Westlaw NZ - How to Find a Case by Citation (3:37 min)
This video will outline how to find a case using a case citation in Westlaw New Zealand.
In WLNZ, if you have an accurate citation for a case, you can find it with that citation
These include citations for both reported and unreported cases, as well as CRI or CIV numbers
Starting on the home page, in the middle of the screen, click the radio button beside “citation” underneath the basic search
Click into the basic search template and enter your citation
WLNZ is not case sensitive, and normally, a citation such as this would contain brackets around the year.
When using WLNZ it is recommended that you leave out all punctuation such as brackets, forward slashes or dashes
So...WLNZ finds the case you requested by its citation.
Notice that this case has several citations, and you could have found the case by using any one of them.
The first citation is the NZ Court of Appeal citation – this is known as a media neutral citation.
The second citation comes from the NZ Law Report series.
The third citation one is the Criminal Reports of NZ citation.
And the last one is the Human Rights Reports of NZ citation.
Links to the full text of reports in WLNZ are indicated with a green highlight.
I’m clicking on the Criminal Reports citation.
The administrative details about the case are at the top – just scroll down to see the wording of the reported version of this case.
PDFs are available for the reported versions – click these to obtain a Court-ready version of the case
Returning to the home page now
Finding cases by their CIV or CRI numbers is also possible, as well as citations for tax and other cases
I’m entering a CRI number for a case – I’ve left out the dashes that normally appear and WLNZ finds it anyway
Returning to the home page
In some instances, where a case has been reported by more than one publisher, there may be several citations
For instance, you may have a citation for the NZ Resource Management Appeals – this is not a WLNZ publication
The equivalent citation in WLNZ is Environmental Law Reports of NZ.
You can click the green link or the PDF to access the case
I hope this video has been helpful.