation, Case Law, Dockets (official records of all the proceedings pending in a court), etc. Each of these topics will then subdivide to various levels of detail.
Quick Search
A quick search can be done using the search box at the top of the home page. The drop-down menu to the right of the box defaults to United Kingdom, but you can change the jurisdiction by clicking on the menu and selecting one of the other jurisdictions shown.
Advanced Search
U.K. Parliamentary Papers provides complete online coverage of the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and the 19th Century House of Lords. It includes detailed primary source for the history of Britain, its colonies, and the wider world. It covers working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy.
There is a publisher's user guide to this database available here.
The database includes:
The latter two categories break down further into:
Plus, the 18th Century Collection includes pre-Hansard debates, House of Lords and House of Commons journals, rare private bills, other legislative materials, and reports and papers presented to both Houses.
Basic Search
Use this page to search the full text across the content, or use Find Terms (just below the search box) to review subject headings.
Use the boxes below the search box to search for Command Papers, Debates, or members information.
Advanced Search
Use this to search within specific document types (options on the left side) or within specific time periods, paper types, or document features (options below the search boxes).
Note that on the search form, you have an option to use the pulldowns to search using all fields including full text, all fields except full text, author/chair, title, or subject.
Search by Number
Use the Search by Number form when you have information from a specific citation you need to find.
Command Papers
The numbered series of Command papers began in 1833 and continues to the present. Even though the command papers citation format changed over time, the user just needs to know the Command Paper number and enter that into the search box.
Note that because there are 6 separate series of Command Papers from 1833 to the present (see below), a search for a given command paper number may result in up to 6 different results. This is by design as it is easier for the user to view 6 items to determine which Command Paper is the one relevant to their research, rather than to remember which is the proper abbreviated publication prefix.
In 1833, a numbered series began and the form of the citation changed over time.
[1] - [4222] - 1833-1868/69
[C.1] - [C.9550] - 1870-1899
[Cd 1] - [Cd 9239] - 1900-1918
[Cmd 1] - [Cmd 9889] - 1919-1956
[Cmnd 1] - [Cmnd 9927] - 1956-November 1986
[Cm 1] onwards - November 1986 to date
During the eighteenth century, Command Papers were printed as appendices to the House of Commons Journal. This method was abandoned as the number of papers the Government wished to bring before the House grew.
Sample search: In the image above, there is a search for #542. There are 5 results, shown below, showing the various Command Papers assigned that number over time.
Note that the Command Papers search can be limited by the following:
in order to winnow down the results, if viewing the short list of titles isn't helpful.
Members, Officers and Constituencies
Use the Members, Offices, and Constituencies form to look up members, either individually, or those who share party affiliation, office, or national origin from 1803-2005.
Use the Lookup Member link to check for correct spelling.
Note: to use the check boxes for office, party affiliation, or nation, it is not necessary to fill in any information at the top of the form. For example, check the box for Assistant Postmaster-General and then the Search button to see which Members of Parliament have held that position.
The Member Profile has four tabs
(Note: not all member profiles contain all four tabs).
What is Hansard?
Hansard is the name given to the transcripts of UK parliamentary debates and are named after the first official printer to the Westminster Parliament, Thomas Hansard (1776-1833). The transcipts comprise a verbatim report of what is said by Members and Peers in Parliament. It also includes details of voting divisions and report decisions taken in a sitting.
What does Hansard Online cover?
A “rolling” version of Hansard is published online in instalments during sitting days, with the printed record (daily part) of a day’s sitting becoming available the next morning, alongside an online version. Each House of Parliament has separate publications. Commons Hansard includes proceedings in the Commons Chamber and Westminster Hall, as well as written ministerial statements, petitions and ministerial corrections, while Lords Hansard details proceedings in the Lords Chamber and Grand Committee. Separate reports are produced of proceedings in Commons General and Public Bill Committees.
To connect to the resource go to: https://hansard.parliament.uk/
Hansard Online Archive for pre-2010 information:
Using Hansard Online:
1. Search for a Member
 |
 |
| (i) Contribution | (ii) Debate, with search terms highlighted |
2. Searching the House of Commons:
3. Searching the House of Lords:
4. Searching by volume