skills/cite-check/references/authority-sources/united-kingdom.md

# United Kingdom authority sources

Use this page to acquire readable United Kingdom authorities for `/cite-check`. Search public services with citation metadata only. Never send a confidential brief, excerpt, record, or matter facts to a public service merely to find an authority.

## Case law

- Start with The National Archives' [Find Case Law](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/). Its [service description](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about-this-service) covers judgments and tribunal decisions from England and Wales and UK-wide decisions from the Supreme Court and Privy Council. The service says it is not a complete record, and its [coverage page](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/courts-and-coverage) identifies court and date limits. Judgment pages may provide readable HTML, LegalDocML XML, and PDF; save the complete available judgment, not only the result page.
- Find Case Law's coverage page expressly excludes Scottish and Northern Irish courts and tribunals. Use the official [Scottish Courts and Tribunals judgments service](https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/judgments/) or [Judiciary NI judicial-decisions service](https://www.judiciaryni.uk/judicial-decisions) for those jurisdictions, subject to the coverage and access limits of the relevant court.
- Use [BAILII](https://www.bailii.org/) only as a supplementary locator when an official service does not hold the decision. BAILII's [database list](https://www.bailii.org/databases.html) shows that coverage varies, and its [disclaimer](https://www.bailii.org/bailii/disclaimers.html) does not guarantee accuracy, completeness, or currentness. Its [terms](https://www.bailii.org/bailii/copyright.html) prohibit storing search results or HTML judgments and incorporating them into another website or computer-program output without prior written consent. Because `/cite-check` stores supplied material and may quote it in its output, do not use BAILII search results or HTML through this workflow without applicable permission. Instead, obtain an issuing-court copy or another lawyer-supplied authorized copy. Before using a BAILII printable PDF, check the document-specific copyright and reuse position; public accessibility or a user download does not itself supply permission.

Find Case Law's [Open Justice Licence](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/open-justice-licence/version/2) permits ordinary reading, downloading, quotation, citation, and legal research subject to its terms, but excludes computational analysis and requires separate permission for it. Do not assume that public download authorizes AI-assisted processing through `/cite-check`; confirm the applicable licence, exception, or other permission first. A user-supplied download solves technical access, not licensing.

## Legislation and regulations

Use [legislation.gov.uk](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/) for United Kingdom legislation. Its [About page](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/about-us) explains that The National Archives manages the service and that it provides original and revised legislation. Record whether the source is as enacted or made, revised, or point in time; preserve the permanent URI and access date; and inspect any outstanding-effects or commencement warning. The service explains that not every outstanding amendment has been applied and that most secondary legislation is not revised.

## Case-specific materials

Find Case Law and BAILII are judgment repositories, not complete court files. Obtain pleadings, witness material, exhibits, transcripts, orders, and the operative record from the matter workspace, the relevant court or tribunal's official access route, or a person authorized to obtain them. Observe sealing, reporting-restriction, privacy, privilege, and reuse rules; public availability of a judgment does not make the rest of the case file public.

## Preserve the evidence boundary

Do not assume complete coverage. A search hit or public copy does not establish currentness, later treatment, binding effect, or whether the judgment may be cited. Preserve the citation metadata, court, date, neutral citation or other identifier, source URL, retrieval date, complete readable file, and pinpoint. Add the file to the supplied authority set before checking what it says.