Help for Simple search

Simple search is a quick way to find case law based on a full-text search. You can find case law containing all or some of the terms you type in the 'Keywords' field, depending on how you formulate your search. For best results:

• Type in your search words and criteria. You can use three Boolean operators: and, or & not. For example, a search for [corporate and liability] will search for case law with both the term corporate and the term liability in the text of the opinion. If you would like to search for cases which contain a specific phrase, put the phrase between quotes in the search field (i.e. "corporate liability"). The entire phrase will be interpreted as a unit. If you want to use the Boolean operator not, please put it at the end of the query [John or Rick not James]. Currently, our system supports only * as wildcards.
• If you use more than one search operator in the 'Keywords' field, you can use parentheses to indicate the order in which to process the search.
  
  For example, the search (libel and slander) or defamation is very different from the search libel and (slander or defamation).
• In the 'Keywords' field, it will influence your search results if you use double quotes around words or phrases. If there is a double quote, the search engine will display all those cases where there is at least one occurence of the search term you were looking for.
  
  If you type in "voluntary" for example it will show you all documents that has the word voluntary in them as an exact match. The highlighter function may find similar words with pre- or suffixes but the document must have at least one exact match. If you do not use double quotes, the search engine assumes that suffixes are allowed, so it will find all those documents that have any words that are exact match and/or starting with the keyword you typed, so for bus it will also find buses.
• On the search page you may choose to sort your results by case name or by date. You may also alter the number of results to view on one page (10, 20, 50 or 100). Click the 'Submit search' button to view your results.
• Once your results are displayed, the highlighter will show you the keywords found in each case. Click on the keyword to take you to that particular place in the text. Please note: keywords will be highlighted only if there is an exact match in the text. The highlighter will not work when searching for more than one keyword if the terms are not enclosed in quotation marks.
• Please note: If you click on the pdf link, to download the pdf version of a case, your search terms will not be highlighted.
• Our service is not case-sensitive.

Help for Advanced search

Advanced search is a more targeted way of searching the case law database.

• You have several fields to choose from. You may search specifically in each field if you know the necessary information (docket number, case name(s), and keyword(s)). You can also select a date range to limit your search to a specific time period. Fill one or all fields, depending on your needs. The less information you give, the wider the search results may be.
• Please note: you can only use Boolean operators or create phrases with quotes in the 'Keywords' field, and not in any other search field. For example, a search for [corporate and liability] will search for case law with both the term corporate and the term liability in the text of the opinion. If you would like to search for cases which contain a specific phrase, put the phrase between quotes in the search field (i.e. "corporate liability"). The entire phrase will be interpreted as a unit. If you want to use the Boolean operator not, please put it at the end of the query [John or Rick not James]. Currently, our system supports only * as wildcards.
• If you use more than one search operator in the 'Keywords' field, you can use parentheses to indicate the order in which to process the search.
  
  For example, the search (libel and slander) or defamation is very different from the search libel and (slander or defamation).
• In the 'Keywords' field, it will influence your search results if you use double quotes around words or phrases. If there is a double quote, the search engine will display all those cases where there is at least one occurence of the search term you were looking for.
  
  If you type in "voluntary" for example it will show you all documents that has the word voluntary in them as an exact match. The highlighter function may find similar words with pre- or suffixes but the document must have at least one exact match. If you do not use double quotes, the search engine assumes that suffixes are allowed, so it will find all those documents that have any words that are exact match and/or starting with the keyword you typed, so for bus it will also find buses.
• On the search page you may choose to sort your results by case name or by date. You may also alter the number of results to view on one page (10, 20, 50 or 100). Click the 'Submit search' button to view your results.
• The highlighter in Advanced Search will only highlight keywords. The highlighter will not work when searching for more than one keyword if they are not enclosed in quotation marks. Please note: If you click on the pdf link, so download the pdf version of a case, your search terms will not be highlighted there.
• Our service is not case-sensitive.

Words that are ignored

about	can	how	on	their	what
after	come	if	only	them	when
all	could	in	or	then	where
also	did	into	other	there	which
an	do	is	our	these	while
and	does	it	out	they	who
another	each	its	over	this	will
any	else	just	re	those	with
are	for	like	said	through	would
as	from	make	same	to	you
at	get	many	see	too	your
be	got	me	should	under	abcd
because	had	might	since	up	efgh
been	has	more	so	use	ijklm
before	have	most	some	very	nopq
being	he	much	still	want	rstuv
between	her	must	such	was	wxyz
both	here	my	take	way	1234
but	him	never	than	we	567890
by	himself	not	that	well	now
came	his	of	the	were	*

Words in bold are used as Boolean operators.