Cases Database Instructions

Back to Search Cases

Case Database Search Fields

Case Name: The form that the case name takes comes from either how it is listed in a judge’s notebook or how it is listed in the newspaper report. Some names are spelt incorrectly because that is the way that they were spelt in the original source;

Date: Due to the formatting in our original database, only one date can be included in this field. Some trials take place over several days so the final date when the judgement is given is listed in this field. The first date of the trial can be found in the newspaper report field;

Court: This field indicates which court the case is heard in; Supreme Court, Court of Appeal or Court of Appeals

Location: This field lists the location of where the court sat, this includes both permanent courts and locations of circuit sittings;

Judge: This field lists the judge or judges that presided over the case, includes permanent and temporary judges;

Case Type: This field indicates the type of case at a basic level: Criminal, Civil or Government;

Criminal Charge: This field lists the criminal charge, some cases will have multiple charges;

Criminal Charge Other: This field lists the criminal charge that is not included in the Criminal Charge field, ‘other’ indicates that a charge is less common;

Civil Proceedings: This field lists the type of civil proceedings, some cases will have multiple types of proceedings;

Civil Proceedings Other: This field lists the type of civil proceedings that is not included in the civil proceedings field, ‘other’ indicates that proceedings type that is less common;

Government Proceedings: This field lists the type of government proceeding;

Government Proceedings Other: Enter the government proceedings that are not included in the above field;

Stage of Proceeding: This field indicates each stage of the case: trial, indictment, sentence, appeal, bench warrant, other. Some cases will have multiple entries;

Type of Proceeding: This field lists the type of case. More types will be added in Stage Two;

Name of Counsel: This field lists the name of the barrister representing each party, name of Crown Prosecutor, defence barrister, etc.;

Ethnicity of Plaintiff/Defendant: This field indicates the ethnicity of those involved in the case, either Maori or Pakeha at this stage. Closer details about ethnicity or nationality will be gathered in Stage Two;

Gender of Plaintiff/Defendant: This field indicates the gender of those involved in the case. Closer details about gender will be gathered in Stage Two;

Occupation of Plaintiff/Defendant: This field lists the occupation of those involved in the case;

Key Words: This field lists keywords taken from the case, these keywords are a combination of legal and general language; Statutes Ordinances Cited: This field lists all statutes or ordinances mentioned in the course of the proceedings;

Cases Cited: This field lists all cases mentioned in the course of the proceedings;

Notes: This field includes a brief overview of the case or any aspects of the case that are unusual or interesting;

Jury: This field includes the names of members of the jury, or any important comments the judge makes to the jury;

Witnesses: This field includes brief details about each witness, further detail will be included either in the judges notes or in the newspaper report field;

Judge's Notes: This field provides a full transcription of the judge’s comments on the case;

Date of Judge's Notes: This field lists the date that the judge’s notes were made;

Newspaper Report: This field provides a full transcription of the case as reported by a newspaper;

Sources: This field includes all primary source material available on the case, for example references to judge’s notebooks and newspaper articles;

Supplementary Materials: This field includes secondary source material on the case, for example references to books or journal articles.

Case Database Search Instructions

Advanced Search

Keyword Search - Enter a keyword to search across the whole database;

Case name - Enter the surname of the person involved in the case to search across the case name field in the database;

Date - Enter the date of the final day of the case or the year of the case to search across the date field in the database;

Judge - A drop down selection menu to search by the judge or judges that presided over the case;

Court - A drop down selection menu to search by the court where the case was heard;

Location - A drop down selection menu to search by the location of where the court sat;

Case Type - A drop down selection menu to search by the type of case at a basic level (Criminal, Civil, Government);

Criminal Charge - A drop down selection menu to search by the type of criminal charge;

Civil Proceedings - A drop down selection menu to search by the type of civil proceedings;

Government Proceedings - A drop down selection menu to search by the type of government proceedings;

Name of Counsel - Enter the surname of the counsel involved in the case to search across the name of counsel field in the database;

Ethnicity - A drop down selection menu to search by ethnicity (Maori or Pakeha);

Gender - A drop down selection menu to search by gender.

A combined search is possible when using the advanced search function, for example, it is possible to search across keyword + judge + gender.