How Molao search works
Molao fuses semantic, keyword and exact-citation search, then ranks by relevance and legal authority.
A Molao search is not a single lookup. It runs three kinds of matching at once and fuses the results into one ranked list.
The three channels
- Semantic search — matches on meaning, so you can describe a legal problem in plain words and find passages that never use your exact terms.
- Keyword search — matches the words you typed, which is what you want for a term of art or a party name.
- Exact-citation matching — recognises a citation and takes you straight to that judgment.
How results are ordered
Fused results are ranked by two things together: how relevant a passage is to your question, and how much legal authority the judgment carries. Authority means court seniority — Constitutional Court above the Supreme Court of Appeal, above the High Court, above the Magistrates' Courts — and how often the judgment is cited by other judgments.
Narrowing a search
Open Filters to restrict a search to particular courts or forums, or to a decision-date window. Leave the filters empty to search everything. The jurisdiction toggle sits above the search box.
The percentage on a result is a text-match score, not the ranking score. The next article explains why a lower-percentage passage can still sit at the top.
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