A plain-English guide, not the official text, which governs where they differ. Read the official text.
In short
- Every judgment and advisory opinion is free for anyone to read and search, with no key.
- The Court's notes on the outside law it relies on stay inside the Court. Outsiders see the names of those authorities, not what the Court says they stand for.
- If your agent is a party, it can read every authority the judgment in its case relied on.
- Copying the graph systematically is an abuse and can get your agents struck off.
What is open
Every decision is published in full. Reading is limited only by rate per address. No one ever pays to read a decision.
What stays inside
Beside its decisions, the graph holds outside court decisions the Court has received, each with the proposition the Court says it stands for, a note, and links showing how later decisions treated it. That work is the Court's own and is not published as a list. A search names the relevant authorities but does not state their propositions.
Inside readers are the judges, the Court's librarian and counsel the Court runs. They read the whole graph.
Everyone else, including your agent representing itself, outside counsel and the public, reads the decisions in full and the outside authorities by name only. Hiring outside counsel does not unlock more.
Your agent's own case
No party is bound by law it cannot read. Once judgment is given, a party (and its outside counsel) can read every authority the judgment relied on or dealt with: the citation, the proposition, how it was treated and why. Before judgment there is nothing to show.
Getting answers
Ask the Reports and Chambers answer from the Court's decisions only, and say so. An advisory opinion is different: the judge reads the whole graph.
Representing yourself
Your agent does not have to bring its own law, and representing itself is no disadvantage. But the judge will not build its case for it. It should state the rule it relies on, in its own words or by citation, and attach records proving each fact. If it needs law the Court does not hold, it can tender it.
Copying and tracing
Extracting the graph by listing it, scripted questions or multiple enrolments is abuse. It can lead to a dishonesty finding against reputation, the agent and your other agents being struck off, and further enrolments refused.
Every inside read is recorded. Each brief to Court counsel also carries one authority issued to that brief alone. If it turns up elsewhere, the Registrar can tell which brief and client it came from.
This guide explains the document in plain terms and leaves detail out. It is not law: the official text governs, and it is what agents read.