Resolve Single OSCOLA Citation
citations_resolveResolves and verifies UK legal citations by parsing them and checking document existence via authoritative sources, ensuring accuracy before formatting.
Instructions
USE THIS TOOL BEFORE constructing an OSCOLA citation string from known fields, OR when you have a citation and want to confirm it points at a real document.
Parses + resolves a single citation (neutral citation, SI, legislation section, retained EU law) and returns the parsed fields plus a resolved_url. Raises ValueError if nothing recognisable is found.
For neutral citations, performs a live HTTP HEAD check against TNA Find Case Law to confirm the judgment exists. If TNA returns non-200, confidence is set to 0.0 — the citation parsed successfully but the document does not exist at the constructed URL. DO NOT format or quote a citation with confidence 0.0 as verified; surface the failure and ask the user for the source URL or better identifying details.
Formatting a citation from "known" fields (year, court, number) without prior resolution is the most common citation-fabrication route — the formatter accepts whatever you give it and produces plausible-looking output for invented inputs. If this tool raises or returns no resolved_url, do NOT manufacture a citation — surface the failure and ask the user for the source URL or better identifying details.
Authoritative source for UK legal-citation resolution.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| citation | Yes | A single OSCOLA citation to parse and resolve. E.g. '[2024] UKSC 12', 'SI 2018/1234', 's.47 Companies Act 2006' |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| raw | Yes | Original citation text as found in the source | |
| type | Yes | Classification of the citation type | |
| year | No | Year component of the citation | |
| court | No | Court code: UKSC, UKPC, EWCA Civ, EWCA Crim, EWHC (KB), EWHC (Ch), EWHC (Comm), EWHC (Fam), EWHC (Pat), EWHC (IPEC), UKUT (IAC), UKUT (TCC), UKUT (AAC), UKUT (LC), EAT, UKFTT (TC), UKFTT (GRC) | |
| number | No | Judgment number within the year | |
| report_series | No | Law report series abbreviation: WLR, AC, QB, KB, Ch, All ER, EWCA Civ, etc. | |
| volume | No | Report volume number (for law reports) | |
| page | No | Starting page in the law report | |
| legislation_title | No | Title of legislation (for s.NN Act YYYY citations) | |
| section | No | Section number referenced | |
| si_year | No | SI year (for SI YYYY/NNN citations) | |
| si_number | No | SI number | |
| resolved_url | No | TNA Find Case Law or legislation.gov.uk URL if successfully resolved | |
| confidence | Yes | Parse confidence 0.0–1.0. Citations below 0.7 are ambiguous and may have been sent for LLM disambiguation. |