Advanced Criminal Law

Understanding the case citation is your greatest asset when searching for cases. Citations include the names of the parties, the year the case was reported, the law report in which the case can be found (along with the volume and page number), and the division of the court where the case was heard. Identifying the Law Report can save you time and prevent you from looking in the wrong place.

Take the case of S v Makwanyane and Another 1995 (6) BCLR 655 (CC) as an example: 

The first step is to identify which database contains your law report. 

Then select the database from the UWC Libraries page under the 'A- Z Databases' list, using the first letter of the database that you want to use (eg. 'M' for 'My LexisNexis').

LexisNexis (South Africa) contains the All South African Law Reports, the Butterworths Constitutional Law Reports, the Competition Law Reports, the Butterworths Arbitration Law Reports, the Butterworths Labour Law Reports and the Butterworths Pension Law Reports.

It also contains the All England Law Reports and the Canadian Rights Reporter.

Juta contains the South African Criminal Law Reports, the South African Labour Law Reports and the South African Law Reports. 

The Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII) publishes legal information for free public access which comprises mainly of case law and legislation from South Africa.

SAFLII also hosts legal materials from other countries in the region which are obtained through partnerships, collaborative efforts and more recently through linking to other Legal Information Institutes established in these regions.

In the main search box on the page, insert your case name and press "Search". A results list should show your case. In order to view it, click on the title of the case and a new page will open showing your case.

If your case doesn't show, then try using the advanced search and clicking on the "this case name" box before pressing search.

If your case doesn't show up in any search, it is possible to look for cases using the court that the case was heard in. Select 'South Africa' on the left hand column and then select your relevant court eg. 'Constitutional Court'. You can then browse cases by year and find yours.