How to find court judgments and tribunal decisions

What is published and where

Find Case Law, run by The National Archives, is the main free source for judgments in England and Wales and for the UK-wide courts. It holds the UK Supreme Court and the Privy Council, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and its divisions, and a long list of tribunals, including the Upper Tribunal, the First-tier Tribunal chambers and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Most series start between 2001 and 2003, the Supreme Court from 2009, and each tribunal from the year it was created, with some earlier judgments added. Check the start year for the court you need. A search that returns nothing before that year says nothing about earlier cases.

Employment Tribunal decisions are published separately on GOV.UK, in a register that began in 2017. It lists written judgments and reasons by date, with the claimant, the respondent and a case number in place of a neutral citation. Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions are on Find Case Law from 2021, with earlier decisions on GOV.UK.

BAILII, a free service run by a charity, holds older decisions and some that Find Case Law does not, though its coverage differs. The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website and the Supreme Court's own site carry some judgments too. Numbering and layout differ between services, so note which one you read.

What is not published

Published judgments are a selection. These are often missing, or only partly there:

• Most county court and magistrates' court decisions. Hearings happen every day, but few result in a written judgment that is sent for publication.
• Most Crown Court decisions. Rulings and sentencing remarks are published only in selected cases.
• Settlements, consent orders and withdrawn claims. A dispute that ends before judgment leaves no judgment.
• Employment Tribunal claims that settle, are withdrawn or are decided without a written judgment.
• Cases heard in private, and judgments held back or anonymised by court order, as in some family, mental capacity, immigration and national security matters. Names may be reduced to initials or replaced by a description.

So finding no judgment about a body or company is not evidence that it has never been in court. It means no published judgment was found in the sources searched. Say exactly that.

Searching by name

1. Start with the identifier. For a company, take the number from Companies House and note its previous names with their dates. For a public body, note its full legal name, its predecessors, and any body it was merged into.
2. Search each form of the name as a phrase on Find Case Law. Try it with and without the legal ending (Limited, Ltd, plc) and with the common short form.
3. Narrow by court and date. Challenges to public decisions and procurement disputes sit mostly in the Administrative Court, the Technology and Construction Court and the Court of Appeal. Information rights appeals go to the General Regulatory Chamber. Employment disputes begin in the Employment Tribunal.
4. Search the Employment Tribunal register separately, by respondent name.
5. Open each result and confirm that the party is the one you mean before you note it.

Pitfalls with names

• Similar names. Companies and councils share words and differ by one. A case involving one of several similarly named companies says nothing about the others.
• Group companies. A group has a parent and subsidiaries, each with its own company number and its own accounts. A judgment names the entity that was before the court, which may be the parent, a subsidiary or a trading name. Do not carry a decision across a group without a document that does.
• Names over time. A company named in an older judgment may since have changed its name. A council may have been replaced in a reorganisation, and an NHS body may have been merged or renamed.
• Roles. A council can be the claimant, the defendant, an interested party or the respondent on appeal. It can appear as the planning authority, the landlord, the employer, the regulator or a party named for completeness. The role is in the heading and the opening paragraphs, and what the case means depends on it.
• Missing numbers. Judgments seldom print a company number. A match rests on the name and on facts in the text, such as the registered office or the line of business. Say how you matched.

The guide to company numbers explains why the number, not the name, identifies a company.

Reading a judgment

A judgment opens with a header: the court, the neutral citation, the date, the parties with their roles, the judge and the lawyers. The text usually states the issue, the facts, the law and the reasons, and ends with the order. The order is the decision. The reasons explain it.

Since 2001 most judgments carry a neutral citation, which names the year, the court and a number. The year is the year of judgment. The number is the judgment's place in that court's series for the year, not the order in which cases were heard. Letters in brackets name the division or chamber.

Employment Tribunal decisions have a case number such as 1234567/2024 and no neutral citation. A judgment can be appealed, so look for later history before you rely on one. A reported case may also carry a law report citation, such as [2024] 1 WLR 100, which is a second reference to the same judgment.

How to cite

• Give the neutral citation first, then the court if the citation does not make it clear, the date of judgment, and the address of the page where you read it.
• Name the parties as the judgment names them, with their roles.
• For a quotation, give the paragraph number, as in [2024] EWHC 123 (KB) at [45].
• For an Employment Tribunal decision, give the case number, the tribunal, the date and the GOV.UK address.
• Report what the court decided in its own terms and keep the date. A judgment records the position on the day it was given.

The licence

Judgments on Find Case Law are published under the Open Justice Licence. It allows copying, publishing and re-using the contents, including commercially, on conditions. They include acknowledging the source and not suggesting that The National Archives endorses your use. The acknowledgement reads: Crown copyright material reproduced by permission of The National Archives. The contents of the judgment can be used under the Open Justice Licence.

Bulk or computational analysis needs a separate transactional licence from The National Archives. Institrace holds one, dated 30 September 2026. Employment Tribunal decisions on GOV.UK are under the Open Government Licence. Published judgments are only part of the work of the courts and tribunals, and any search of them should say so.

How Institrace helps

Terms

Appellant

The party who appeals a decision to a higher court or tribunal.

Claimant

The party who brings a claim. In judicial review, the person or body challenging a decision.

Defendant

The party a claim is brought against. In judicial review, usually the public body.

Interested party

A person or body affected by a case who takes part without being the claimant or defendant.

Judicial review

A challenge to the lawfulness of a decision by a public body, heard in the Administrative Court.

Neutral citation

A reference giving the year, the court and a number, which is the same on every service.

Open Justice Licence

The licence under which judgments on Find Case Law may be re-used.

Respondent

The party who answers an appeal or an Employment Tribunal claim.

Questions

Are all UK judgments online?

No. Find Case Law, BAILII and GOV.UK publish a selection. Many county court and tribunal decisions are not published, and settled or withdrawn cases leave no judgment.

How do I find an employment tribunal decision about an employer?

Search the GOV.UK Employment Tribunal decisions register by respondent name, then open the decision to check the employer is the one you mean.

Does a judgment print a company number?

Rarely. Match the party to Companies House by name and by facts in the judgment, such as the registered office, and say how you matched.

Can I quote a judgment in an article or report?

Judgments on Find Case Law may be re-used under the Open Justice Licence with the acknowledgement. Cite the neutral citation and the paragraph, and respect any anonymity order.

Does a judgment about a council or company show it did something wrong?

Not by itself. Read the order and the court's reasons, note the party's role, and check whether the decision was appealed.

Primary sources

• Find Case LawJudgments and tribunal decisions from The National Archives.
• Open Justice LicenceThe terms for re-using judgments, with the acknowledgement.
• Employment Tribunal decisions on GOV.UKThe register of written Employment Tribunal judgments and reasons.
• Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions on GOV.UKEarlier Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions.
• BAILIIA free service holding older decisions and some that other services do not.
• Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: judgmentsJudgments published by the judiciary.
• Companies House: find and update company informationCompany numbers, previous names and registered offices.

Notes on this subject

• Five things a judgment can tell you, and what it cannot4 October 2026

Open next

• Legal
• Legal records
• Five things a judgment can tell you, and what it cannot
• How to check a company number on Companies House
• How to read UK council minutes

Start a trial to search the text of the papers. Titles and counts stay public.