Keith Mack
Australian case law can be found through a variety of online resources, including AustLII, Westlaw AU, Jade, and the Australasian Legal Information Institute (ALII). These databases provide access to cases from Australian courts and tribunals, as well as legislation, case digests, and citators. For example, AustLII offers case law databases that contain the decisions of judges, with links to relevant material, while Westlaw AU provides access to reported and unreported cases, authorised and specialist law reports, and case citator FirstPoint. Additionally, each jurisdiction in Australia has one designated authorised report, such as the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) for the High Court of Australia.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Case law databases | AustLII, Westlaw AU, Australasian Legal Information Institute (ALII), JADE, Oxford LibGuides, Australian National University LibGuides, University of Wollongong Library |
| Database contents | Decisions of judges in matters before a court or tribunal, references to relevant legislation, regulations, or international treaties, High Court transcripts, case annotations, analysis and visualisation tools, case references, history, and digest information, law reports, journals, case digests, citators, encyclopaedias, commentary, and transcripts |
| Database subjects | Privacy, taxation, computerisation, cyberspace, human rights, intellectual property, indigenous law, military law, workplace relations, constitutional reform, criminology, taxation policy, agriculture, environment and planning, public works, consumer, industrial, tax, family, and work health and safety law |
| Database dates | 1825-present (Westlaw AU), 1999-present (NSW Caselaw), 1973-present (Australian House of Representatives Standing Committees on Environment and Planning), 1975-present (Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington—Occasional Papers in Criminology), 1983-present (Journal for the Australian and New Zealand Societies for Computers and the Law), 1985-1990 (Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington—Studies in Taxation Policy), 1996-present (Australian House of Representatives Standing Committees on Agriculture, Resources, Fisheries and Forestry), 1999-present (unreported cases—Westlaw AU), 2004-present (Australian Privacy Case Summaries), 2011-2015 (Constitutional Reform Unit, The University of Sydney—Papers), 2011-2013 (Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia), 2012-present (Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights), 1958-present (Australian Parliamentary Joint Standing Committees on the National Capital and External Territories) |
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What You'll Learn
Online databases: AustLII, Westlaw AU, JADE, Lexis+
Australian case law can be found on online databases such as AustLII, Westlaw AU, JADE, and Lexis+.
AustLII
The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) database includes the full text of all decisions of the High Court, decisions of the Federal Court from 1977 onwards, and decisions of the Family Court from 1988 onwards. It also covers other federal and state courts and tribunals. Each jurisdiction in Australia has one designated authorised report. For example, the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLRs) are the authorised report series for the High Court of Australia.
Westlaw AU
Westlaw AU is a comprehensive online legal research service for Australia that provides access to a wide range of legal information, including case law, legislation, and legal journals. It offers a user-friendly interface and advanced search options, making it a popular choice for legal professionals and academics.
JADE
JADE (or BarNet JADE) is an online research platform that provides access to case law, legislation, and other legal information from Australia and New Zealand. It offers a range of features, including a citator feature called Case Trace, which allows users to see all the cases that cite a particular case and pinpoint the relevant paragraphs. JADE also provides links to the full text of cases cited.
Lexis+
Lexis+ is a legal research platform that offers comprehensive coverage of Australian case law and legislation, as well as international legal information. It provides advanced search capabilities, analytics tools, and a range of customisation options to tailor the platform to users' specific needs. Lexis+ also includes practical guidance and commentary from legal experts, making it a valuable resource for legal professionals.
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Law reports: Commonwealth Law Reports, Federal Court Reports, Australian Law Reports
The Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) is the authorised report series for the High Court of Australia. Each report is reviewed by a presiding judge or the judge's associate before publication, making them highly authoritative. The preliminary information for the Commonwealth Law Reports includes title pages and tables as printed in the Bound Volumes. The title pages list all the contributors to the authorised reports, including editors, reporters, and judges of the High Court of Australia. The tables from each Bound Volume include the cases reported, cases judicially considered, legislation, and cases cited.
The Australian Law Reports (ALR) is an example of an unauthorised report series, which has not been given official approval by the judiciary. Unauthorised reports can be jurisdiction or subject-based.
Federal Court cases in Australia can be located by using the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) or by visiting the Clerk's Office of the courthouse where the case was filed. Federal case files are maintained electronically and are available through the internet-based PACER service, which allows anyone with an account to search and locate appellate, district, and bankruptcy court case and docket information. There is a fee of 10 cents per page to access a file through PACER, with a maximum charge of $3.00 per document. Court opinions are available for free on PACER to anyone with an account.
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Case citators: LawCite, FirstPoint
Case citators are legal research tools that help find cases by party names, citation, or topic. They allow users to track the history of a case, its subsequent treatment by the courts, and determine whether a case is still good law. Case citators also help researchers identify secondary materials that discuss a case and the legislation considered.
LawCite is an automatically generated international legal case citator that helps users locate judgments and see how they have been dealt with and commented upon subsequently. It includes index records of the citation histories of almost five million cases, law journal articles, law reform documents, and treaties. It contains state and commonwealth cases concerning Coronial law. It is being developed at AustLII in collaboration with other members of the Free Access to Law Movement. LawCite includes all references to decisions that it can identify. It does not editorially apply annotations to decisions indicating whether a decision has been considered, applied, or overruled. LawCite tells users about widely used and relied-upon decisions and the extent to which a decision relies on previous decisions. It helps users locate and find a copy of a decision, see how a decision has been subsequently dealt with, and find other materials such as journal articles about a decision.
FirstPoint is another case citator that is similar to LawCite. It is an editorially produced commercial legal citator. It helps users find cases by party names, citation, or topic. It also allows users to track the history of a case and its subsequent treatment by the courts. FirstPoint includes authorised and unauthorised reports of court decisions. Authorised reports are published law report series that have been given official approval by the judiciary. Each jurisdiction in Australia has one designated authorised report. For example, the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) is the authorised report series for the High Court of Australia. Unauthorised reports are also published reports of court decisions but have not been given official approval by the judiciary.
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Journals, legislation, case digests, and commentaries
There are several resources that can be used to find Australian case law, including journals, legislation, case digests, and commentaries.
Journals
The Australian Legal Database contains many law reports, journals, legislation, case digests and citators, encyclopaedias and commentary including the Laws of Australia. The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) is a free resource containing case law and unreported judgments for all Australian Commonwealth, States, and Territories. AustLII also provides a tool that shows the real-time update status of all the cases databases it provides, along with the approximate update frequency for each database. It also includes hypertext links to most relevant materials.
Legislation
AustLII's case law databases contain the decisions of judges in matters before a court or tribunal. In each decision, the judge will go over the facts of the case, the relevant law in the circumstances, and then discuss how the law applies to the facts. The judge may also refer to relevant legislation, regulations, or international treaties.
Case Digests
Westlaw AU provides access to Australian reported cases from 1825 and unreported cases from 1999. It contains authorised and specialist law reports, including the Commonwealth Law Reports and Federal Court Reports. Westlaw's case citator FirstPoint provides access to case references, citation, history, and digest information.
Commentaries
Lexis+ includes extensive primary and secondary legal materials from the UK, EU, USA, and many other jurisdictions. It is the only online source for the full text of the All England Law Reports and Halsbury's Laws. International content can be accessed by following the “International” link on the home page.
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Free resources: Australasian Legal Scholarship Library, NSW Caselaw
The Australasian Legal Scholarship Library is a free online resource that provides a comprehensive search facility for all academic law journals in Australia and New Zealand. It is a useful tool for those looking to find Australian case law, as it includes links to the full text of cases your case has cited and cases that have cited your case, pinpointing the relevant paragraphs.
Another free resource for finding Australian case law is NSW Caselaw, which is part of AustLII (Australian Legal Information Institute). AustLII provides access to case law databases, which contain the decisions of judges in matters before a court or tribunal. These databases include hypertext links to the most relevant material, such as references to sections in Acts. AustLII also publishes High Court transcripts, which can be useful for understanding the reasoning behind a judge's decision.
It is important to note that there are authorised and unauthorised reports of case law in Australia. Authorised reports are published law report series that have been given official approval by the judiciary, with one designated authorised report for each jurisdiction in Australia. For example, the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLRs) are the authorised report series for the High Court of Australia. Unauthorised reports, on the other hand, have not received official approval from the judiciary and can be jurisdiction or subject-based, such as the Australian Law Reports or the Torts Law Reports.
When searching for Australian case law, it is recommended to use the AustLII search engine and to check the AustLII Databases page to ensure they hold cases from the relevant court or tribunal and the years you are interested in. Additionally, when searching for a recent case or transcript, it is advisable to check the "recent cases" or "recent transcripts" page for each of the relevant case databases, as there may be a delay before a case becomes searchable.
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Frequently asked questions
Australian case law can be found on the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII), a free resource containing case law and unreported judgments for all Australian Commonwealth, States and Territories.
Yes, other sources include the Australian Law Reports, Westlaw AU, and the Australian National University's Australian Legal Database.
AustLII contains case law databases with the decisions of judges in matters before a court or tribunal. It also includes hypertext links to relevant material, such as references to sections in Acts.
Westlaw AU provides access to Australian reported cases from 1825 and unreported cases from 1999. It also includes authorised and specialist law reports, such as the Commonwealth Law Reports and Federal Court Reports.
The Australian Legal Database contains many law reports, journals, legislation, case digests and citators, encyclopaedias and commentary, including the Laws of Australia.
