Law Resources: The Basics: United Kingdom and Commonwealth

What is it?

Common Law, also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law, or case law, is the body of law created by judges and similar bodies in written opinions. Common law courts look to past precedential decisions of relevant courts, and synthesizes the principles of those past cases as applicable to the current facts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (a principle known as stare decisis). If a court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous, judges have the authority and duty to resolve the issue. The court states an opinion that gives reasons for the decisions. These decisions, combined with past decisions are precedents to bind future judges and litigants.

Collection (available in print and online)

The U.K. and Commonwealth Case Law Collection consists of statutes (laws, acts, legislation), reporters and cases, some dating back as far as the 12th century.

How to access it:

Online versions of these titles can be searched using the databases listed on the right.
For print versions of these titles, portions can be requested via Scan and Send service.
For help finding these titles, please email library.services@usask.ca.

Scan request

Online Access

Australasian Legal Information Institute
AustLII provides free access to Australasian legal materials (legislation, case law, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals) and secondary legal materials.
British and Irish Legal Information Institute
BAILII provides free access to British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports and other law-related British and Irish material.
Commonwealth Legal Information Institute
CommonLII provides free access to core legal information from all Commonwealth countries.

ICLR
The ICLR is a great resource for U.K. case law. As well as the official Law Reports, the ICLR publishes The Weekly Law Reports, The Industrial Cases Reports, The Business Law Reports, The Public and Third Sector Law Reports and the Consolidated Index to leading law reports.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
HeinOnline
English Reports in PDF format.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926
The world's most comprehensive full-text collection of documents from Anglo-American trials from 1600-1926, works pertaining to English-speaking jurisdictions such as the United States, Britain, Ireland, and Canada.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926
Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926 allows you to search every page of legal treatises from the United States and British law published between 1800 and 1926.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.
vLexJustis
A full-text online legal library which contains UK, Irish, EU and international case law, legislation and parliamentary information.
Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Saskatchewan, and walk-in users, for educational, research, and non-commercial personal use. Systematic copying or downloading of electronic resource content is not permitted by Canadian and international copyright law.