Legislation
On this
page you will find some basic information on searching for legislation.
For more
information, please contact Heidi Savilla, the Liaison Librarian for Law and
Legal Studies.
Types of legislation
Bills are the draft form of Acts that are introduced into parliament and
debated on. Bills are usually accompanied by an explanatory
memorandum which outlines the purpose of the bill and is useful in
interpreting legislation.
Sessional Acts
are the historical or original version of an Act as it was passed in a
particular ‘session’ of parliament.
Consolidated Acts
are the most recent version of an Act. It takes the sessional version and
incorporates any amendments that have been made over time.
Delegated or Subordinate Legislation
is made by persons or bodies to whom parliament has delegated power to make law.
This is done by an enabling Act which specifies the nature of laws which can be
made. Delegated legislation includes regulations, court rules, by-laws,
ordinances, instruments or determinations.
How to find
legislation
In the Library
The Law Library has many Bills, Acts and Delegated legislation in print. These
are located in the northern (newer) wing of the Law Library – turn left from the
corridor. The legislation is ordered by…
-
Jurisdiction - with Commonwealth
legislation first followed by the States and Territories and then other
countries
-
Type of legislation - with the bills first,
followed by Acts and delegated legislation
To find legislation, simply head to the correct jurisdiction and find the
section for the type of material you are after
|
Bills |
-
Look at the House in which the Bill was
first introduced - usually the lower House
-
Look for the relevant year
-
Look for the title of the Bill - listed
alphabetically
|
|
Sessional Acts |
If you know the year and number of the Act...
If you don't know the number of the Act, look
at the front of the volume for the relevant year - this will
have an alphabetical index where you can look for the title of
the Act.
|
|
Consolidated Acts |
These are
ordered alphabetically – just grab the volume that covers the
title of the Act you are interested in |
|
Delegated legislation |
These are
ordered similarly to Consolidated Acts |
Online
Links to legislation online are given on
the Law Library’s
Legislation and legislative materials ONLINE webpage.
To find the legislation you are after, simply…
- Click on the relevant jurisdiction - Commonwealth,
South Australia, etc
- Look for the type of legislation you are interested
in - consolidated Act, bill, etc
- Click on one of the source links provided - this will
usually take you to an alphabetical list where you can easily browse for the
legislation you are after
How to search
for legislation on a subject
There are a
number of resources you can use to find legislation on a particular
topic...
|
AustLII
|
AustLII is a free website which
allows you to search for Australian legislation by keywords. To
search for legislation...
|
|
Government and parliament websites
|
Each Australian jurisdiction has
a legislation website that can be easily searched by keywords.
You can find links to these
websites from the Law Library’s
Legislation and legislative materials ONLINE webpage. |
|
LawLex
|
LawLex is
another great website which allows you to search for legislation
from throughout Australia by subject. You can either:
|
|
Subject indexes |
Some jurisdictions also provide
a subject index to their legislation.
Links to these indexes can be
found from the Law Library’s
Legislation and legislative materials ONLINE webpage.
The Wicks subject index to
Commonwealth legislation is only available in print behind
the Law Information Desk. |
|
Textbooks |
Textbooks are a great resource
to find references to legislation.
Use the Library catalogue to
find books on the area of law you are interested in. |
|
Legal encyclopaedias |
Legal encyclopaedias are another
great source which provide references to legislation.
See
here for information on using legal encyclopaedias. |
How
to find 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 (see above)
-
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
|
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
|
