Gallagher Law Library - UW School of Law

Australian Legal Research Sources

Updated March 23, 2009.
Prepared by Cheryl Nyberg. Updated by Gabriela Femenia.

Gallagher Law Library's Collection

The Gallagher Law Library collects federal-level primary material. State and provincial material is also available, but most of these sources are no longer current. Search the Law Library's online catalog for complete information about individual titles.

Australian material is found under two call numbers in the Classified Stacks. Newer material is found under the KU classification and older material is found under the KTA classification. Australian material can also be found in the context of a specific subject, such as Law of the Sea (KZA).

Legal Research Guides

Consult a research guide for more information.

Online CollectionsAustLII

Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)
The best free source for Australian legal research. Contains numerous full-text databases of federal, state, provincial, and tribunal cases, acts, regulations, and related legal material, including bulletins, journals, and law reviews; subject-oriented materials (human rights, intellectual property); and organizations (Australasian Law Teachers Association, Refugee Review Tribunal).
 
Attorney-General's Department, ComLaw and SCALEplus
ComLaw is replacing SCALEplus. Together, an excellent source for commonwealth acts and statutory rules (regulations). Covers from 1973 to date. Also covers territorial (but not state) ordinances and regulations, including Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, Cocos-Keeling Island, Coral Sea Islands Territory, Heart and McDonald Islands, and Jervis Bay Territory.
 
LexisNexis
A subscription service available to UW law students and faculty. The Australia Library (AUST) contains federal, state, territorial, and tribunal cases, federal acts, journals, news, and company information. To see a complete list of sources, select "Australia" within the Find Laws by Country or Region feature on the welcome page.
 
Westlaw
A subscription service available to UW law students and faculty. Australian materials include federal cases, acts, regulations, news, government reports, treatises, and law reviews. To see a complete list of sources, go to the Westlaw Database Directory and select International/Worldwide Materials, then Databases Listed Alphabetically by Country or Region, then Australia.

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Statutes

  • Acts of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Arranged by date of enactment (session laws).
    • 1912-82, KTA0.A1 A2 at Classified Stacks
    • 1980-date in microfiche, KTA0.A1 A2 at Classified Stacks
  • Australian Current Law: Legislation, 1993-date. KU13 .A87 at Classified Stacks
  • Acts of the Australian Parliament, 1901-1973. Arranged by titles of the acts. KTA0.A1 A3 1974 at Classified Stacks
  • ComLaw, 1973-date
  • AustLII, 1973-date

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Cases

Finding Tools

Commonwealth Statutes Annotations. Arranged by titles of acts, provides references to cases. KTA0.A1 A32 at Classified Stacks, current edition only

Australian Digest, 3d ed. KU23.A8 1987 at Classified Stacks

High Court

  • Australian Current Law: Reporter, 1993-date. Contains summaries. KU19.A2 at Classified Stacks
  • Australian Law Reports, 1973-date. Contains full-text.
    • KTA0.A1 A5 at Classified Stacks
    • LexisNexis: AUST: ALR
  • Commonwealth Law Reports, 1903-92.
    • KTA0.A1 A52 at Classified Stacks
    • Westlaw: CLR-RPTS, 1903-date
  • Westlaw: HCA-CS, 1903-date
  • AustLII, 1903-date

Federal Court

  • Australian Current Law: Reporter, 1993-date. Contains summaries. KU19.A2 at Classified Stacks
  • Australian Law Reports, 1973-date. Contains full-text of selected cases.
    • KTA0.A1 A5 at Classified Stacks
    • LexisNexis: AUST: ALR
  • Federal Law Reports, 1959-81.
    • KTA0.A1 A54 at Classified Stacks
    • Westlaw: FCR-RPTS, 1984-date
  • LexisNexis: AUSCAS, 1977-date
  • Westlaw: FCA-CS, 1984-date
  • AustLII, 1977-date

Combined Courts

  • Australian Legal Monthly Digest, 1994-2002. KU11.A95 at Classified Stacks
  • LexisNexis
    • AUST: AUSCAS
    • AUST: AUSRPT. Decisions from Australian federal courts and tribunals, and state and territory supreme courts as reported in Butterworths.
    • AUST: UNRPT. Unreported judgments of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, Federal Court of Australia, High Court of Australia, Supreme Court of New South Wales, and Supreme Court of Tasmania.
  • Westlaw
    • AU-ALLCASES
    • AUFED-CS-ALL. Reported and unreported judgments from the High Court, the Federal Court, and courts of the states and territories.
    • FCA-UNR. Unreported judgments of the Federal Court of Australia which have not, or have not yet, been reported in the Federal Court of Report Series.

Statutory Rules (Regulations)

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Websites

Attorney-General's Department includes a useful summary of the Australian legal system and AG publications.

National Library of Australia, Australian Law: Selected Websites

InfoEssentials, Australian Legal Resources

Australian Law Online links to online sources of law for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales (NSW), the Northern Territory (NT), Queensland (QT), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC), and Western Australia (WA).

 

LexisNexis Legal Express features news stories and information about recent cases and legislation.

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