--- name: legal-search-0d7593247512 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)." metadata: { "openclaw": { "emoji": "\u2696\uFE0F", "requires": { "bins": ["curl"] } } } --- # 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 ```bash 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 ```bash curl -s "https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/?q=antitrust+merger&type=r&order_by=score+desc" ``` ### Filter by Date Range ```bash 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 ```bash # 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 ```bash 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') " ``` ### Search by Citation ```bash curl -s "https://api.case.law/v1/cases/?cite=410+U.S.+113" ``` ### Filter by Jurisdiction ```bash curl -s "https://api.case.law/v1/cases/?search=eminent+domain&jurisdiction=cal&decision_date_min=2010-01-01&page_size=10" ``` ## EUR-Lex (EU Law) Access EU legislation, case law, and treaties via the EUR-Lex SPARQL endpoint. ### Search EU Legislation via SPARQL ```bash curl -s -G "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EURLexWebService" \ --data-urlencode "query=SELECT ?doc ?title WHERE { ?doc a ; ?title . FILTER(CONTAINS(LCASE(?title), 'artificial intelligence')) } LIMIT 10" \ --data-urlencode "format=application/sparql-results+json" ``` ### Lookup by CELEX Number ```bash curl -s "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679" -o gdpr.html ``` ## Best Practices 1. Use CourtListener for recent US case law; it has the most up-to-date coverage. 2. Use Harvard Case Law for historical cases and bulk data access. 3. CourtListener requires no API key for basic search; register for higher rate limits. 4. Always include date filters to narrow results for broad legal topics. 5. For citation lookups, normalize to standard reporter format (e.g., "410 U.S. 113"). 6. EUR-Lex SPARQL queries can be complex; start with keyword REST search first. 7. Never provide legal advice; present search results as reference material only. --- Source attribution: beita6969 Original project: https://github.com/beita6969/ScienceClaw/blob/e925f732c7ca435f557e88075bc47a58f1e984f1/skills/legal-search/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2025 Peter Steinberger Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: beita6969 Original project: https://github.com/beita6969/ScienceClaw/blob/e925f732c7ca435f557e88075bc47a58f1e984f1/skills/legal-search/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Education & Research, Legal Roles: Compliance Officer, Legal Operations, Researcher Specialties: Specialty not specified Tools: Courtlistener, Eur Lex, Harvard Case Law Country applicability: United States Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 65284d19575bf78a3b7759117ed8e2ba5f85f23c146955c4356c84f44169f163