How to Analyze Case Authority and Precedent

Learn to analyze case authority in vLex Library. Use the Precedent Map, Cited In tab, and treatment types to verify citations and avoid citing bad law.

Summary

The tools you use to determine if a case is good law vary depending on the jurisdiction. Here is a breakdown of what to expect.

For the UK & Ireland: Editorial Treatment Types

Cases from the United Kingdom and Ireland feature editorial treatment types, which are assigned by the vLex legal team. In the Cited in tab, you will see color-coded labels that describe the nature of the citation:

  • Positive (Green): The case was followed or affirmed.

  • Negative (Red): The case was overruled or reversed. Negative treatments are always listed first.

  • Caution (Yellow): The case was distinguished.

  • Neutral (Grey/Orange): The case was considered or mentioned.

UK & Ireland Cases: See color-coded editorial treatments in the Cited in tab — Green (Positive), Red (Negative), Yellow (Caution), Grey/Orange (Neutral).

For the United States: Vincent Cert™

For United States cases, vLex Library provides our powerful Vincent Cert™ citator service to help you quickly identify negative treatments. Cert combines advanced technology with a dedicated team of legal experts to analyze appellate history and case-to-case citations, ensuring a superior review process.

You will see these flags next to the case name on the results page and within the document viewer. You can click on the flag to view more details about the citing case.

Red (Warning) Treatments

A red flag is a critical warning that a point of law in the case has been invalidated or its precedential value has been severely impacted. It is essential to review these cases carefully before relying on them.

This includes treatments such as:

  • Overrule

  • Vacate

  • Disavow

  • Reverse

  • Abrogate

  • Supersede

Orange (Questioned) Treatments

An orange flag indicates that the case has been criticized or its validity has been questioned by another court, even if it has not been explicitly overturned.

This includes treatments such as:

  • Criticize

  • Disagree

  • Decline to Follow

  • Decline to Extend

Vincent Cert™ flags help you spot negative or questioned treatments in U.S. cases—red for invalidated law, orange for questioned validity.

Court Coverage & Availability: Vincent Cert™ is available for the US Supreme Court, Federal Circuit Courts, and the highest and appellate courts for all states and DC. If you have access to our US content but cannot see Cert citations, please contact your Account Manager.

For All Other Jurisdictions: Unclassified Citations

When researching cases from jurisdictions outside the US, UK, and Ireland (e.g., Canada, Australia, Singapore), you will see citation links in the Cited in and Precedent Map tabs marked as "Unclassified."

This means that while our system has automatically identified the critical citation relationship, an editorial treatment (like "Overruled" or "Applied") has not been assigned. These links are still a powerful starting point for your analysis, allowing you to click through and read the citing case to determine its impact on your research.

For non-U.S. jurisdictions, citations appear as Unclassified—showing who cited your case, without Cert flags, so you can review and analyze directly.

Pro Tip: How to Quickly Analyze an Unclassified Citation When you click on an unclassified citing case, use the "Search in this document" feature to find where your original case is mentioned. Look or judicial language like "we agree with," "we decline to follow," or "the facts of this case are different" to quickly assess how the court treated the precedent.

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