Let's have a look at Westlaw AU first. Their built in Case citator, Keycite, will help you determine:​

1. All of the citation details for a Case - see red box 
2. If the Case has been Reported in more than one series of Reports - see red box
3. Whether the Case has been Reported in an Authorised Law Report Series - see red box
4. Whether any later Cases have considered the Case - see red arrow 1
5. Which earlier Cases were used by the Case, as authorities - see green arrow
6. If journal articles have considered the Case - see red arrow 2
7. If the Case has considered Legislation - there is no example here, but if any legislation is considered by a Case, the information will appear in the "Citing References" section, or the text of the Case. 

Westlaw AU will also offer links to the full text of the Judgment if it is available from the publisher of the citator. See blue arrow. For this Case, it is recommended to access the CLR version, as this is the most Authorised version. 

They also provide Case treatment annotations. Annotations help you understand more about the history of a Case and whether it is still considered good law - see yellow arrow. 

Watch this short video made by Westlaw AU. It describes the KeyCite flags and how you can use them, to help you determine whether a Case still represents good law. 

Let's have a look at Lexis+. Their built in Case citator, CaseBase, will help you determine:​

1. The Court the Case was heard in, the Judges that presided and the judgment date - see information under red box
2. The citation details for a Case - see red box
3. If the Case has been Reported and where the Case has been Reported - see red box. In this example, the Case has been reported in 4 different places! Commonwealth Law Reports, Australian Law Reports, Australian Law Journal Reports, Equal Opportunities Cases. You will also notice that the citation details in the red box, includes the medium neutral citation given by the High Court (which as you know, is the Unreported citation)
4. Which of these Reported versions is the Authorised Law Reporter - see red box and red arrow
5. Whether any later Cases have considered the Case - see blue arrow 
6. Which earlier Cases were used by the Case, as authorities - see green arrow
7. If journal articles have considered the Case - see yellow arrow
8. If the Case has considered Legislation - see black arrow. 

This Case citator also offer links to the full text of the Judgment if it is available from the publisher of the citator. In this example, the publisher only provides access to the ALR version. It does not provide access to the CLR version. Top tip: the ALR version is not the most authorised version of this case. The CLR version is and this is the version that should be cited in an essay. As we have found out in the previous tab, you can access the full text CLR version from Westlaw AU, as Westlaw AU publishes the Commonwealth Law Reports! So, it is always recommended to look up Cases in both Databases, as the legal publishers publish different Reporters. For more information on citing Cases have a look at our UWA AGLC4 Referencing Guide.  

The CaseBase citator also provides case treatment annotations. Annotations help you understand more about the history of a Case and whether it is still considered good law - see green box. 

For more information on these annotations please see this page from the online book Legal Research Skills: An Australian Law Guide: 2024 Edition (compliments of University of Queensland Law Library, James Cook University, the University of Southern Queensland, Charles Darwin University, Southern Cross University, Queensland University of Technology, Deakin University and University of South Australia).

For more information, have a look at the Lexis+ publisher made video:

There are also a few of freely available databases that also provide Case citator functionality:

• Jade Barnet
• AustLII (Cited by links that may be available to the right of the Case) 
• Lawcite (AustLII)
• LawCite