Legal information guide

Where to start

A good way to start your research is to define your topic by using subject dictionaries and to find background information in encyclopaedias such as:

Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary, 3rd ed, 2004 [LAW REF 340.08 BUTT]

Legal Dictionaries on the Net

Halsbury's Laws of Australia LexisNexis Butterworths Legal encyclopaedia covering most areas of Australian case and statute law. Includes full text.

Australian Legal Words & Phrases
An excellent reference tool - provides over 100,000 words and phrases defined in legislation or judicially interpreted in Australian superior courts and selected tribunals

How to find specific materials in Law

Search the resources listed under the Caselaw, Legislation and Secondary Sources tabs at the top of this guide.

Weblaw
Weblaw is an excellent resource for accessing free online legal information. It contains information on more than 30 different subject areas.

How to find resources on reading lists

Locate your reading list items on E-Reserve by lecturer or unitcode or search the CDU Catalogue to find your Set texts.

How to locate items using a reference/bibliography list

To find these items you need to be able to interpret the reference and identify the type of publication, whether it is a book, journal caselaw or legislation. Use these publication details to search the CDU Library catalogue.

Hint!

If you attempt to search the Library catalogue using title of the article, case, piece of legislation, or book chapter, you will not find it. Can't tell a reference to a Journal articles from a conference paper or a chapter from edited book?
This tutorial from Monash clearly demonstrates how to identify the different parts of a reference.

Help

Do it yourself: Try the interactive CDU Researching Skills Tutorial.
Assistance from the Library staff: Ask Us or come to a workshop.

Legislation

Legislation is described as a primary source and includes "laws enacted by Parliaments and laws made by persons and bodies to whom Parliaments have delegated law-making powers". Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary, (3rd ed, 2004) 258.

Northern Territory - Legislation & Hansard
The Legislation Databases contain current and historical consolidations of Acts and subordinate legislation of the NT. The Register of Legislation contains details of Bills put forward for consideration by the Legislative Assembly, explanatory memoranda, second reading speeches, Acts resulting from these proposals and new and amending subordinate legislation. Hansard is the informal title for the official printed report of parliamentary debates. Two documents comprise Hansard: the Daily Hansard and the Parliamentary Record.

ComLaw
Contains all legislation of the Commonwealth and non self-governing Territories (and related material such as Reserved Commonwealth Laws, Bills, explanatory memoranda / statements, tables, indexes and other finding aids). Includes full text.
Quick Guide

Parliament of Australia
Includes transcripts of proceedings in Parliament; legislation passing through Parliament; links to committees, reports etc. Includes full text.

Parliaments of the Australian States and Territories

AustLII: Australasian Legal Information Institute
Provides full text access to Australian legal materials including primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access. Please note that there have been some issues in relation to the currency of legislative materials on AustLII.

Help

Try the tutorials and help guides listed under each database, these are updated on an ongoing basis.

Finding Cases and Legislation tutorial (not updated but contains some useful tips).

Assistance from the Library staff: Ask Us or come to a workshop.

Caselaw

Case law is described as a primary source being "the principles of law arising from judicial decisions". It is a major source of law in Australia and is often referred to as "common law" or "judge made law".
Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary, (3rd ed, 2004) 63.

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations

Abbreviations of legal publications (Monash University)

Case Citators and Summaries Databases

FirstPoint 
Provides access to case references, citation, history and digest information. It combines the previous services of the Australian Case Citator Online, the Australian Digest and Australian Legal Monthly Digest and indexes reported Australian cases from 1825 to the present.
Firspoint and Legal Online Tutorials

Australian and New Zealand Citator to UK Reports
Provides current information regarding UK decisions judicially considered in Australian and New Zealand courts. Overseas cases are also noted, as it is not unusual for Australian courts to take note of US, Canadian and European authority.

Full Text Cases Databases

AustLII: Australasian Legal Information Institute
Provides full text access to Australian legal materials including primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials, including journal articles, created by public bodies for purposes of public access.
Online Tutorial

CCH Library
Provides full text access to case law, legislation and commentary arranged by subject area.
CCH Online Tutorials and Reference Guide

English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1865)
This collection encompasses the decisions of the English Courts prior to the commencement of the Law Reports in 1865. It represents reprints of 275 separate series of reports, arranged by the English Courts: House of Lords, Chancery, Rolls Court, etc. The English Reports, Full Reprint contains over 100,000 cases reprinted verbatim and spans the years 1220 to 1865. For UK caselaw from 1865 onwards see Westlaw (below).

LawBook Online
Provides full text access to Australian legal decisions in law reports published by Thomson. These include Australian Criminal Reports (ACrimR), Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR), Federal Court Reports (FCR), Federal Law Reports (FLR), Industrial Reports (IR), Local Government and Environmental Reports (LGERA), Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR) and Unreported Judgments from Commonwealth, State and Territory jurisdictions.
Cases Quick Guide

LexisNexis
Full text acess to Australian legal decisions in law reports published by LexisNexis Butterworths. These include the Australian Law Reports (ALR), Northern Territory Reports (NTR), Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR), New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR), Queensland Reports (QdR), Victoria Reports (VR). International coverage includes the All England Law Reports (All ER) from 1936 onwards.
LexisNexis AU Tutorials

Northern Territory Supreme Court
Provides full text access to the decisions of the NT Supreme and Magistrates Courts. A good resource for very recent judgments.

WestLaw 
Provides full text access to Australian, Canadian, European, UK and US primary and secondary sources.  Case citations can be verified and/or noted up using the Keycite search facility. A good resource for UK primary source material.
**Westlaw Australia quick guide coming soon

Help

Try the tutorials and help guides listed under each database, these are updated on an ongoing basis.

Finding Cases and Legislation tutorial (not current)
Searching for Cases and Commentary tutorial (not current)

Assistance from the Library staff: Ask Us or come to a workshop

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources include sources which discuss various aspects of the law often focusing on a particular case or piece of legislation. These include books, journal articles, conference papers and other resources.

Books

The Library has books on a wide range of law subjects. Textbooks which have been prescribed or recommended are normally placed in the Short Term Loan collection.

Search the CDU Catalogue

Journal Articles

The Library pays subscriptions to a number of publishers and specialist database providers. These can be used to find journal and newspaper articles, case studies, conference papers useful for your research.

You will sometimes come across references to articles that are not available in electronic format or as full text.You may need to search in a few different places to find the full text eg. in our catalogue, using citation linker or, for those who are eligible, by requesting an interlibrary loan.

AGIS Plus text
A database that indexes and abstracts journal articles on all aspects of law. Source documents include Australian, New Zealand and Pacific law journals, and selected articles from major law journals from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Includes full text.

Hein-On-Line
Provides full text access to American and many international law journals.
HeinOnline Help

LegalTrac
Provides indexing for more than 1,400 titles including major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals.

WestLaw 
Provides full text access to Australian, Canadian, European, UK and US secondary as well as primary source material. 

Subject Specific Resources and Commentary

Lawbook Online
Provides full text access to Australian legal journals published by Thomson on various areas of the law. Access dating back to 2001.

LexisNexis
Provides full text access to Australian legal journals published by LexisNexis on various areas of the law and commentary on certain areas of the law. LexisNexis also includes Halsbury's Laws of Australia  legal encyclopaedia which includes commentary as well as Australian case and statute law. Includes full text.

CCH Library
Arranged by subject area, includes full text cases, legislation and commentary.

AFPD - Australian Federal Police Digest
A database that indexes and abstracts journal articles on policing, criminology, law enforcement and related fields.

CINCH - Australian Criminology Database
A database that indexes and abstracts journal articles from material on all aspects of crime and criminal justice.

Family and Society Plus
Covers research, policy and practice issues about, or of relevance to, Australian families. Includes full text.

Google Scholar
Locates references to academic books, journal articles, conference papers. If searching from off campus using this link http://ezproxy.cdu.edu.au/login?url=http://scholar.google.com
You will then be recognized as a CDU student and will be able to access the complete article of anything we have purchased access rights to.

Help

Do it yourself: Try the interactive tutorials.
Assistance from the Library staff: Ask Us or come to a workshop

Why do I need to reference?

Because you have to. The University expects it. Referencing, when done correctly acknowledges the work of others and will prevent you from accusations of intellectual theft and plagiarism. Referencing allows the reader to follow an idea, using the details provided, to locate the original publication. This could be because the reader is interested in the topic or because they wish to verify the details of the quotation, making sure the author hasn't been taken out of context.

Plagiarism is the "unacknowledged adoption of the ideas and/or words of another. In simple terms it is cheating, like copying what the person next to you in an exam has written".
Nemes & Coss Effective Legal Research (3rd ed, 2007) 48.

How do I reference properly?

CDU law students are expected to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, (2nd ed, 2002) when preparing assignments and research papers.

Help

Citing the Law from Latrobe University
Australian Guide to Legal Citation "How to" Guide from University of Queensland

Try it yourself - CDU Researching Skills Tutorial.
Assistance from the Library staff: Ask Us or come to a workshop