Answered By: Law Library Staff Team
Last Updated: Mar 25, 2023     Views: 401

Case law should be searchable via Google, or other search engines, but there are concerns around this. BAILII has a FAQ which states:

BAILII's policy is that judgments on BAILII should not be accessible using search engines. There are a number of reasons:

  • Occasionally it is necessary to remove a judgment from the BAILII database, for example if BAILII has been provided with a copy of a judgment which discloses confidential information such as the name of a child. This is more difficult once the judgment has been indexed by a search engine, and cannot be carried out promptly.
  • If the text of a judgment is amended by the judge, the unamended version should not be available in the cache of a search engine.

You should search BAILII directly to retrieve a judgment you may be looking for.