I am new to the field of law, focusing on common law (criminal only) in the jurisdiction of England & Wales.
I have searched the government legislation website for various acts, in this case the Computer Misuse Act 1990. It gives an overview, sentences (whether summary, either-way, or indictment), amendments etc...
With my limited understanding of law, I think that not everything is listed on that webpage, and in common law systems there is a focus on case law, that is prior decisions from judges? How would I find relevant case law for a specific act?
If I were a solicitor/barrister, would I also be able to search for more recent court cases where the Computer Misuse Act was applied, and quote from it? For example,
"Your Honour, just last month this same Computer Misuse Act was applied in Sunny Street Crown Court, and the judge stated X, Y, and Z which is surely applicable here?"
I have done some of my own research. For example, The Law Pages were a good resource for reading about recent cases, pleas, sentences given, and other high level information. There are also sentencing guidelines, which split offences up into categories, to help judges give consistent sentences.
I apologise if my question is a little bit all over the place, but I just want to understand the gist of how this works. I ask for self interest, not for any quotable academic purposes.