Case Law Research with AI Step by Step
The examples in this guide are based on Czech law. The same tools also work with the Europaius Ireland corpus:
Laws
Case law
Laws with AI explanation
What the connector searches
The find_caselaw_cz tool works with decisions of the Czech Supreme Court (over 160,000), the Czech Supreme Administrative Court and regional courts in administrative proceedings (over 160,000), and the Czech Constitutional Court (over 75,000). Optionally, it can also include 586,000 decisions of district and regional courts from justice.cz; this takes longer, but is worthwhile for less common questions. Each decision includes the case reference, court, date, headnote or excerpt, and a link to the full text.
The search is full-text, so wording matters. Use legal terms as the courts themselves use them: "unjust enrichment", not "someone got rich unfairly". AI usually does this automatically, but if the results don't match, try rephrasing the query.
A method that works
- Brief the AI: topic, legal question, court, period, and desired output. "Supreme Court decisions on the limitation period for damages claims from workplace injuries since 2018 - summarise when the subjective limitation period begins to run."
- First pass: have the AI search and list 8 to 10 decisions with case references and a one-sentence note on relevance.
- Narrow down: select the three most relevant decisions and have the AI retrieve the full text using the
fetchtool and summarise the court's reasoning. - Verify: open the links and read the key passages. Check the date and whether the decision has since been overruled.
- Output: ask for a table: case reference, court, date, headnote, relevance to your case.
How to search by case reference and ECLI
If you already have the case reference, enter it into the query; the full-text search will find it and the AI will retrieve the full decision. For decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court and regional courts, ECLI is more reliable, since the court name is derived from it. Note: an AI that hasn't used the connector will happily invent a case reference for you. Check that the response includes a link to europaius.com.
Comparing case law across countries
The corpus also includes case law from other EU countries, in the original language. For cross-border cases, ask "how do German courts approach the same question"; the AI will search the German-language corpus and summarise the findings in English. The links lead to the original text, so you can have only the relevant passage translated. For more detail, see the guide Comparing EU Law with AI.
The connector address is the same for all tools. Sign in with your email, done in under two minutes.
https://mcp.europaius.com/mcpConnection Guide → · Pricing
Frequently Asked Questions
Decisions are downloaded on an ongoing basis, usually within a few days of publication by the court. The courts themselves publish with a delay, which for the Supreme Court can be several months.
Yes, the search covers the entire text of the reasoning. The result then shows an excerpt around the passage found.
Have the AI generate a table or list and copy it. In developer tools, results can also be obtained as JSON.
Related Guides
Why language models invent non-existent sections and case numbers, known sanction cases, and how a connector t…Laws & Case Law in Claude: Connect via MCP Connector
How to add verified Czech and European legal sources to Claude via the Europaius MCP connector. Step-by-step g…Comparing Law Across EU Countries with AI: One Query, 25 Countries
How to use AI and the Europaius connector to compare how a topic is regulated across several EU countries: the…AI in a Law Firm: Deployment with Verified Sources
How to deploy an AI assistant in a law firm so it helps with research and drafting while citing only real laws…
General information only; does not replace legal advice. Connecting the connector requires a Europaius account (free of charge). More About Europaius · Europaius IE