The English Reports
Case law of England and Wales can be found in a variety of different sources, some more difficult than others to use and navigate. Set forth below is information on where the case law can be found in cd-rom format. Click here to find where case law can be found online, in both paid databases and free websites.
The English Reports CD-Rom
The English Reports on CD-ROM contains the full text of British cases published between 1220 and 1865. It is the electronic equivalent of the English Reports, a 178 volume set on the first floor of Langdell at KD 270 1220.E5x. The Law Library also has access to all 176 volumes of the English Reports, Full Reprint through HeinOnline's English Reports Library.
The English Reports is not a chronological publication. It is a reprint of hundreds of "nominate" reports, case reporters of specific courts referred to by their creators name. Each case in the English Reports has two cites, an E.R. cite and a nominate report cite.
Access to The English Reports via the CD-Rom
The English Reports on CD-ROM is available from the Start menu on the public terminals in the Library. It cannot be accessed remotely.
Our license specifies that only one person may use it at a time. If you are denied access with the message "Unable to open...The license user limit has been exceeded", please wait a few minutes and try connecting again.
Searching by Citation on the CD-Rom
Near the bottom of the Search pull-down menu there are options to "Search for English Report Volume and Page" and "Search for Nominate Report Volume and Page". Select either of these for a fill-in template to retrieve a case by citation.
Searching by Case Name on the CD-Rom
Use the "Search for Case Name" option near the bottom of the Search pull-down menu. As you fill in the name of the first party, you will see either your case, or close matches from the Table of Cases in the Heading list below. Highlight your case from the Heading List and click "OK".
You can also browse the Table of Cases, a complete list of cases in the English Reports in alphabetical order by party name. The Table of Cases is available in the left frame. Expand the Table of Cases by clicking on the plus sign to its left.
Searching by Topic on the CD-Rom
Avoid using the search box at the bottom of the screen, this will limit your result set to fifty items. Use the Advanced Query option from the Search pull-down menu instead.
The default is to find all search terms anywhere in the document, not necessarily near one another.
Use Boolean operators, wildcards, and truncation to refine your search.
| Connector/Truncator | Symbol | Effect |
| And | & | Both terms must be present in the document |
| Or | | | Either term must be present in the document |
| Not | ^ | The first term must be present but no term following ^ can be present in the document |
| Either/Or | ~ | Either term should appear in the document, but not both |
| Phrase | " " | Exact phrase must appear in the document |
| Wildcard | ? | Replaces one character in the middle or at the end of a word, i.e. wom?n retrieves woman or women |
| Truncator | * | Replaces one or many characters at the end of a word, i.e. judg* retrieves judges, judging, judgment, etc. |
Searching by Date on the CD-Rom
You can limit your searches by date. Use the "Search for Dates and Words and Phrases" option from the Search pull-down menu. This will give you the option of searching for cases published during a specific range of years.
Navigating Results on the CD-Rom
Near the bottom of the screen, you will see the total number of hits for your search, i.e. HIT 1/25. Browse from "hit" to "hit" with the small arrows next to the search box at the bottom of the screen. The small double arrows to the far right will take you through the cases satisfying your search to the portions of text where your search terms appear.
Note that cases are not individual documents in this CD-ROM. When viewing a case, it is possible to scroll right through it to hundreds of other cases. These are not the cases which satisfy your search. They are the proximate cases in the English Reports.
The only way you know a new case begins is by the large, blue headings which precede each case. The lines across the screen indicate the end of a book page in the English Reports, not the end of a case.
Return to prior search results by using the pull-down query box near the bottom of the screen.
The arrows at the top of the screen work like back and forward arrows in a web browser, they take you back and forward to other parts of your research session.
Hit Lists on the CD-Rom
View the hit list by clicking on the Hit List tab near the bottom of the screen. The default is to show each cite with the text where any of your search terms appear. To remove text from the cite list, go to the View pull-down menu and uncheck "Words Around Hits".
It is not possible to "copy and paste" a hit list. Your only option is to print it out.
It is not possible to sort a hit list chronologically. Hit lists from Advanced Queries are in order of English Reports citation. Hit lists from simple queries are in order of "relevance" for your search.
Capturing Search Results on the CD-Rom
COPYING: To cut and paste text, do not use the mouse. Instead, place your cursor at the beginning of the text you want to copy, hold down the Shift key and use the keyboard arrows to highlight text. Then use the Copy command in the Edit pull-down menu to copy and paste it into a word processor.
TAGGING: In the Edit pull-down menu, there is a "Tag Record" command. Do not use this option. Each case is not an individual record; each paragraph is a record. Consequently, when you Tag the case heading, you are only tagging the text in the heading, not the text of the case.
PRINTING: Use the print command in the File pull-down menu. You have the option of printing the hit list, printing a selection (highlighted text), printing all documents, and printing records or sections.
Note that unless you are printing a Hit List, your best option is to cut and paste the text of the cases you want into a word processor.
Help with The English Reports CD-Rom
Online help is not very good. You can access the "Getting Started User Manual" in the left frame. Expand a manual topic by clicking on the plus sign to its left. You can also browse help topics by selecting Contents from the Help pull-down menu.
The English Reports on CD-Rom User Manual is available in the Reference collection on the fourth floor of Langdell at KD 270 1220.E5x.
Please contact the Langdell reference desk, (617) 495-4516, located just off the reading room on the fourth floor of Langdell Hall with any questions about using this resource.
Written by Deanna Barmakian. Revised and updated by Terri Gallego-O'Rourke.