legal-search

name	legal-search
title	Legal Case Law and Regulation Search
description	Search US and EU case law, court opinions, dockets, and regulations via CourtListener, Harvard Case Law, and EUR-Lex. Use when: (1) finding US court opinions by keyword or citation, (2) searching federal and state dockets, (3) querying EU legislation and case law, (4) looking up cases by date range or jurisdiction. NOT for: current legislation text (use congress.gov), legal advice (never provide), patent search (use USPTO APIs).
author	beita6969
author_url	https://github.com/beita6969/ScienceClaw/tree/main/skills/legal-search
license	MIT
version	0.1.0
execution_mode	open
jurisdiction	cross-jurisdiction
practice	litigation
language	en

Legal Case Law and Regulation Search

Search US case law via CourtListener and Harvard Case Law Access Project, and EU law via EUR-Lex. Covers court opinions, dockets, and legislative documents.

CourtListener API (US Case Law)

Free, open API for US federal and state court opinions and dockets. Base URL: https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/

Search Opinions

curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=qualified+immunity&type=o&order_by=score+desc" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for r in data.get('results', [])[:10]:
    name = r.get('caseName', 'N/A')
    court = r.get('court', 'N/A')
    date = r.get('dateFiled', 'N/A')
    cite = r.get('citation', [r.get('sibling_ids', 'N/A')])
    print(f'[{date}] {name}')
    print(f'  Court: {court}')
    print()
"

Search Dockets

curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=antitrust+merger&type=r&order_by=score+desc"

Filter by Date Range

curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=fourth+amendment+digital+privacy&type=o&filed_after=2020-01-01&filed_before=2024-12-31&order_by=dateFiled+desc"

Filter by Court

# Supreme Court opinions
curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=free+speech&type=o&court=scotus&order_by=dateFiled+desc"

# Specific circuit court
curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=patent+eligibility&type=o&court=cafc&order_by=dateFiled+desc"

Common Court Codes

scotus (SCOTUS), ca1-ca11 (Circuit Courts), cafc (Federal Circuit), cadc (DC Circuit), nyd (SDNY), cand (N.D. Cal).

Harvard Case Law Access Project

Historical US case law (1658-2020). Free API with registration. Base URL: https://api.case.law/v1/

Search Cases

curl -s "https://api.case.law/v1/cases/?search=miranda+rights&decision_date_min=2000-01-01&page_size=10" \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
data = json.load(sys.stdin)
for c in data.get('results', []):
    name = c.get('name_abbreviation', 'N/A')
    date = c.get('decision_date', 'N/A')
    court = c.get('court', {}).get('name', 'N/A')
    cite = c.get('citations', [{}])[0].get('cite', 'N/A') if c.get('citations') else 'N/A'
    print(f'[{date}] {name}')
    print(f'  Citation: {cite}  Court: {court}\n')
"