The Law Reports – Introduction

This electronic version of The Law Reports incorporates the complete text of the printed publication. The Law Reports dates back to 1865 and is the authoritative source for published reports of cases that constitute binding precedents in English law; it is published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales.

The Law Reports database is updated monthly on the Justis website.

There have been 3 series of The Law Reports:

First series (1865–1875)
Admiralty and Ecclesiastical Cases	A. & E.	(volumes 1–4)
Chancery Appeal Cases	Ch. App.	(volumes 1–10)
Common Pleas	C. P.	(volumes 1–10)
Crown Cases Reserved	C. C. R.	(volumes 1–2)
Equity Cases	Eq.	(volumes 1–20)
Exchequer	Exch.	(volumes 1–10)
House of Lords	H. L.	(volumes 1–7)
Privy Council	P. C.	(volumes 1–6)
Probate and Divorce	P. & D.	(volumes 1–3)
Queen’s Bench	Q. B.	(volumes 1–10)
Scotch and Divorce Appeals in the House of Lords	Sc. & Div.	(volumes 1–2)
Second Series (1875–1890)
Appeal Cases	App. Cas.	(volumes 1–15)
Chancery Division	Ch. D.	(volumes 1–45)
Common Pleas Division	C. P. D.	(volumes 1–5)
Exchequer Division	Ex. D.	(volumes 1–5)
Probate Division	P. D.	(volumes 1–15)
Queen’s Bench Division	Q. B. D.	(volumes 1–25)
Third Series (1891–present day)
Appeal Cases	A. C.
Chancery	Ch.
Family	Fam.	(since 1972)
King’s Bench	K.B.
Probate	P.	(until 1971)
Queen’s Bench	Q. B.

Section 10.1 of the Practice Direction for the Court of Appeal Civil Division stipulates that if a case is reported in The Law Reports, then that report should be cited.

Many cases that will appear in full in The Law Reports database can be found earlier in summary form in the Daily Cases database.

More information about The Law Reports database