Case law is typically published in a set of paper volumes or in a database of law reporters. A traditional legal citation is used to identify an individual case, but can look different depending on the system of the law reporter in which it is published. Even though you don't need to know the legal citation to find a case in an online database, it is still the most efficient way to find the case.
Let's take a look at an example: New York Times Company v. Tasini. 533 U.S. 483
This case, New York Times Company v. Tasini, is published in volume 533 of the United States Reporter beginning on page 483. This is the official citation for the case.
There may be other citations for the case but they are unofficial, such as its publication in the Supreme Court Reporter (121 S.Ct. 2381).
Oral Arguments, Supreme Court, 1968-present
Oyez Project, Cornell's Legal Information Institute, Justia and Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1955-present
Argument Audio, Supreme Court, 2010-present
Adapted from Constitutional Law I Libguide, Bowdoin College
Adapted from Basic Legal Research guide from Marshall University Libraries, 2019
Online: Using Westlaw, type the partial citation, e.g. 472 U.S. 38 into the search box.
Although much case law is referred to by citation, sometimes you may only have the names of the litigants in the case. For this situation, type the names of the litigants into the appropriate search boxes. Fulltext of the case appears on the screen.
Note: It's usually a little easier to secondary sources, such as encyclopedia and law review articles, to find cases on a particular subject.
Begin with a case of interest. Choose a headnote of interest from within that case. Click on the hotlinked text after the image of a key.