The Library provides access to a range of specialised databases which you can use to find case law. The following will be useful for finding cases on your legal topics:
BarNet Jade Digests
Jade provides digests for major Australian court sites using RSS technology. You can keep an eye on the most recently released court decisions from your choice of selected courts in a single place. As you scan through the handy summary, you can click through to the full case, read it online, print it, or JADEmark it for later.
A case citator is a legal research tool which helps you to track the history of a case and the treatment of the case by subsequent courts. Citators allow you to determine if a case is still good law and it acts as noting up tool, allowing you find other cases (and secondary materials) which have cited the original case.
Use the following tools to find commonly used law report series and court abbreviations.
The following is a list of the authorised law report series for each Australian superior court.
Court |
Title of report series |
Abbreviation |
Database |
---|---|---|---|
High Court of Australia | Commonwealth Law Reports, 1903- | CLR | Westlaw AU |
Federal Court of Australia |
FCR |
Westlaw AU | |
Administrative Appeals Tribunal | Administrative Law Decisions, 1976- | ALD | Lexis Advance |
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory |
Australian Capital Territory Law Reports, 2007- |
ACTLR ACTR |
N/A |
Supreme Court of New South Wales |
New South Wales Law Reports, 1971- New South Wales Reports, 1960-70 (view online only) |
NSWLR NSWR SR (NSW) LR (NSW) |
|
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory |
Northern Territory Law Reports, 1991- |
NTLR NTR |
N/A |
Supreme Court of Queensland |
State Reports Queensland, 1902-57 Pre 1902 Reports (free registration required) |
QR (formerly Qd R) St R Qd QLR (Beor), QLJ, QSCR |
|
Supreme Court of South Australia |
South Australian State Reports, 1951- |
SASR SASR SALR |
|
Supreme Court of Tasmania |
Tasmanian Reports, 1979- |
Tas R Tas SR Tas LR |
N/A |
Supreme Court of Victoria |
VR VLR |
||
Supreme Court of Western Australia |
Western Australian Reports, 1960- |
WAR WALR |
N/A |