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- Finding Case Law
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Ask a law librarian any questions that you have about legal research or AGLC4 referencing. Zoom meetings are available Monday - Friday between 8am and 4pm, by appointment. Email the law librarians to book an appointment. Please state your preferred time/day. Send an email now A law librarian will reply with a confirmation of your appointment and a link to the Zoom meeting. |
| Court / Jurisdiction | Law Report | Database |
|---|---|---|
| High Court of Australia | Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) | Westlaw Australia |
| Federal court of Australia | Federal Court Reports (FCR) | Westlaw Australia |
| Supreme Court of New South Wales | New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR) | CaseBase |
| Supreme Court of the Northern Territory | Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR) | Westlaw Australia |
| Supreme court of Queensland | Queensland Reports (Qd R) | CaseBase |
| Supreme Court of South Australia | South Australian State Reports (SASR) | Westlaw Australia |
| Supreme Court of Tasmania | Tasmanian Reports (Tas R) | Westlaw Australia |
| Supreme Court of Victoria | Victorian Reports (VR) | CaseBase |
| Supreme Court of Western Australia | Western Australian Reports (WAR) | Westlaw Australia |
| Australia | Unreported | CaseBase; Westlaw Australia |
| England and Wales | Law Reports (AC, Ch App, Ch D, Eq, Ex, KB, PC, QB) | ICLR Online |
| England and Wales | English Reports (ER) | Westlaw UK |
| United States of America | Various | Westlaw US |
1. Law loves abbreviations. Use the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations to look them up.
2. Correct citation matters. Use the AGLC guide.
3. Use a case citator. CaseBase and Westlaw Australia will give you useful and accurate information.
4. Use Westlaw Next to locate US cases. Use ICLR to locate UK cases.
5. Ask the Law Library if you need any help.
A case citator is a tool that allows users to locate case law and useful information about that case law. It provides an index to and summary of case law. It allows its user to search across jurisdictions and time to locate cases.
Of course, it is possible to search case law directly without using a case citator. Case law is available online in full-text in various databases. The problem for the researcher is that the structure of these databases, their coverage and the layout of the judgments themselves varies. This makes searching difficult, time consuming and adds greatly to the risk of not finding the judgments being sought.
Case citators solve the problem of having to search multiple databases containing judgments in inconsistent formats. They do this by providing the researcher with a single database that contains consistently structured and formatted descriptions of judgments.
Although the case citator databases do not contain the full-text of judgments they do provide links to where they are available online or, at the very least, a citation that would allow the researcher to locate the judgment in hard-copy.
In Australia there are two leading commercially produced case citators and one that is freely available from Austlii. All have their own strengths and subtle differences.
CaseBase is an Australian case citator. Produced by LexisNexis and available online to subscribers, it is one of the most popular legal databases in Australia. It offers extensive coverage of reported and unreported decisions in the federal jurisdiction as well as all Australian states and territories. For the researcher, CaseBase offers two great benefits; it allows cases to be located relatively easily and provides useful information about cases.
CaseBase allows the researcher to locate cases in a number of ways including by:
Once the record of a case is found, CaseBase provides the researcher with information about the case including:
To locate a case by its citation
1. Enter the citation into the Citation field. Don’t include any brackets. For example, to locate Sent v Andrews (2002) 6 VR 317 simply enter 6 vr 317
2. Click on search
To locate cases that consider a piece of legislation
1. In the Legislation Title field enter the name of the Act or Regulation.
2. In the Provision field enter the section number.
3. Click on Search
Example: Act /Regulation: Wrongs Act 1958 Vic Provision: 26
To locate cases that consider a word or phrase
1. Enter the word or phrase into the Words & Phrases Judicially Considered field. Always use quotation marks when searching for a phrase. This helps to ensure that only records containing that exact phrase will be retrieved
2. Click on Search
For example, in the Words and Phrases Judicially Considered field enter "reasonable care"
To locate cases by subject
It is often easier to use secondary sources, such as books and journal articles, to find case law on a particular subject, especially when looking for the most significant cases. However, CaseBase may also be used. The example below shows how a researcher might locate cases where disabled children have sought damages for ‘wrongful life’.
1. Enter the search terms into the Catchwords field
2. In the example below, the search uses the wildcard character ! and will locate any case where the Catchwords field in CaseBase contains:
Any words that begin with negligen eg. negligent, negligence,
AND
The phrase “wrongful life”
Catchwords: negligen! AND "wrongful life"
Sometimes important or high profile cases, especially those that receive media attention, come to be known by a popular name. Often the name has nothing to do with the actual party names. For example, that famous case Donoghue and Stevenson is more popularly known as the ‘Snail in the Bottle Case’. Its ability to locate cases by popular name is a great strength of CaseBase.
1. Select CaseBase Cases from the Sources drop-down menu
2. In the Search Terms box at the top of the screen enter the popular name and include the word case.
3. Enter your search terms
woollen underpants case
4. Click on Search
To find judicial consideration of a particular provision of legislation:
Westlaw Australia has extensive coverage of the federal jurisdiction and all Australian states and territories, extending as far back as 1825 for significant reported cases.
Like CaseBase it allows the researcher to locate cases in a number of ways including by:
Once the record of a case is located Westlaw provides the researcher with information about the case including:
From the Westlaw Australia Homepage
To locate a case by name
1. Enter the party names into the main search box on the homepage. As you start typing Westlaw will display cases that match your search terms. It isn’t necessary to include v or versus or AND. For example, to locate Vairy v Wyong Shire Council (2005) 223 CLR 422 you need only enter vairy wyong
2. Select the case you want from the matches displayed to go directly to the record for the case.
To locate a case by citation
1. Enter the citation, excluding brackets and non-essential information into the search box. For example, to locate Vairy v Wyong Shire Council (2005) 223 CLR 422 you need only enter 223 clr 422
2.Select the case you want from the matches displayed to go directly to the record for the case.
More Options
Alternatively you can search the case specific part of Westlaw. Locate this section from the homepage by scrolling down and then clicking Cases.
You can then search for keywords just in cases, browse recent cases, browse by 'Key number' or select Advanced to get to the advanced search form.
Once you have selected the Advanced Search option you can then:
Locate a case by name
1. Scroll to the field Case Title/Party Name.
2. Enter the name. It is good practice to use the Boolean operator AND between each name. For example, to locate Vairy v Wyong Shire Council (2005) 223 CLR 422 you need only enter vairy AND wyong
3.Click Search or Enter
Locate cases by citation
1. Scroll to the field citation
2. Enter the citation, excluding brackets and non-essential information into the Citation search box. Use double quote marks to look for the exact citation. For example, to locate Vairy v Wyong Shire Council (2005) 223 CLR 422 you would enter “223 clr 422" (using double quotes").
To locate cases that consider a piece of Legislation
1. In the Legislation Cited (Title) field enter the name of the legislation in double quotes. Using quotation marks helps to ensure that the search engine will only look for legislation with that exact name.
2. Enter the section number if required in the Legislation Cited (Provision) field.
3. Click Search or Enter.
Example: Legislation Cited (title): 'Migration Act 1958" Legislation Cited (Provision): 501
Locate cases by subject
There are two ways to locate cases by subject. You can either search or browse.
To search:
1. Enter a search statement into the Synopsis/Digest or Key Number/Classification field to search for content by legal classification. Always use quotation marks when searching for a phrase. If unsure of the exact composition of the phrase then enter the main words separated by AND.
2.Click Search or Enter.
To browse by Key Number System
You can browse cases by subject area by using the Key Number Classification system. Browsing in this way is especially useful when you are unsure of what words to use in a search.
1. From the homepage or the Cases page select the option Key Numbers.
2. Select the topic or subject area of interest.
3. Continue to select sub categories to navigate to cases related to the topic you are interested in.
Austlii has the best collection of Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) cases. Some VCAT cases can also be found in Westlaw Australia. Basic information about VCAT cases can often be found in CaseBase, but, the text of VCAT cases is generally not available in CaseBase.
Austlii - VCAT cases 1998- (recommended)