Australian Public Law
Constitutional law - US and Canadian constitutional law
- Researching American law
- Annotated US constitution
- Constitutions
- Case Law
- American law portals (case law and legislation)
- US presidential inaugural addresses
- Relevance to Australian law
- A web-based approach to Australia - North America comparative constitutional law research
- Other useful comparative constitutional law resources
"As the drafting process indicates it was the Constitution of the United States of America and the British North American Act that were to be the critical documents in the final draft of the Commonwealth Constitution. A close examination of the Australian Constitution demonstrates that in many areas it modified these constitutional templates to fit Australian contingencies. Given the prominence of these documents to Australia the lack of theoretical discussion that has been attached to the Constitution in the 1890s and since is surprising."
Dr. John Williams (1999)
Researching North American law
- Feltes G, A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources (2 October 2000) (LLRX.com)
- Tjaden T, Doing Legal Research in Canada (updated July 2001) (LLRX.com)
Annotated US constitution
- The Constitution of the United States of America, Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States (to June 26, 1998: provided by the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service, in cooperation with the U.S. Senate and Government Printing Office - both searchable and browsable - contains annotated references to Supreme Court decisions in their constitutional context - arranged by article and amendment.
Constitutions
U.S.
- Constitution and Amendments - University of Wuerzburg, Germany
- Constitution - LII (Cornell University)
Canada
- Constitution Act 1867 (Canadian Department of Justice)
- Maton, WF, Canadian Constitutional Documents - A Legal History
Case Law
U.S.
- Supreme Court decisions, 1893-present - FindLaw - searchable, paginated with authorised report page numbers and hyperlinks to cited cases
- Supreme Court Decisions, 1937-1975 - full text of decisions, searchable - US Government Printing Office
Canada
American law portals (case law and legislation)
- FindLaw (US)
- Cornell LII (US)
- CanLII (Canada)
US presidential inaugural addresses
Relevance to Australian law
- Topperwien B, Ventures in the trackless jungle: the use of American caselaw by the High Court of Australia (personal website) (1998)
- Williams JM, "With Eyes Open": Andrew Inglis Clark and our Republican Tradition - Federal Law Review Vol 23 No 2 (1995)
- Williams JM, Click go the shears: the reception of constitutional models and Australian constitutional theory - paper presented to International Association of Constitutional Law - 5th World Congress (1999) - (to download footnoted version go to Contents and click author name)
- Rich W, Constitutional Law in the United States and Australia: Finding Common Ground 35 Wash. L.J. 1 (1995)
A web based approach to Australia - North America comparative constitutional law research*
- Consult Commentaries on the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia by Sir Robert Garran (1901) - lists each section of the Commonwealth Constitution with its corresponding provision in the US Constitution or Amendments or the Constitution Act 1867 (Canada) (formerly known as the British North America Act 1867)
- Find relevant US case law by consulting The Constitution of the United States of America, Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States
- Find corresponding Australian case law by consulting Australian Public Law Case Index
- Find corresponding Canadian case law by searching CanLII (Canadian equivalent of AustLII). I have not so far been able to locate free access case annotations of the Constitution Act 1867 (Canada)
- For further information on the Canadian constitutional system see Canadian Constitutional Documents - A Legal History by William F. Maton
* I gratefully acknowledge Lane, P H,The Australian Federal System with United States Analogues, Law Book Company (Sydney), 1972, as my source of inspiration for this page.
Other useful comparative constitutional law resources
- Bills of Rights Comparative Law Materials - Human and Constitutional Rights Web Page (Columbia Law School)
- Teaching comparative constitutional law by Venter, F (South Africa) (International Association of Constitutional Law - 5th World Congress - 1999). To download footnoted version go to Contents and click author name.
- Heibert JL, Transforming policy conflicts into debates about fundamental rights: How has the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms affected political will? - paper presented to International Association of Constitutional Law - 5th World Congress (1999). To download footnoted version go to Contents and click author name.
- The 'Lectric Law Library Lawcopedia Constitutional Law and Rights Topic Area (numerous articles and outlines - an unreliable source but straightforwardly written)
- A Digest of Federal Constitutions by Sir John Quick
- Balkin JM and Levinson S, Understanding the Constitutional Revolution - Virginia Law Review Volume 87 No. 6 (2001)
- Balkin JM, Agreements with Hell and Other Objects of Our Faith (1997) Part I | Part II
- Balkin JM, Bush v. Gore and the Boundary Between Law and Politics (2001)
- Balkin JM, The Constitution as a Box of Chocolates (1995)
- Balkin JM, The Constitution of Status (1997) Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV
- Balkin JM, The Declaration and the Promise of a Democratic Culture (1999)
- Balkin JM, The Meaning of Constitutional Tragedy (1998)
- Balkin JM and Levinson S, The Canons of Constitutional Law (1998)
