Library guides: Legal Research Skills: Case law

Key databases for case law

Reported decisions

Note: these databases each provide access to different law report series. Even though a report series may be indexed in a database, the full-text may not be available. For example, while you can find a record for a Commonwealth Law Report (CLR) case in Lexis Advance, the official published version is only available through Westlaw AU.

Lexis+ (Australia) This link opens in a new window
Lexis+ is replacing Lexis Advance in early 2024.
To be used exclusively for academic research only.

Provides Australian case law (including the CaseBase case citator), legislation, journals, commentary (including a comprehensive legal dictionary & the Halsbury's legal encyclopaedia), and practical guidance modules. Some international content (NZ, UK, US, Canada & Hong Kong) is also included.

View the Lexis+ Introductory Guide or Help pages to get started.
Westlaw AU This link opens in a new window
Provides Australian case law (including the case citator KeyCite), legislation, journals and commentary (including the encyclopaedia 'Laws of Australia').
CCH iKnowConnect This link opens in a new window
Provides subject-specific Australian commentary, legislation and case law, with particular strengths in commercial, competition & consumer, contract, corporations, employment, family, IP, commercial property, taxation, and torts law.
To learn more about using CCH iKnowConnect, attend free live webinars run by CCH staff or read the training guides.
Note: SCU does not currently have access to the personalisation features such as saving favourites, shortcuts, email alerts, folders or search history.
AustLII This link opens in a new window
AustLII includes a selection of historical reported decisions: Victorian Reports (to 1996), Victorian Law Reports (to 1956), SA Law Reports (to 1920), SA State Reports (to 1950), State Reports NSW (to 1950), NT Judgments (to 1976), Tasmanian State Reports to 1978), Tasmanian Reports (to 1991), WA Law Reports (to 1958).

Unreported decisions

Unreported judgments can be found via freely available databases such as AustLII, Jade, or the Court/Tribunal website. You will also find unreported case law in Lexis+ and Westlaw AU.

AustLII This link opens in a new window
Freely available Australian database containing full-text legislation & case law. Also includes journals, law reform papers and and subject specific collections.

Jade
Produced by BarNet, Jade allows you to search, annotate & share Australian case law for free. Jade Professional provides additional features & is available to students at no charge. Email editors@jade.io from your student email address with current degree & expected year of completion.
Supreme Court Library Queensland Case Law
New South Wales Case Law

Legal case abbreviations

Use the following tools to find commonly used law report series and court abbreviations.

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
Abbreviations for legal publications from the UK, Commonwealth, US, and a selection of other jurisdictions.
CaseBase Abbreviations
Lists the abbreviations used in CaseBase documents.

Authorised Australian law reports

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	Federal Court Reports, 1984-	FCR	Westlaw AU
Administrative Appeals Tribunal	Administrative Law Decisions, 1976-	ALD	Lexis+
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory	Australian Capital Territory Law Reports, 2007- Australian Capital Territory Reports, 1973-2008	ACTLR ACTR	N/A Lexis +
Supreme Court of New South Wales	New South Wales Law Reports, 1971- New South Wales Reports, 1960-70 (view online only) State Reports of New South Wales, 1901-59 New South Wales Law Reports, 1880-1900	NSWLR NSWR SR (NSW) LR (NSW)	Lexis + NSWLR website AustLII AustLII
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory	Northern Territory Law Reports, 1991- Northern Territory Reports, 1979-91	NTLR NTR	N/A Lexis +
Supreme Court of Queensland	Queensland Reports, 1958- State Reports Queensland, 1902-57 Pre 1902 Reports (free registration required)	QR (formerly Qd R) St R Qd QLR (Beor), QLJ, QSCR	Lexis + Lexis + Queensland Judgments website
Supreme Court of South Australia	South Australian State Reports, 1951- South Australian State Reports, 1921-50 South Australian Law Reports, 1865-1920	SASR SASR SALR	Westlaw AU AustLII AustLII
Supreme Court of Tasmania	Tasmanian Reports, 1979- State Reports Tasmania, 1941-78 Tasmanian Law Reports, 1897-1940	Tas R Tas SR Tas LR	N/A AustLII AustLII
Supreme Court of Victoria	Victorian Reports, 1957- Victorian Law Reports, 1874-1956	VR VLR	Lexis + AustLII
Supreme Court of Western Australia	Western Australian Reports, 1960- Western Australian Law Reports, 1898-1959	WAR WALR	N/A AustLII

Tutorial: Getting started with case law

Complete this tutorial for an introduction to case law, including the difference between unreported, reported, and authorised decisions; you will also learn how to understand case citations and abbreviations. Click at the bottom-right corner to expand to full size.