CaseCite — UK, EU & ECHR Law → BibLaTeX

A VS Code extension (with a standalone Python script) that searches legal databases and produces @jurisdiction and @legislation biblatex entries compatible with OSCOLA / biblatex-oscola.

Sources

Output examples

UK case

@jurisdiction{ittihadieh,
	date = {2017},
	keywords = {gb},
	number = {[2017] EWCA Civ 121},
	pagination = {[]},
	title = {Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens {RTM} Company Ltd \& Ors}}

UK primary legislation

@legislation{ucta,
	title = {Unfair Contract Terms Act},
	date = {1977},
	entrysubtype = {primary},
	pagination = {section},
	keywords = {en},
}

UK statutory instrument

@legislation{disorderly,
	title = {Penalties for Disorderly Behaviour (Amendment of Minimum Age) Order},
	date = {2004},
	entrysubtype = {secondary},
	pagination = {regulation},
	keywords = {en},
	number = {SI 2004\slash 3166},
}

Devolved legislation (Scottish, Welsh, NI)

@legislation{welshtax22,
	title = {Welsh Tax Acts etc. (Power to Modify) Act},
	date = {2022},
	entrysubtype = {primary},
	pagination = {section},
	keywords = {cy},
	number = {asc 2},
}

Assimilated EU law (via UK Leg tab)

@legislation{regulationeu16,
	title = {Regulation ({EU}) 2016/679 of the European Parliament...},
	date = {2016},
	entrysubtype = {secondary},
	pagination = {article},
	keywords = {eu, assimilated},
}

EU judgment

@jurisdiction{rijkeboer,
	date = {2009-05-07},
	ecli = {EU:C:2009:293},
	institution = {CJEU},
	keywords = {eu},
	number = {C-553/07},
	title = {College van burgemeester en wethouders van Rotterdam v M.E.E. Rijkeboer}}

EU AG Opinion

@jurisdiction{rijkeboerAG,
	date = {2008-12-22},
	ecli = {EU:C:2008:773, Opinion of AG Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer},
	institution = {CJEU},
	keywords = {eu},
	number = {C-553/07},
	pagination = {point},
	title = {College van burgemeester en wethouders van Rotterdam v M.E.E. Rijkeboer}}

EU legislation

@legislation{200260EC,
	title = {Council Directive 2002/60/{EC} of 27 June 2002...},
	date = {2002},
	type = {directive},
	entrysubtype = {directive},
	number = {2002/60/EC},
	journaltitle = {OJ},
	series = {L},
	issue = {192},
	pages = {27},
	keywords = {eu},
	pagination = {article},
}

ECHR — Reported (Series A)

@jurisdiction{johnston86,
	title = {Johnston v Ireland},
	reporter = {Series A},
	pages = {122},
	date = {1986},
	institution = {ECtHR},
	keywords = {echr},
}

ECHR — Reported (ECHR Reports)

@jurisdiction{osman98,
	title = {Osman v UK},
	reporter = {ECHR},
	date = {1998},
	volume = {8},
	pages = {3124},
	institution = {ECtHR},
	keywords = {echr},
}

ECHR — Unreported

@jurisdiction{balogh04,
	title = {Balogh v Hungary},
	number = {47940/99},
	date = {2004-07-20},
	institution = {ECtHR},
	keywords = {echr},
}

ECHR — Commission Decision (with DR)

@jurisdiction{simpson86,
	title = {Simpson v UK},
	date = {1989},
	volume = {64},
	journaltitle = {DR},
	pages = {188},
	institution = {Commission},
	keywords = {echr},
}

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+ (standard library only for UK/EU features)
• VS Code 1.80+
• Optional: pip install echr-extractor for ECHR support (you'll be prompted if needed)

As a VS Code extension

1. Clone or download this folder.
2. Open it in VS Code.
3. Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
4. The CaseCite icon appears in the activity bar (sidebar).

To package for permanent installation: vsce package --allow-missing-repository then install the .vsix.

As a standalone CLI

chmod +x scripts/casecite.py
ln -s "$(pwd)/scripts/casecite.py" ~/.local/bin/casecite

VS Code sidebar

The sidebar has five focused tabs — each queries only its own source for fast results:

Features:

• Live bib preview — click a result to see the formatted entry; cite key, shorthand, and shorttitle are editable inline
• One-click actions — Insert at cursor, Append to .bib file, Copy to clipboard
• Keyboard navigation — Arrow keys move through results
• Smart title display — EU legislation titles strip institutional boilerplate ("of the European Parliament and of the Council of DD Month YYYY") so you can see the actual subject matter

Supported courts

The extension parses neutral citations for all UK courts and tribunals, including:

England & Wales: UKSC, UKPC, EWCA Civ/Crim, EWHC (all divisions), EWFC, EWCOP, EAT, CAT

Tribunals: UKUT (AAC, IAC, LC, TCC), UKFTT (GRC, TC, IAC, HESC, SEC, PC, RPV, WP, WPAFCC), UKIPTrib, UKSIAC

Northern Ireland: NICA, NIKB, NIQB, NICh, NIFam, NICC, NIMaster

Scotland: CSIH, CSOH, HCJ, SAC

The neutral citation regex is permissive — new court abbreviations are parsed automatically even before COURT_MAP is updated.

UK legislation type mapping

Commands

CLI usage

casecite.py {uk,eu,euleg,echr,ukleg,search,cache} [options]

Examples

# UK cases
casecite.py uk "[2024] UKSC 30"
casecite.py uk "[2025] UKFTT 798 (GRC)"
casecite.py uk "Ittihadieh"

# UK legislation
casecite.py ukleg "Data Protection Act"
casecite.py ukleg "ukpga/2018/12"

# EU cases
casecite.py eu "C-553/07"
casecite.py eu "62013CJ0212"
casecite.py eu "ECLI:EU:C:2014:2428"

# EU legislation
casecite.py euleg "32016R0679"
casecite.py euleg "platform"

# ECHR
casecite.py echr "Osman v UK"
casecite.py echr "47940/99"

# Targeted search (only queries one source — fast)
casecite.py search "data protection" --source uk
casecite.py search "transport" --source ukleg
casecite.py search "privacy" --source echr

# Options
casecite.py eu "C-553/07" --key rijkeboer
casecite.py eu "C-553/07" --append ~/thesis/cases.bib

# Cache
casecite.py cache list
casecite.py cache export -o ~/all-cases.bib
casecite.py cache clear

Settings

Architecture

casecite/
├── package.json           # VS Code extension manifest
├── src/
│   ├── extension.js       # Extension entry (commands, completion, registration)
│   └── sidebar.js         # WebviewViewProvider (sidebar UI)
├── scripts/
│   └── casecite.py        # Python script (all API logic, formatting, caching)
└── README.md

The extension is a thin JS wrapper. sidebar.js renders the webview and relays messages to the extension host, which spawns casecite.py --json as a subprocess. All API logic, OSCOLA formatting, and caching lives in the Python script — no npm dependencies beyond the VS Code API.

Technical notes

CELLAR SPARQL

All CELLAR queries use the STR() / FILTER pattern required since the Virtuoso 7→8 upgrade (March 2026). The search queries are lightweight (CELEX sector filter + title CONTAINS only) to avoid SPARQL timeouts. Direct CELEX/ECLI/case-number lookups bypass text search entirely.

EU legislation OJ references

Extracted from Formex XML via content negotiation with CELLAR. Handles both the old schema (formex-05, pre-2023: <PUBLICATION.REF> with volume and page) and the new schema (formex-06, 2024+: <BIB.OJ> with series only — no page numbers per the new OJ format). Falls back to CELEX descriptor letter for the OJ series when Formex is unavailable.

ECHR

Requires pip install echr-extractor. The extension checks on first use and displays an install instruction if missing — no auto-install. Reporter parsing handles Series A, ECHR Reports (with Roman numeral volume conversion), and Commission Decisions and Reports (DR). HUDOC dates are normalised from DD/MM/YYYY or ISO formats to YYYY-MM-DD.

Network resilience

SPARQL queries retry up to 2 times on transient DNS/network errors. If SPARQL fails entirely, EU case lookups fall back to extracting metadata from Formex XML (parties, ECLI, case number, date).

API documentation

• National Archives: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk
• legislation.gov.uk: https://www.legislation.gov.uk (identifier search + XML metadata)
• CELLAR SPARQL: https://publications.europa.eu/webapi/rdf/sparql
• HUDOC: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int (via echr-extractor)

Licence

MIT