Help
Welcome to the Help pages for the Oxford Law Citator.
Accessing the Citator record
A link to the Citator record is provided at three points in the ORIL case law document.
The orange icon at the end of the case heading is the first of these. The icon appears after any official number or reference and after the OUP reference for the case. For this first part of the guidance, we have used the Citator record for one of the stages of the Corfu Channel case, ICGJ 201 (ICJ 1949).
The second link is within the document under the 'Previous stages' and 'Subsequent stages' sections of the OUP headnote for the decision. It is within a line of text which reads:
'To access full citation information for this document, see the Oxford Law Citator record'.
The third link is in the left hand TOC navigation bar. Click on any of these links to see the Citator record for the decision.
New windows and use of the back button
Citator records accessed from an OUP website will each open in a new window. Close the window to return to the point at which you entered from the website. Alternatively, leave the window open and switch between Citator and case report via the bottom of your screen.
Citator records accessed from other Citator records operate in a linear way and you should use the back button on your browser to return to the previous Citator record.
Citator record structure
The Citator record is in two distinct parts:
- Citation and other information about this case, including links back to documents in OUP's online collection
- Links section providing access to other Citator records
- Citation and other basic information
- The Citator record first displays basic information about the case, including official numbers or citations, OUP references and parallel citations.
- If the document to which the record relates is held on an OUP service, the link described above will appear near the top of the Citator record and clicking on it will take you to that document, if you subscribe to the relevant OUP online service.
- This first section also contains information on the parties to the case, the date of the decision and the jurisdiction in, or under, which the case was decided.
- This section ends with a description of the procedural stage of the case to which the Citator records relates.
- Links section
The section below the procedural stage, with plus/minus icons next to the headings, consists of:
- Links to related proceedings
- Cross referencing links, to Citator records for:
- decisions, instruments or commentary which this case references, and
- decisions or commentary which reference this case
- Jurisdiction links, to Citator records for individual jurisdictions (including states and courts, plus arbitral and international jurisdictions), to allow you to find related items from that jurisdiction.
It is important to use the plus and minus icons to navigate the links section. Clicking on a blue link will take you to a different Citator record. Clicking on the plus or minus icons will expand the levels below the relevant heading.
See also
related proceedings and
cross referencing.
The Citator record for each published OUP document will initially be in a basic form, to allow you to have access to the Case report and Citator record whilst further linking enhancement is carried out on the content. Links in the links section are usually added post-publication. The record may have no links at all in the links section at publication, or may only have links from other items which also reference it, rather than the other way around.
Even when the enhancement process for this document has been completed, only headings which have links below them will appear.
Accessing the ORIL report of the decision from its own Citator record
The link back to the case report is at the top of the page within the line that starts
'Access this case on:...'
The orange-coloured links in the Citator record always take you back to a published document on the ORIL service, or to an external web source. Click on the 'Access this case' link at the top of the page to be taken to the start of the OUP headnote.
Access more information on the decision
If there is no 'Access this case' link it means OUP does not have a report of the decision on its services. You may also be denied access to the report if you do not subscribe to the relevant module.
Expand the 'Additional information' section to see further information that OUP has recorded in the Citator in relation to the case.
This information may consist of the judges in the case, and the subject terms and keywords applied by OUP to the case report.
Related proceedings
Access information on 'Related proceedings' (i.e. previous or subsequent stages within the same set of proceedings as the one for which this Citator record relates, or related developments involving other cases in a different set of proceedings).
To navigate this section of the Citator record, (and the same applies for the Cross-reference links and Jurisdiction links sections) use the plus and minus icons next to the headings labelled 'Related Proceedings' to drop down the levels contained within.
Choose between Previous stages, Subsequent stages and Related developments as appropriate:
- Previous stages - these are previous stages in the same set of proceedings, which are mentioned in the OUP headnote or in the full text of the decision.
- Subsequent stages - these are subsequent stages in the same set of proceedings, which are mentioned in the OUP headnote or in the full text of the decision.
- Related developments - these are cases in different sets of proceedings, which are mentioned in the OUP headnote or in the full text of the decision, and which have an impact on, or are closely related to, the case in question. (e.g. domestic proceedings following a decision in an international court, or civil proceedings between the same set of parties as are involved in the instant criminal case.)
A list of links will be displayed:
- Blue links with a small orange and white icon at the end of each link will take you to other Citator records
- Orange-coloured links with a document icon at the end of the link take you directly to the OUP online report of the case with the full text of the decision appended. Or to the full text on a non-OUP website
'Referenced at' links
Links displaying under the 'Referenced at' heading appear in orange with the document icon at the end of the link.
These links take you to places in documents within OUP's collection where the item in question was referenced (ie the item for which a blue link is displayed above the relevant 'Referenced at' heading).
Cross-referencing links
For this part of the guidance we have used as an example the Citator record for the case of Maroufidou v Sweden, IHRL 1734 (UNHRC 1981)
Access information on the decisions, instruments or commentary that are discussed or mentioned in the published document.
Use the tree view navigation icons to expand the discussed and mentioned headings, and you will see listed any instruments, decisions or commentary mentioned in the OUP headnote or the full text of the judgment.
The navigation using plus and minus icons is consistent with the instructions given for the Related proceedings links. The same goes for the rules in relation to blue links with an orange icon taking you to other Citator records whereas orange links with a document icon take you to documents on an OUP service or external web source.
Find other decisions which mention or discuss this case, or access commentary about this case
Follow the blue links to Citator records for the referenced items.
Above we have clicked on the blue link to the Citator record for the second instrument listed as mentioned in the case of Maroufidou v Sweden - i.e. the
Optional Protocol I to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN)
The Citator record for the Optional protocol will list all other documents in OUP's collection (once they have been through the post-publication enhancement process) which reference that same item or any part of it. If the document itself appeared on an OUP service there would be a link to it, and links to external web sources may also be added.
You can navigate their way along the citation trail from Citator record to Citator record, researching into the cross references and stopping to look at the full text of the decisions or instruments which are held on ORIL or accessible via a link to an external web source.
