Reports of the decisions of India’s SCC from 1969 are now available to OU members via the Singapore Legal Workbench of LawNet (Singapore Academy of Law) as well as Manupatra (coverage from Manupatra starts with 1950). Both these databases require special passwords even if you are within the OU network, so go to this Weblearn site first, and use your normal Oxford Single Sign On to discover each one’s special open sesame! (Please also remember your netiquette when using either of these sites and Log Out via the Log Out button.)
Once you have logged onto the Singapore site, click on the prominent SCC online logo to go to a search screen.( They recommend that you expand the search screen to full size by clicking on the icon on your browser.)
You are first offered Easy Search – and typing in the name of party is a good simple way to start! Note that after the report of the case you are given both a reminder of the search terms you used, but also (under the red bar) the later history of the case: clicking on either the name of the later case or the next manicule takes you to its report – and, obligingly, back again to your original report. But if you are being simple in the sense of stupid, and search without much precision (eg by just typing in “negligence”), the result will be a polite “Confirmation required” screen which indicates the number of hits (in this case over 900!), and prompting you either to just opt for a certain proportion (in this instance 200) of the most recent or to Edit your search.
The advantage of the Advanced Search option is that it allows you to limit the number of years of the search. Note also that if you are already armed with a citation, a Search by Citation tab is offered from both across the top of the web page and via the left hand column. Make sure to select the journal (or law report series as we might think of them) via the drop down menu first – then when you click into the box to fill in your citation miraculously a good deal of it is ready supplied: all you need do is type the year and the page number correctly!
Incidentally, if an SCC case has been referred to in a Singaporean or Malaysian case, you will be given a hyperlink directly through to the relevant Indian report as part of the reference trace.
