Case law
On this page you will find some basic
information on searching for case law.
Case law is the law made by judges when
deciding court cases. These decisions are useful to help you determine how legal
principles should be applied to a similar fact scenario.
For more information, please contact Heidi
Savilla, the Liaison Librarian for Law and Legal Studies.
How to find a
reported case where you have the citation
Reported cases are those that have been
published in a law report series. Judgments are generally published
where they…
-
are from one of the higher courts in
Australia - eg State Supreme Courts
-
or from a specialised court - eg Family
Court
-
or make a significant change to the law or
discuss an important legal principle
Example of a reported case citation:
In the Library
The Law Library
holds a comprehensive range of key law report series for all Australian
jurisdictions and some overseas jurisdictions. These are located in the northern
(newer) wing of the building – turn right from the corridor. The law reports are
ordered by jurisdiction, with Commonwealth cases first followed by the States
and Territories and then other countries
To find cases
that have been reported in a law report series…
-
Look up the law report abbreviation in the
purple
Guide to the Law Library - this will tell you the name of the law
report series and where it is shelved
-
Head to the law report section and look for
the shelf number given in the Guide
-
Look for the correct series and find the
year and/or volume number given in the citation
-
Go to the starting page number to find the
case
Online
A few law report series are also available online – these are listed in the
Guide to
the Law Library with a laptop icon.
To access these, simply search for the law report in the
Library catalogue – if it is available electronically, a link will be
provided.
How to find an unreported case where you have the citation
As mentioned before, not all cases will be reported and it can take some time
for these law report series to be published. As such, many times you will need
to look for an unreported version of a case.
Example of an unreported case citation:
The medium neutral
citation is an abbreviation of the court the case was heard in. You can find out
what these abbreviations by searching the
Cardiff Index to Legal
Abbreviations.
You can find unreported cases from these
resources...
|
Law Library's
Case law ONLINE |
-
Click on the jurisdiction of the court
-
Look through the list for the court the
case was heard in
-
Click on any of the sources listed
|
|
CaseBase |
-
Click on the Search link next to
Unreported Judgements at the bottom of the screen
-
Type in the names of the parties involved
in the Case/Article Name search box - use and
in between the names instead of v
|
|
AustLII |
-
Click on the Advanced Search link
-
Select to find this case name
-
type in the names of the parties involved
-
Select to search All Case Law
Databases
OR
-
Click on the jurisdiction of the court on
the left of the page
-
Choose the court the case was heard in
-
Click on the relevant link from the year
or alphabetical list to browse for the case
|
How
to find a case where you only have the party names
|
CaseBase |
-
Click on the Search
link next to CaseBase at the bottom of the Screen
-
Type the names of the
parties involved in the Case/Article Name search box
- use and in between the names instead of v
-
To read an unreported
version, click on the blue BC number link
|
|
AustLII
|
-
Click on the Advanced Search link
-
Select to find this case name
-
Type the names of the parties involved
-
Select to search All Case Law
Databases
|
How to search for
cases on a subject
|
CaseBase |
|
|
AustLII
|
-
Click on the Advanced Search link
-
Select to search All Case Law
Databases
-
Type in your keywords and click on
Search
|
How
to search for cases about an Act
If you would like to find cases that refer to
or discuss a particular Act, try using one of these resources...
|
CaseBase |
-
Click on the red Cases
tab at the top of the screen
-
Type the name of the Act
into the References to Legislation search box
(towards the bottom of the screen)
-
If you want cases on a
particular section, add w/p and then the section
|
|
AustLII
|
-
Find the Act you are interested in
-
Click on the Noteup link - this
will provide links to cases that refer to that Act
-
If you want cases on a particular
section, link through to that section and then click on
Noteup
|
How to
search for cases that refer to an earlier case
When you find a case it is often useful to see how more recent cases have
treated the legal principles set out in that case – eg whether it has been
applied or followed or overruled.
There are a few resources that can help you find later cases…
|
CaseBase |
-
Click on the link to
CaseBase at the bottom of the Screen
-
Type the names of the
parties involved in the Case/Article Name search box
- use and in between the names instead of v
-
Once you have the record
for the case, look at the list of Cases referring to this
case - keep an
eye on the annotations given on the left to see how the case
was treated
|
|
AustLII
|
-
Find the case you are interested in -
either by browsing the relevant court or searching for the
party names (see above)
-
Click on Noteup to find later cases -
note: this will not
give you any annotations, so you will need to look at each
case closely to see how the earlier case was treated
|
Need more help?
Not sure how to plan your
research? Click
here for some handy ideas 
Not sure how to use particular
databases? Click
here
for some brief 'how to' guides.
Want some specific advice?
Contact
Heidi, the Law and Legal Studies Liaison Librarian, on 8201 2577 or email heidi.savilla@flinders.edu.au
|
