Cited authorities

When you open a case, you will usually see the Cited authorities tab at the top of the screen.

This tab presents a list of documents that are cited within the judgment. To choose between seeing cited case law or legislation, click the corresponding link on the left.

Case law as authority

When you select Case law, the first column will show the title and citation of a cited case and, where available, the treatment type above it.

To the right of the title, you will see the number of times that case has been mentioned, together with a Show all references icon, allowing you to see the citations in context.

The Cited in column will show you how many other documents cite this one as precedent. Clicking the number will take you to the full list.

Finally, there will be a Strength bar showing the significance of the authority to the current document.

Show all references icon

Click the Show all references icon to see snippets of the judgment where the cases have been cited. Within this list, the Go to passage icon will take you to the whole document at the point where the current case is cited.

Strength bar

The final column, Strength, refers to the significance of the authority in relation to the current document. Strength takes into account the number of times the document is cited, whether it is quoted, and whether it is discussing similar points of law to the current document.

Legislation as authority

When you select Legislation, the first column will show you how many parts of the legislation have been cited. When the case cites more than one section, clicking this number will expand the sections underneath it to show the relevant information for all sections. If there have been any amendments to the parts of the legislation used, you will see a yellow notification indicating how many amendments there have been.

Where available, the second column shows the treatment type above the title of the legislation.

To the right of the title, you will see the number of times that the legislation has been cited in this case; clicking the Show all references icon will take you to the citations in context.

The Cited in column will display how many other documents cite this one as precedent. Clicking the number will take you to the full list.

Finally, there will be a Strength bar showing the significance of the authority to the current document.

Special characteristics for amended authorities

Caution label

At the top of the Cited authorities tab, you may see a Caution label letting you know that some cited legislation has been updated. The list will highlight the parts that have been amended in yellow. In the example below, from the 11 cited parts of the Human Rights Act 1998 document, 4 parts have been amended. This information can help you avoid using outdated legislation.

Jurisdictions with consolidated texts

In jurisdictions where vLex has the consolidated version of legislation, you will see another column marked Status. This will show you if the legislation is In force, Amended or Repealed.

If an authority is in force with amendments, vLex will show you a timeline under the modified legislation. Hovering over the dots on this timeline will display the amended date as well as the law that modifies the authority.

When this timeline is available, at the top of the list you will see an option marked View currency as of. Modifying this field will change the timeline, showing it for your chosen date.

Video walkthrough