apipick
[ search · endpoint ]Search API · UK Legal

UK Case Law & Legislation Search API

Query UK case law and primary legislation from one endpoint. Pre-shaped JSON for AI-driven legal research, compliance review, and statutory interpretation.

●60 credits / call●30 req / minPOST /api/search/uk-legal
[ 01 · live ]

Try UK Legal Search Live

Enter your API key and run a real query against the live endpoint.

auth · x-api-key

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5 sample queries — click to load
[ 02 · integrate ]

Integration guide

Copy a snippet, replace your API key, run. Works in any HTTP client — examples below in cURL, JavaScript, and Python.

spec
POST/api/search/uk-legal
base
https://www.apipick.com

Semantic search across UK case law and primary legislation. Returns judgment titles, statute sections, and source URLs ready for downstream LLMs.

parameters
querystringrequired

Natural-language search query

max_num_resultsintegeroptional

1–5, default 5

relevance_thresholdnumberoptional

0.0–1.0 quality filter

country_codestringoptional

ISO country code (e.g. US, GB)

start_datestringoptional

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

end_datestringoptional

ISO date YYYY-MM-DD

curl -X POST "https://www.apipick.com/api/search/uk-legal" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "query": "data protection breach damages",
  "max_num_results": 5,
  "country_code": "US",
  "start_date": "2026-01-01"
}'
● 200 · response
{
  "query": "data protection breach damages",
  "results": [
    {
      "title": "Example result",
      "url": "https://example.com/article",
      "snippet": "Short excerpt of the page content…",
      "source_type": "web",
      "published_at": "2026-04-15",
      "score": 0.92
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 1,
  "credits_used": 60,
  "remaining_credits": 99
}
[ 03 · limits ]

Rate limits

Throttling is per API key, sliding 60-second window. Hit the limit and you get a clean 429 with a Retry-After header.

request rate

30req/min

Per API key, per endpoint. Sliding 60-second window.

concurrency

3concurrent

Max simultaneous in-flight requests per API key.

response headers
X-RateLimit-LimitMaximum requests allowed per minute
X-RateLimit-RemainingRequests remaining in the current window
X-RateLimit-ResetSeconds until the current window resets
Retry-AfterSeconds to wait before retrying (only on 429)
● 429 · too many requests
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
X-RateLimit-Limit: 30
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
X-RateLimit-Reset: 12

{
  "error": "rate_limit_exceeded",
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded: 30 requests/minute per API key. Retry after 12s.",
  "retry_after": 12
}
[ faq ]

Frequently Asked Questions

01

Which sources are covered?

UK case law (judgments from English & Welsh courts) and UK legislation (Acts and Statutory Instruments). The Hansard / parliamentary debates source is excluded — that's on a higher tier we'll add later.

02

Is this legal advice?

No. Output is informational retrieval over public legal corpora. Always consult a qualified solicitor for actual legal advice.

03

Can I get the full judgment or statute text?

Results include passages plus source URLs. To pull the full document, use POST /api/extract on the URL — returns clean markdown ready for LLM ingestion.

04

Date range filtering?

Yes. start_date / end_date filter judgments by date and legislation by date in force.

05

Tool schema?

GET /api/search/uk-legal/tool-schema returns OpenAI function and Claude tool-use definitions.