How do I establish whether a case is still good law?

  1. Open the Case Citator search form.
  2. Search for a case by the Case name or its Citation. Fill in the appropriate information and click on Search.
  3. When you have your results displayed, click on the case that you want to review.
  4. For detailed information about the treatment of your case, click on the Cases referring to this case link.

A Case Citator signal appears next to each case in the list.

Case Citator Signals

Case Citator uses signals to indicate what kind of treatment a case has received and whether it can be relied on as good law. The table below explains the meaning of these signals.

TypeValueDescription
Negative Treatment IconNegative Treatment IconThis indicates that the decision has been subsequently overruled, reversed, per incuriam.
Cautionary Treatment IconCautionary Treatment IconThis indicates that the decision has been distinguished, disapproved, questioned, not followed, overruled in part.
Positive Treatment IconPositive Treatment IconThis indicates that the decision has received positive treatment: applied, affirmed, followed, approved
Neutral Treatment IconNeutral Treatment IconThis indicates that the decision has received neutral or ambivalent treatment: cited, considered
Citator Information IconInformation IconThis indicates that no treatment has been given--only citation information is available.
Note: Case Citator signals are designed to provide a quick visual indication of how a case has been treated in subsequent judgments. Users should always conduct further research before deciding whether to rely on a specific case in their legal argument.

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