The ‘Paragraph’ filter is a graph that lists the paragraphs of the primary judgment on the horizontal (x) axis, and the number of subsequent cases citing those paragraphs on the vertical (y) axis. Each column represents the number of times a paragraph is cited by subsequent cases. When hovering the mouse over columns of the graph, a pop-up appears, providing information on the paragraph number and the number of citing cases.
Scope
Just above the graph, in line with the filter selector, is a hyperlink labelled ‘Scope’. Clicking
on this link will show a pop-up providing information on the scope of the
data covered by the Paragraph Filter feature. It shows which courts and years
are covered, and how frequently the data is updated in CaseBase. Clicking on
he ‘Got it!’ button will close the pop-up.
Using the Graph as a Filter
To limit the case list to see only cases that cite a particular paragraph, click on the column in the graph corresponding to that paragraph. Any case that does not
cite that paragraph is filtered out from the list.
After selecting a paragraph, the selected column is highlighted in blue and a pop-up appears displaying the paragraph number and the number of cases that cite that paragraph. You will also see a ‘Narrow By:’ row appear just above the case list, with a tile indicating the paragraph you have selected. The tile will contain the following text: ‘Cases citing [Y]’ with Y being the paragraph selected.
To choose a different paragraph, click on another column in the graph. To remove a chosen paragraph, click on the ‘X’ in the ‘Cases citing [Y]’ tile. To reset the case list to its default state, where all cases are listed, select the Reset link below the filter.
‘Show cited paragraphs only’ Toggle
A case can be long with a lot of paragraphs, but with only have a small number of paragraphs that are heavily cited. To aid you in locating only cited paragraphs, there is a toggle appearing on the upper right-hand side of the graph labelled ‘Show only cited paragraphs’. Switching this on condenses the graph to show only paragraphs of the primary case that are subsequently cited.
Judge Names
Just above the graph, you will see the name of the judge(s) who have written an opinion in the judgment. The names appear in line with the first paragraph of their reasons. The background colour of the graph also varies slightly between a light and dark grey to indicate where the next opinion starts.
Below the graph, you will find a set of tiles with the names of judges. Hovering over a tile highlights the columns associated with the relevant opinion. Click on a tile to quickly move the graph to the start of the opinion written by that judge.
‘Show only cases that don’t cite specific paragraphs’ Toggle
A toggle appears below the graph, to the right of the ‘Search within’ field. The number appearing beside the toggle label is the number of citing cases from which we have not extracted a paragraph citation for the main judgment.
The toggle is ‘off’ by default when the user arrives at the Paragraph Filter. Turning the toggle on narrows the Case list to show only these cases. It also displays a message in the Paragraph Filter saying ‘Show paragraph citations’.
Use with ‘Search Within’ Filter
Between the Paragraph Filter and the Cases table, you will see a search field displaying the guidance text ‘Search full text documents in this table’. This is the ‘Search Within’ field. The Paragraph Filter has been specifically designed to maximise the usefulness of the Search Within field:
After entering a search term, you will notice some columns in the Paragraph Filter are highlighted in green. The height of the green highlight indicates the number of cases that mention the keyword/s entered in search within AND cite the paragraph of the main case corresponding to the column. Clicking on any highlighted column filters the Case Table to show only cases that cite the selected paragraph AND mention the keyword/s entered in search within. Note: The ‘Search Within’ field searches only the cases which appear in the Cases table. It does not search the body of the cited judgment.