‘Reference Trace’ is the new legal research tool now available in Legal Prospector 2. Reference Trace allows users to accurately trace references and annotations to legislation and cases, both foreign and local. The Reference Trace interface is split into two aspects, ‘Legislation Reference Search’ and ‘Case Search by References’.

Legislation Reference Search

If specific legislation has been referred to in a Singapore Law Report (‘SLR’) case, users will be able to find all SLR cases referring to the specific legislation. Users can locate references to all legislation, including statutes and subsidiary legislation, both local and foreign (United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the United States of America).

Case Search by References

Users are also able to locate subsequent SLR case law referring to a particular case. By entering the title or citation of a case, a user will be shown a results list displaying all the subsequent SLR cases that have ‘Followed’ or ‘Not Followed’, ‘Overruled’, ‘Distinguished’ and ‘Referred to’ the particular case. These annotations allow the user to assess the precedential value of the particular case amongst the web of related reported cases.

This feature also allows the user to see reference material (eg legal journals, textbooks and other legal commentary) that has cited or discussed a particular case (only available for reference material from 2006 forward).  

Reference Trace functionality can also be accessed by clicking the link ‘Reference Trace: Cases, Legislation and References’ in the ‘Information’ portion of each SLR case. Upon clicking, the user can view the list of cases and reference material that have subsequently referred to that particular case. 

Currently, Reference Trace tracks reported SLR cases. The LawNet Secretariat is looking to expand Reference Trace into unreported judgments.

Singapore Academy of Law