Citation map & precedent relationships
CourtAid's citation map shows how cases relate to each other — what a judgment cites, and what later cases cite it. This helps you find related authorities and understand precedent networks quickly.
Three ways to open the map
1. Search — Map view
On the Search page, switch the view toggle from List to Map.
CourtAid runs a search and displays the top results as an interactive network:
Each node is a case or piece of legislation
Lines show citation relationships between documents
Click a node to see its summary and open Chat PDF, Save, or related actions
Use Map view when you want a visual overview of how authorities in your result set connect.
2. Search — Cites / Cited by tags
On individual search results, look for Cites and Cited by tags (when citation data is available):
Cites — documents this judgment references
Cited by — later cases that reference this judgment
Click a tag to open a popover listing the related documents. From there you can open summaries, chat with a document, or jump to the original source.
3. Chat — Map button
In Chat mode responses, click Map on any citation in the Documents referenced section.
This opens a single-document citation map centred on that authority, showing its cites and cited-by relationships. Useful when a chat answer points you to one key case and you want to explore what it relies on and what has followed it.
See Sources & citations for how citations work in chat.
Reading the map
Node
A judgement or piece of legislation
Edge / line
A citation link between two documents
Selected node
The case you're inspecting — shows date, jurisdiction, and summary
Expand
Open the map full-screen for easier navigation
Click any node to:
Read a short summary
Open Chat PDF to ask questions about that document
Save it to a project
View the Original published source
Cites vs Cited by — which matters?
Cites
Find the authorities this case relied on — useful for tracing the legal basis
Cited by
Find later cases that applied or distinguished this authority — useful for checking if it's still good law
CourtAid shows citation counts where data is available. A heavily cited by case is often (but not always) more influential — always read the citing cases to understand how the principle was applied.
CourtAid does not currently display a separate "authority score" in the UI. Use citation relationships, your own reading, and jurisdiction-specific research to assess precedential weight.
Tips
Start with Map view after a broad Smart search to spot clusters of related cases
Use Cited by on a key authority to find recent applications
Save important nodes to a project as you map out the precedent network
Combine with filters to keep the underlying search jurisdiction-specific
Related
Semantic search — List and Map views
Last updated