Results
If your search finds more than one match you will be taken to a results screen showing a list of the document titles together with a host of other important information about each document.
To view the full JustCite information screen for a document simply click on its title.
Result Ranking
By default, results are sorted according to their JustCite Ranking.
The JustCite Ranking System is an innovative approach to ranking search results based on the relative importance of the documents returned. A document’s importance is determined by a range of factors, chief amongst which is how many other documents make reference to it.
A document’s JustCite Ranking is a good indication of its legal significance and therefore its relevance to your search, but there are a number of other options for sorting and filtering detailed below.
Profile Cards
Results on JustCite are presented as Profile Cards – an overview of the information JustCite has about a particular document.
The information that appears on a profile card varies depending on the document type it represents:
Profile Cards for Cases
- Title of the case
- Year in which the case was first reported
- Most authoritative citation for that case
- Key words or phrases that summarise the case
- Document type label indicating that it is a case
- Flag indicating the jurisdiction in which the case was heard (Move your mouse over the flag to see more detailed information on the jurisdiction)
- Indication of how the case has been treated by subsequent cases, broken down into positive, neutral and negative treatments
A note for non-lawyers about positive, neutral and negative treatments.
When Judges refer to previous cases in their judgments, their treatment of them can be characterised as either positive, neutral or negative.
Positive Treatments
Any instance in which the case has been cited with approval will be entered as a positive treatment. This will include subsequent cases which actively follow the reasoning in the instant case, and decisions of appellate courts which approve decisions of inferior courts as correct. Positive treatments are coloured green within JustCite. |
Neutral Treatments
The case was referred to in a subsequent case but, while it did not form the basis for the subsequent decision, nor was it dismissed as wrong, outdated or irrelevant. It is usual for a number of cases to be cited in building the reasoning behind a case (the point they deal with might not be in contention). Neutral treatments are coloured yellow within JustCite. |
Negative Treatments
The case was referred to in a subsequent case, but the judge in the subsequent case either overruled it or otherwise declined to follow it, either because they considered it irrelevant or incorrect, or because they considered themselves bound by, or simply preferred, some other authority. Once a case is overruled it is no longer authority for any question of law it decides. Other negative treatments are not necessarily fatal but can still reduce the weight of authority carried by a case. Negative treatments are coloured red within JustCite. |
See the list of citation definitions for an exhaustive list of all treatment types. |
Profile Cards for Legislation
- Title of the Act / Statutory Instrument
- Year the legislation was passed
- Statutory reference
- Individual section title (if Act) or keyword (if SI)
- Document type label indicating that it is a piece of legislation
- Flag indicating its jurisdiction
Profile Cards for EU Materials
- Title of the EU document
- Year the document was published
- Electronic EU reference (usually a CELEX number)
- Publication reference
- Document type label indicating that it is an EU document
- Flag indicating its jurisdiction
Profile Cards for Articles
- Title of the article
- Year the document was published
- Article or journal reference
- Key words or phrases that summarise the article or journal
- Document type label indicating that it is an article
- Flag indicating its jurisdiction
Sorting and Filtering Results
You can manipulate the results list in two ways, by:-
- reordering the results; or
- filtering the results.
Reordering the results
By default results are ordered according to their JustCite Ranking. Using the dropdown on the right of the screen you can sort results from newest to oldest (reverse chronological) or from oldest to newest (chronological).
Filtering the results
There are three different ways you can narrow down the list of results:
Filter by material type - To narrow down your results to show only Cases, Legislation, EU Materials or Articles & Journals, simply click on the relevant material type on the left hand side of the list of results. The number in brackets after the material type shows the number of results of that particular material type returned by your search, thereby giving you an idea of how effective filtering by material type is likely to be.
Text filter - To keep only results containing a particular keyword, type the word or a part of the word into the text filter box on the left of the list of results. JustCite will filter the results to show only those containing the keyword somewhere in their JustCite information.
A notable feature of the text filter is that it matches not only the exact text you enter but also any word beginning with that text. For instance, entering insolv will match results containing the words insolvent, insolvency and so on.
Remember, JustCite is not a full text database so you are only filtering by the titles, references and subject matter of these documents; you cannot refine by judges’ names, for example.
Filter by jurisdiction - To narrow down your results to show only documents from certain jurisdictions, click on the Refine by jurisdiction link on the left hand side of the results list. This will bring up a pop-up box that lists the different jurisdictions that make up your current set of results. Tick the boxes of those jurisdictions that you wish to keep in the results list and click Apply; results from other jurisdictions will be filtered out.
To remove one or more filters, click the red ‘x’ next to the filter type under “Remove Filters” on the left-hand side of the screen.