Case Law

When courts write an opinion that decides a dispute, that opinion becomes case law. The court's decision must then be followed in the same jurisdiction in relation to that particular legal question. You can search for federal or state case law via Westlaw Campus Research or Google Scholar.

Select opinions are published in case reporters, which used to only be available as physical books. They are now available in electronic format, but the case citation still references the case reporter. All other cases are unpublished, but still may be of use in legal research even if they are not as persuasive as published cases and they are not binding law.

A case citation includes more components, which are identified below this example of a citation:

Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, 72 F.4th 868 (9th Cir. 2023)

Case name: Johnson v. City of Grants Pass
Volume number: 72
Case reporter: F.4th
Page number: 868
Court: 9th Cir.
- Note: The court is not identified for Supreme Court cases, which have their own unique case reporters.
Year of decision: 2023

For more guidance on case law research, see Harvard Law School Library's Legal Research Strategy guide. For more details on reading case citations, see this Legal Research Basics guide from the Richmond Law Library.