Every law student and practicing attorney must be able to find, read, analyze, and interpret case law. Under the common law principles of stare decisis, a court must follow the decisions in previous cases on the same legal topic. Therefore, finding cases

How to Research Case Law. Whether you're employed in the legal field or involved in a lawsuit, chances are that, sooner or later, you'll need to research case law. Case law is developed when judges interpret and apply the laws to the cases that co

In addition to print resources, the public law library also may have subscriptions to legal research databases and search engines, which typically allow you to conduct case law research more efficiently. Major online research databases include Westlaw, Le