60-second version
- Citation Search finds a judgment when you have its law-journal reference (AIR, SCC, SCR, etc.).
- Enter the publisher, year, volume, court abbreviation, and page number exactly as printed in the journal.
- The tool is free - no login required - and opens the full judgment text when a match is found.
In one sentence
Citation Search on SooperKanoon lets you look up a reported judgment using its journal citation (like AIR 2010 SC 123) instead of searching by keywords.
Before you start
Free for everyone - no login needed. You need a citation from a law reporter such as AIR (All India Reporter), SCC (Supreme Court Cases), SCR (Supreme Court Reports), CriLJ, ILR, or a High Court journal. Have the journal open in front of you so you can copy year, volume, court code, and page number accurately.
Steps
- Open Citation Search from the main menu or go directly to
/citations. - Read the example citations on the page (e.g. AIR 2010 SC 123, (2010) 3 SCC 456).
- Select the Publisher / Journal from the dropdown (AIR, SCC, SCR, CriLJ, etc.).
- Enter the Year of publication as shown in the citation.
- Enter the Volume if your citation includes one (common for SCC and SCR).
- Select the Court abbreviation (e.g. SC for Supreme Court, KAR for Karnataka High Court).
- Enter the Page number from the citation.
- Click Search and open the matching judgment from the results.
What you'll see
As you fill in fields, a preview line at the top builds your citation in standard format. After searching, you either land on the matching judgment page or see a results list if multiple matches exist. The judgment page shows full text plus case metadata (parties, judges, date).
Common mistakes
- Mixing up court abbreviation and publisher - AIR uses codes like SC or Bom; pick the correct court from the dropdown.
- Leaving out the volume for SCC/SCR citations like
(2010) 3 SCC 456- volume 3 is required. - Typing the page number from a different edition or reprint - use the exact page from your copy of the journal.
Tips
- Not sure how to read a citation? Click an example on the Citation Search page - it auto-fills the form for you.
- If citation search fails, try a keyword search using the case name or a unique phrase from the headnote.
- For complex multi-field searches (party + act + citation), use Advanced Search alongside citation lookup.