Caselaw Access Project is operated by the President and Fellows of Harvard College (“Harvard”) in support of its mission to educate and disseminate knowledge and information. As used in these Terms of Use, “CAP” refers to the Caselaw Access Project and to Harvard more generally. The “site” refers to the CAP website.

These Terms of Use constitute an agreement between you (either an individual or an entity, referred to herein as “you”) and CAP and governs your access to and use of the API.

Daily caselaw limit

CAP allows access to the full text of a maximum of 500 cases per person per day. By using case.law you agree to restrict your access to 500 cases per day, regardless of the device or devices used for access, and regardless of the URL or method by which the cases are retrieved from the site.

This restriction does not apply to cases from “whitelisted” jurisdictions, as designated on the site, and does not apply to research scholars governed by a separate agreement.

About cite.case.law

"cite.case.law" is a subdomain of CAP that provides access to caselaw for individual readers.

Access to cite.case.law

Unlike the CAP API and bulk download files, cite.case.law is intended for human readers, not for bots or programmatic access.

You shall not:

  1. use robots, spiders, scripts, service, software or any manual or automatic device, tool, or process designed to data mine or scrape cite.case.law, or otherwise access cite.case.law using automated means;
  2. use services, software or any manual or automatic device, tool, or process designed to circumvent any restriction, condition, or technological measure that controls access to cite.case.law in any way, including overriding any security feature or bypassing or circumventing any access controls or use limits.

About the API

CAP provides an application programmer interface (API) as a tool for accessing data and digital files made available through the digitization of portions of the collection of the Harvard Law School Library.

Use of the API is contingent on agreeing to the Terms of Use.

Access to API

CAP reserves the right to limit access or to eliminate access to the API to anyone for any reason.

You shall:

  1. Comply with the Terms of Use.
  2. Comply with any and all legal requirements and restrictions pertaining to the usage of content available through CAP.

You shall not:

  1. Misrepresent or conceal your identity or your application’s identity when using or requesting authorization to use the API.
  2. Use the API for any illegal purpose, including, but not limited to, piracy and other violations of intellectual property rights.
  3. Use an unreasonable amount of bandwidth.
  4. Make an unreasonable amount of calls to the API.
  5. Seek to circumvent limits placed on your token pursuant to these terms by creating additional tokens.
  6. Use the API in a manner that adversely impacts the stability of CAP servers or other applications using the API.
  7. Use the API in connection with spyware, malware, or other malicious programs or code.
  8. Sell, lease or sublicense the API, the API key or access thereto.
  9. Falsely indicate the endorsement by CAP or Harvard of your project by any means.

Compliance with Laws

You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and third-party rights in conjunction with your use of the API.

Authentication Tokens

Certain uses of the API may require you to apply for an Authentication Token. An Authentication Token is a type of credential similar to a username/password that indicates a user is entitled to a certain set of permissions.

By applying for an Authentication Token you warrant the information you supply is true and correct. Your use of an Authentication Token is subject to the terms of this agreement.

Disclaimer of Any Warranty

By using the API, you agree that the API is provided “as is” and your use of the API is solely at your own discretion and risk. You agree that you will be solely responsible for any damage that results from your use of the API. You agree that CAP is not responsible for providing any support for your use of the API.

CAP may discontinue the availability of some or all of the API, its features, or its services at any time for any reason.

Some of the CAP API may be experimental and not tested in any manner. CAP makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the operation of the CAP API or the content available through the CAP API.

To the extent permitted by law, CAP disclaims any and all warranties, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, warranties regarding security, accuracy, timeliness, and performance of the API and the content accessed through the CAP website.

Release, Waiver, and Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you release and waive all claims against CAP, its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents from any and all liability for claims, damages, costs and expenses arising from or related to your use of the CAP API.

CAP shall not, under any circumstances, be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages arising out of or in connection with the use of the API, whether based on breach of contract, breach of warranty, tort, or any other pecuniary loss, whether or not CAP has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Under no circumstances shall CAP be liable to you for any amount.

Hold Harmless and Indemnify

You agree that CAP will have no liability whatsoever with regard to any third-party claims related to your use of the API. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to hold harmless and indemnify CAP, its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents from any third-party claims, damages, liabilities, costs and fees (including attorney fees) arising from or related to your use of the API.

Severability and Integration

If any part of the Terms of Use is found unenforceable, the rest of the Terms of Use shall remain enforceable to the maximum extend of the law.

The Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between CAP and you with respect to the use of the API. The section headings and subheadings contained in the API Terms of Use are included for convenience only, and shall not limit or otherwise affect the Terms of Use.

Eligibility

You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent, and that you are fully competent to use the Site and to enter into and comply with these Terms of Use. In any case, you affirm that you are at least 13 years of age, as the Site is not intended for children who are under 13 years of age. Use of the Site by anyone under 13 years of age is not authorized.

Modifications

CAP reserves the right to change these Terms of Use at any time, at its sole discretion.