The University Library has a wide range of material to help you find information for your assignments. Many of these resources are available online so you can do your own research at home or on campus. Some of the online material (and your UNE Online units) will require you to enter your UNE username and password before you will be able to gain access. You can register online from myUNE (Student Portal).

This guide will help you to discover legal resources to use for your studies. You may like to Bookmark (Add to Favorites) the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.

Textbooks and references
Legislation
Legislation and its amendments
Looseleaf services and forms
Case citators
Law reports
Journal articles
Dictionaries and encyclopedias (Halsbury's)
Referencing

Textbooks and references

Your lecturer lists required Textbooks and References in your Study Guide.

Reserve Collection

One copy of each textbook and reference book is kept in the Law Library's Reserve Collection. You can find out what items are there for your Unit by trying a reserve search in the catalogue. If all loan copies have been borrowed, External Students can ask for a photocopy of the Contents pages or one chapter from the book. The University Library is unable to supply you with more than one chapter out of a single publication as that would breach the Copyright Act 1968. Request forms are available from the External Students' Library Helpline.

eReserve

Available from the University Library page, eReserve provides online access to PDF copies of articles, case reports and relevant sections of legislation as chosen by your lecturers. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader software (available for free) to view the PDF documents.
You can search eReserve in several ways, by
Unit Code: LS 377
Coordinator: Collins, Craig
Title Keyword: patenting computer software
Author Surname: pryles

catalogue

UNE's catalogue tells you the books, journals (in print and online) and audiovisual resources that are held in the University Library and the Law Library.
You can find out a textbook's Call Number, if it is available to be borrowed and when it is due for renewal.
The catalogue will also tell you if UNE has a specific Law Report or journal. However, you will not find out the cases or articles within each Law Report or journal. To discover these you will need to use different legal tools, including case citators (see Cases) and journal indexes.
To search UNE's catalogue, click on more catalogue options on the University Library page.
To learn how to use the University Library catalogue, work through the eSKILLS UNE tutorial called Using the library catalogue.

Services for External Students (Students living outside the 2350, 2351 and 2358 postcode areas)
You can borrow books and ask for copies of journal articles or case reports from printed sources. Please place any requests for copies (one request form per request) through the centralised External Students' Library Helpline. Requests can be emailed, phoned, faxed, mailed or filled in on the web.

Legislation

There are authorised sources of legislation available online.

Commonwealth

For Commonwealth legislation use the Attorney-General's Department's authorised site ComLaw. This also includes the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI) for Commonwealth regulations and other statutory instruments. Access ComLaw through the Law Databases or go directly to http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/homepage.
Help using ComLaw is available at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/previewhelp/homepagehelp.

On the ComLaw Home page scroll down the screen until you see the section called 'Acts'.
Click on the link called 'Compilations - Current'.
You can then either browse by alphabetical letter if you know the name of the Act or use the search box.
Scan the list of results until you see the one you want.
Acts may be in PDF, web page format or Word. PDF is the easiest form for you to cite correctly, although it will be slower to load.

New South Wales

Authorised NSW legislation is available online from the Parliamentary Counsel's Office through the Law Databases or go to http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/. The NSW Legislation site provides the most current version of NSW Acts, Regulations and Environmental Planning Instruments and historical versions as far back as 1990.

Here is an example of how to search for a current NSW Act:

Click on 'Browse A-Z In Force' on the blue toolbar at the top left of the screen.
Click on the 'R' underneath 'Acts in force'.
The Acts are arranged alphabetically, so scroll down until you see 'Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 No 20' and click on the title.
The screen splits into two - the Table of Contents on the left and text on the right.
Click on the 'Status information' button to see the currency of an Act.
Click on 'Whole instrument' if you want to see the entire Act (it is a web page, not in PDF).
'List regs etc' lists the regulations associated with a particular Act.
'Historical versions' provides you with earlier versions of the Act.
'Historical Notes' shows you the history of amendments to a particular Act.
'Search title' enables you to find keywords within the Act you are viewing.
If you only need to see a particular section of an Act use the Table of Contents on the left of the screen and click on the relevant section title.
To print, click your cursor onto the right hand page of text.
Then go up to 'File' on your browser and select 'Print Preview'.
To print the correct pages you will need to use the pull-down options in the centre of the screen.
Select 'Only the selected frame' instead of 'As laid out on screen' and finally click on 'Print'.

Because the website uses frames it is not easy to find the identifying URL (web address) for an Act if you need to cite it correctly in your references. You will find the instructions on how to link directly to an Act within NSW Legislation's FAQs at http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/faqs.html.

Other States and Territories

For legislation and regulations for the other states try 'Other sites' on ComLaw. The University Library also provides excellent links and information about Government publications online. The publications include Bills, Explanatory Memoranda, Debates (Hansard), Acts, Government Gazettes and Parliamentary Papers.

AustLII Legislation

AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute) is now providing more frequent updating of Australian legislation and so is more reliable than it was. However, for accuracy it is preferable to choose the official, authorised government sites ahead of AustLII.

A new AustLII service is the Point-in-Time Legislation Project at http://portsea.austlii.edu.au/pit/ where you can view and compare particular Acts or Sections for different dates.

Legislation and its amendments

Amendments to Legislation

UNE subscribes to 'Australian Current Law', a current awareness service which also updates Halsbury's Laws of Australia. The section on Legislation tells you about the most recent changes to Acts, Regulations, Parliamentary Bills and other Statutory Instruments for all Australian jurisdictions. You can also find out which legislation has been affected by a new Act.

Use the Internet. Go to the University Library at http://www.une.edu.au/library/
Select 'Legal resources' from the dropdown box headed 'Databases'.
Click on 'Select from a list of recommended databases' and choose LexisNexis AU on the list.
Look under the 'General Search Sources' for 'Cases/Legislation' and then 'Aust Current Law — Legislation'.
If you want to search within the amendments for particular year/s then firstly click on 'Browse' next to the title.
Tick the box next to the year/s you want and then click on the grey 'Search' tab.
You will then see the Search page with your years selected.
Click on the red 'Search' button (with the torch) if you want to see all the digests for the selected year/s.
If you want to perform a focused search of legislative amendments, then click on 'Search' next to 'Aust Current Law — Legislation' (not on 'Browse').
To find amendments to a particular piece of legislation, type the name of the Act in the 'Search Terms' box. For example
mental health act 1990
You can limit your search to a particular Topic Area if you wish.
Next, use the pull-down menu for 'Search Within' and choose 'Acts Amended'.
Under 'Jursidiction' select, for example, 'New South Wales'.
Finally, click on the red 'Search' button (with the torch).
To find any legislation affected by a new Act, type the name of the Act in the 'Search Terms' box. For example
spam act 2003
Choose a Jurisdiction if you know it, such as 'Commonwealth'.
Use the pull-down menu next to 'Search Within' to select 'Acts Passed' and click on 'Search'.
You can print in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
For in-context Help use the hints on the right hand side of the screen or for the complete Help manual click on 'Help' at the top right of the LexisNexis AU screen.
Help using LexisNexis AU is also available at http://www.une.edu.au/library/training/dbguides/index.php.
When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

Looseleaf services and forms

UNE subscribes to three online looseleaf services:

Court Forms, Precedents and Pleadings NSW
This service provides court forms and commentary for civil litigation. Each legal topic lists its 'Principles and Practice' and provides precedents to follow in NSW courts.
Local Government Planning & Environment NSW
This contains the Acts, regulations, policies, notes and bulletins for NSW local government and environmental planning.
Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure NSW
In 2005 the NSW Parliament made legislative changes to combine the procedures for the Supreme, District and Local Courts. You will find relevant Acts, rules, regulations, evidence, practice decisions and forms.

All of these services are accessed through LexisNexis AU and searched in a similar way.

Go to the Law databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and click on LexisNexis AU.
The easiest way to find 'Local Government Planning & Environment NSW' and 'Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure NSW' is to click on the red tab called 'Services' near the top of the screen.
To find 'Court Forms, Precedents and Pleadings NSW' use the red 'Forms' tab.
The tabs take you to a search template for a number of different sources within each service.
You can search across all these sources at once or you can choose a single source using the 'Sources' box.
Use the small 'i' if you're not sure what the source is.
Look for references on a topic or about particular Acts, regulations or cases using the various search options on the screen.
Use the Browse tab on the Services grey toolbar if you want to see what's in each volume instead of doing a general search for keywords.
Click on the + sign next to the name of the volume and then on the + next to the name of the part you want. For example,
'Local Government Planning & Environment Volume B' and then on + next to 'Coastal Protection'.
Or, 'Ritchie's Uniform Civil Procedure NSW' and then on + next to 'Forms'.
Or 'Court Forms, Precedents & Pleadings NSW', + next to 'Evidence' and finally 'Precedents'.
Click on the title itself when you want to see the text.
The screen splits into two, with the Table of Contents on the left and text on the right.
To print, save or email use the icons above the text.
If you want to print or save a chapter or parts of a chapter (instead of each individual page) then tick the box in the Table of Contents next to the name of the chapter and when printing/saving choose 'Selected Items in Table of Contents' as your 'Document Range'.
If you want to search the bulletins or indexes for Uniform Civil Procedure NSW or Local Government Planning & Environment NSW (including 'Land and Environment Notes') then the easiest way is to click on the 'Source Directory' tab above the red toolbar.
Make sure the radio button is on 'View by: Content type'.
Put a tick in the box next to 'Bulletins' to search all the bulletins at once or click on the folder to select particular bulletins.
Then use the red 'OK - Continue' button to 'Search' or 'Browse' your chosen bulletins.
If you want to return to the Home page then the quickest way is to click on the red 'cricket ball' (Knowledge Burst) at the top left of the LexisNexis AU screen.
Click on the 'Sign out' link at the top right of the screen when you have finished using LexisNexis AU.

Case citators

This section shows you how to find out about cases using the citators

CaseBase and
Australian Current Law - Reporter for case digests, sentencing decisions and quantum of damages

Case Citators

Use a Case Citator to find out about reported judgments and unreported decisions. Citators will give you the reference details of all the law report series that publish a report on a specific case. There are usually digests (or summaries) of the case provided and all relevant legislation and legal topics listed. The main benefit of a citator is to show you the history of a case and how it has been subsequently considered judicially.

CaseBase

UNE subscribes to CaseBase, which covers more than sixty Australian and overseas Law Reports titles. It also cites unreported decisions of the High Court, the Federal Court and all Australian Supreme Courts. As a bonus, CaseBase also indexes around 100 legal journals so you can find references to articles about some of the cases.

CaseBase is a case citator and annotator. It does not contain full-text case reports or journal articles. Its job is to tell you where specific case decisions or journal articles are published. If you want to then find a particular reference or citation then use the catalogue to search for the cited Title of the Law Report or Journal. This will tell you if it is available in print or online, enabling you to retrieve it yourself or request a copy from the Library.

Go to the Law Databases, at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and bookmark this link (Add to your Favorites).
Select LexisNexis AU from the list.
Look under the 'General Search Sources' for 'Cases/Legislation' and click on 'Search' next to 'CaseBase Cases and Journal Articles'.
You should now see a search template with lots of options.
If you are looking for cases about a legal topic, use the 'Search Terms' box at the top of the screen and type your keywords. For example, type
police! and power! and warrant!
and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
! is for truncation and will find police, policed, polices, policeman, policemen, policewoman and policewomen.
Another example of searching is
(oral! or verbal!) w/5 contract
w/5 means variations of 'oral' or 'verbal' have to appear within 5 words of contract/s.
LexisNexis AU automatically looks for plurals and will find results for contract and contracts.
If you have a particular case in mind, type one or both party names in the 'Case/Article Name' box, such as
pavey and matthews
Join the party names using the Boolean operator AND because 'v' will not give you results.
Use the 'Citation' search box if you already have a citation and want to find out more about a case. Try
162 clr 221
A list of the 'Abbreviations' used in CaseBase is linked under 'How do I...?' on the right hand side of the screen.
An excellent site to bookmark (Add to Favorites) is the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations at http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk. You can search by abbreviation or full titles for legal publications from Australian, UK, US and other international jurisdictions.
If you want to find cases about a particular Act or section of legislation use the 'References to Legislation' box to type, for example,
trade practices act and 52
You can also choose to restrict your search to particular judgment dates, jurisdictions, courts and judges by using the appropriate boxes.
Your Results list will show the cases mentioning your keywords. Click on the title of an entry that interests you.
Or if you would like to reduce the size of your hitlist then use the 'Narrow Search' box at the top right to find more keywords within your results.
At the top of the screen for each case entry you will see the legal citations where it is reported, such as
Rogers v Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479; (1992) 109 ALR 625; (1992) 67 ALJR 47; (1992) Aust Torts Reports 81-189; BC9202689
Some of the citations are linked. UNE subscribes to NSW Law Reports in PDF from 1971 through LexisNexis AU. If the links don't work it means UNE does not subscribe to that particular online Report series through LexisNexis AU.
Use a Title or Journal Title search in the catalogue to find out if UNE holds the Law Report series you want, in print or online in another database such as LexisNexis Legal or CCH Online.
The BC number is a Butterworths Unreported Decision number. You can use this to find the unreported case in LexisNexis Legal (see below for details of how to do this).
Each CaseBase entry will have some or all of the following sections:

'Cases referring to this case' — other cases that used this particular case in their own submissions.
'Journal articles referring to this case' — citations for articles about this particular case (not the full-text). Use a Title or Journal Title search in the catalogue to find out if UNE holds the journal you want, in print or online in another database.
'Cases considered by this case' — cases used by this particular case in its own submissions.
'Catchwords/Digest' — Catchwords are Halsbury's Laws of Australia subjects and the Digest a brief description of the legal issues that arose.
'Legislation considered by this case'.

CaseBase Signals are annotations that tell you how a case has been judicially considered in later judgments. Click on 'Signal Help' at the top of a case's screen to find out what these visual clues mean.
You can print your results in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
For in-context Help use the hints on the right hand side of the screen or for the complete Help manual click on 'Help' at the top right of the LexisNexis AU screen.
Help using LexisNexis AU is also available at http://www.une.edu.au/library/training/dbguides/index.php
When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

Australian Current Law — Reporter

'Australian Current Law — Reporter' is another case citator that gives you digests (headnotes or main points) of judgments from the High Court, Federal Court and Supreme Courts in Australia. There are also selected decisions from the House of Lords (UK), Family Court, Industrial Relations Commission, Commercial Tribunal of NSW, Trade Practices Commission, Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal, Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Environment Courts and Tribunals.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Select LexisNexis AU from the list.
Look under the 'General Search Sources' for 'Cases/Legislation' and click on 'Search' next to 'Australian Current Law — Reporter'.
You should now see a search template with lots of options.
If you want to find cases about a legal issue then use the 'Search Terms' box at the top of the screen. For example, type
adverse possess!
and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
! is for truncation and will find possess, possesses, possessed, possessory, possession and possessions.
The 'Search Terms' box will search all of 'Australian Current Law — Reporter'.
If you would like to limit your search to a particular legal subject then use the 'Topic' pull-down menu to select, for example
Real Property
This would then find cases about adverse possession only within the subject of Real Property.
To find a digest for a particular case, use the 'Case Name' box to type one or both party names, such as
breen and williams
There is a 'Citation' search box but this does not seem to produce successful results. Use the case name instead.
If you want to find cases about a particular Act or section of legislation use the 'References to Legislation' box at the bottom of the screen to type, for example,
workers compensation and nsw and 151
You can also choose to restrict your search to particular judgment dates, jurisdictions, courts and judges by using the appropriate boxes.
Sentencing Decisions
Type your keywords in the 'Search Terms' box, for example
stab! or knif!
Then use the pull-down menu next to 'Case Type' to choose 'Sentencing Decisions Digests only'.
Finally in the 'Sentencing Decisions Offence Name' box type
murder or manslaughter
and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
If you have too many results try restricting the jurisdiction or court or dates.
Quantum of Damages
Type your keywords in the 'Search Terms' box, for example
(car or motor) w/5 accident!
Then use the pull-down menu next to 'Case Type' to choose 'Quantum of Damages Digests only'.
Finally in the 'Quantum of Damages Injury Type' box type
stress!
and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
If you have too many hits try restricting the jurisdiction or court or dates.
You can print your results in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
For in-context Help use the hints on the right hand side of the screen or for the complete Help manual click on 'Help' at the top right of the LexisNexis AU screen.
Help using LexisNexis AU is also available at http://www.une.edu.au/library/training/dbguides/index.php
When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

Law reports

This section show you how to access online full-text cases and Law Reports using

CCH Online for case reports and legislation commentaries in full-text
LexisNexis AU and LexisNexis Legal for online Law Reports and Unreported Judgments
Commonwealth Law Reports and cases on AustLII
HeinOnline for the English Reports
and direct links to case law from the Courts.

CCH Online

UNE subscribes to some of the online full-text libraries offered by CCH Australia, including:

Australian Master Tax Guides (Archived)	Superannuation Law
Corporate News Archive	Tax Bills Annual Archive
Corporations Law	Tax Library (including the most recent Australian Master Tax Guide)
Family Law Library	Tax Week Archive
Fringe Benefits Tax Guide	Torts Law Library
GST & Sales Tax Guide	Trade Practices Library
Industrial Law Library

You can access CCH Online using the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php

Ways to search CCH Online:

Expand and Collapse
'Expand' will show you all the 'book' titles within each 'library' in CCH Online.
Titles in blue are the UNE subscriptions you can access. Greyed out titles mean that UNE does not subscribe to specific books or libraries.
'Collapse' returns the Table of Contents to the list of CCH 'libraries'.
Search a Library
Choose a Library such as Torts Law Library.
To search across the 'books' in this Library use the 'Search' box at the top of the CCH screen.
In the 'Search' box type, for example,
hospitals
Leave 'In All Text' as the choice of 'Search Form' and click on 'Go'.
Browse a book
Choose the Library and 'book' you want to browse.
For example Family Law Library then Family Law and Practice Commentary.
Browse its 'Table of Contents' on the left by clicking on the + signs to see what is in each chapter.
You can also look up the 'Index' (if available) at the bottom of the left hand column.
Search for keywords within a book
Choose the Library and 'book'.
For example Corporations Law Library and the book CCH Australian Corporations Commentary.
In the 'Search' box try
fiduciary dut* and director?
Use * for truncation to find duty or duties.
? is a wildcard that will find director or directors or directory.
Choose 'Inside All Text' as the 'Search Form' and click on 'Go'.
Search for a case within a book
Choose the Library and 'book'.
For example, Family Law Library and Family Law Cases.
Use the pull-down menu to choose 'Case Name' as the 'Search Form' instead of 'Inside All Text'.
In the new 'Search' box that pops up type, for example,
finlayson and gillam
and click on 'Search'.
If you have a case citation choose 'Case citation' instead of 'Case Name' and try
1980 6 famlr 39
or use 90-613 if you have the citation (1979) FLC ¶90-613.
Your results from any of these searches are displayed as a series of hits on the left hand side.
Click on the name of the case to bring up the text on the right hand side.
To print or save a document, click the 'Print Mode' button and it will then say 'Print Mode On'.
Put a tick in the box/es next to the document/s name.
Then click on the brown 'Print to PDF' button.
Use the Save or Print icons on the Acrobat toolbar to retrieve your document/s.
Logging out is not required when you have finished using CCH Online.
Help is available within CCH Online or in Guides to Databases

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LexisNexis AU

UNE's subscription to LexisNexis AU gives you access to online New South Wales Law Reports in PDF from 1971.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Select LexisNexis AU from the list.
If you want the 'New South Wales Law Reports' click on 'Search' next to its title underneath the 'General Search Sources' for 'Cases/Legislation'.
Alternatively, click on the red 'Cases' tab at the top left of the LexisNexis AU Home page.
Then use the pull-down arrow in the 'Sources' area to choose 'New South Wales Law Reports' as your source.
If you are looking for a specific report of a particular case then use the 'Case Name' search box. For example, try
strathfield and elvy
and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
If you have a citation use the 'Citation' box to type
1992 25 nswlr 745
You can also choose to restrict your search to particular judgment dates, jurisdictions, courts and judges by using the appropriate boxes.
If you want to limit your search to the catchwords, headnotes, digest or summary of a case, use the 'Catchwords/Summary' search box. Please note that not all reported cases have these fields.
To find reported cases where a party has been represented by a particular barrister, solicitor or firm, use the 'Representation' search box.
To find cases about a particular Act or section of legislation use the 'References to Legislation' box at the bottom of the screen to type, for example,
environmental planning and assessment act and 77
If you need reports that refer to a particular case then use the 'References to Cases' search box at the bottom of the screen.
When you see your list of Results, click on the entry that is the best match.
You will be able to read the Law Report on screen in HTML.
To read, print or save the PDF version of the Law Report click on the small 'PDF' icon next to the brief citation at the top left of the screen.
If you want to see the CaseBase entry for the case then click on the CaseBase signal next to the 'PDF' icon.
You can print your results in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
For in-context Help use the hints on the right hand side of the screen or for the complete Help manual click on 'Help' at the top right of the LexisNexis AU screen.
Help using LexisNexis AU is also available from Guides to Databases
When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

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LexisNexis Legal

LexisNexis Legal (also called lexis.com) contains thousands of documents, including law reports and journal articles for Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, USA and many other countries. The Australian jurisdiction Law Reports available in LexisNexis Legal include:

Administrative Law Decisions (ALD) from 1973
Australia - Intellectual Property Reports (IPR) from 1982
Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR) from 6/9/1967 to 5/3/1999. Subsequent ACT case reports are included in the ALRs.
Australian Company Law Reports (ACLR) from 1975 to 1989
Australian Corporations and Securities Reports (ACSR) from 1998
Australian Law Reports (ALR) from 1973
Family Law Reports (Fam LR) from 1976
Motor Vehicle Reports (MVR) from 1983
Northern Territories Reports (NTR) from 1979
Victorian Reports (VR) from 1957 to the end of August 1996

Because LexisNexis Legal is so big, the way to search it is to select your source first and then search within that source.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Choose LexisNexis Legal from the list.
Enter your UNE username and password if prompted.
You can use the 'Find a Source' tab and type the report name, for example
administrative law decisions
This will show the pathway for you to follow:
Legal > Find Laws by Country or Region > Australia > Case law > Law Reports — Butterworths
Click on the last 'live' link to go straight to the 'Administrative Law Decisions'.
'Find a source' seems to work for Australian and New Zealand sources but not for the UK material.
Here is a UK example for finding the All England Law Reports (All ER).
Make sure the 'Look for a Source' tab is on 'Legal'.
Scroll down the page until you see 'Find Laws by Country or Region' on the right hand side of the screen.
Click on the link underneath called 'United Kingdom'.
Click on the link called 'Case law'.
Lastly click on either 'UK cases, Combined courts' or 'England and Wales reported and unreported cases'.
Use the small 'i' to see exactly what is in each source if you are not sure which source to choose.
Make sure the 'Terms and Connectors' radio button is on.
If you are looking for a particular case then type the following example in the search box:
name (airedale and bland)
If you have the exact citation then you can use it instead of the case names. Try, for example,
cite (1993 1 all er 821)
To find Australian Unreported Judgments from September 1984 follow this pathway:
Legal > Find Laws by Country or Region > Australia > Case law > Unreported Judgments — Butterworths
If you are not sure of the jurisdiction you can search all of them at once by clicking on 'Show checkboxes for combining sources'.
Put a tick in each of the six boxes and click on the 'Combine Sources' button.
In the search box type your BC Unreported Decision number, such as
bc200406383
You can find these using the case citator CaseBase.
You will be able to read your documents on screen.
To print or download or email a document use the links at the top right of your screen.
Help is available at the top right of the LexisNexis screen or at Guides to Databases.

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Commonwealth Law Reports

UNE has a print subscription to the authorised Commonwealth Law Reports. If you want to request a photocopy from this series then use the request forms from the External Students' Library Helpline.

If you want a CLR case from 1973 onwards, equivalent reports appear in the Australian Law Reports (ALR) series. The Law Library holds ALR in print and online through LexisNexis Legal — see above for details.

AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute) has cases and selected reported and unreported decisions of the High Court of Australia since its inception in 1903. Judgments are generally available within 24 hours of being handed down. Notice of new decisions is provided on the AustLII home page at http://www.austlii.edu.au. The official High Court Home page is at http://www.hcourt.gov.au. High Court Cases are hosted on AustLII at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/. This is an example of how to search for a particular High Court case:

Click on 'Case Name Search' at the top of the screen.
Type one or both party names. Try
moore v dimond
Click on the matching case title to read the judgment.

The cases do not not contain headnotes, catchwords or parts of the hearing details which are subject to LBC Information Services copyright. Page numbers for the CLRs (where present) have been inserted by SCALE. Catchwords for decisions since 1996 have been provided by the Court.

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AustLII

AustLII provides free access to primary legal material (legislation, treaties and court or tribunal decisions) and secondary legal material (journals and official reports). Here is an example of how to find a case on AustLII:

Go to the Law databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Click on AustLII.
On the AustLII Home page click on the link '[Advanced search]' underneath the search box in the middle of the screen.
You can limit your searches to legislation, cases, journals or particular courts by highlighting an entry in 'Select the AustLII Database(s) to search:' options, such as
Commonwealth: All cases
In the 'Enter Search Query' box type
wright v gibbons
Use the pull-down menu in the 'Find' box to select 'this case name' and click 'Search'.
If the case name search doesn't work try 'this phrase' instead of 'this case name' and use the citation
78 CLR 313
Click on the entry that matches your search. The AustLII Law Reports are in HTML format (web pages).

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HeinOnline:

HeinOnline contains the English Law Reports in PDF from 1220 to 1865.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and click on HeinOnline.
You may have to type your UNE username and password.
Click on 'Subscribers Click Here to Enter' on the bright green line near the top of the screen.
Look under 'Subscribed Libraries' and click on 'English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1865)'.
The easiest way to find a case is to use the Case Locator on the right hand side.
Leave the radio button on 'Case Name' and in the box where it says 'Enter Case Name Or Nominative Citation' type
foss v harbottle
Click on the 'Locate' button (pressing 'Enter' doesn't work).
To read the judgment click on the link '67 Eng Rep 189' in the 'Eng Rep Citation' column.
If you want to search for a citation then make sure the radio button is on 'English Reports Citation' and in the search box type
67 Eng. Rep. 189
Please note you have to use the US style of citation 'Eng. Rep.', including capitalisation and the full-stops.
To print or save the case in PDF, click on the Printer icon at the top right of the page.
To print/save the entire judgment click on the 'PDF' link next to where it says 'Current section Foss v. Harbottle, 20 pages beginning at 67 Eng. Rep. 189 (1815-1865)'.

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Courts

ComLaw provides convenient links to Commonwealth, State and Territory Case Law at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/preview/othersitelinks
Lawlink (Attorney-General's Department NSW) provides decisions from NSW Courts and Tribunals, mainly since 1999, at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/caselaw/caselaw.nsf/pages/index.
Cases include those from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Court of Criminal Appeal, Land and Environment Court, Drug Court, the Local Court (from 2002) and Disctrict Court (from 2006).
Tribunal decisions are from the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Dust Diseases Tribunal (from 2001), Industrial Relations Commission (from 2000) and Medical Tribunal.
Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and click on 'Lawlink'.
Look at the 'Quick Links' on the top right of the Lawlink screen and click on 'Court Decisions'.
Next, choose the Court or Tribunal you want and click on 'all decisions'.
You can choose to use the Search buttons provided, or look at the 'Decisions by Year' or 'Decisions by Case Name'.

Journal articles

If you want to find references about legal issues and cases you need to use a journal index. Indexes tell you the titles of articles, authors, and (most importantly) the source — journal title, year, volume number, issue number and pages. Indexes provide either an abstract (a short summary of the topics covered) or subject descriptors so that you can judge if an article is going to be useful to you. Increasingly indexes are also providing the article itself, online in full-text.

If you use a legal journal index to find out about an article and it is not available online in full-text, then try a Journal Title search in the catalogue to see if UNE holds the journal you want in print or online in another e-resource. More details about how to find journals in the catalogue are here.

Now you will find out how to use five legal index tools — Informit, LexisNexis Legal, CaseBase, HeinOnline and Lawbook Journals Online.

Informit

Informit is the software platform that runs a large number of Australian journal indexes, the most relevant ones for Law being:

AGIS Plus Text — Attorney General's Information Service. Information about the articles includes abstracts, subject descriptors, case names and jurisdictions. Over 120 of the journals indexed are also available in full-text, mainly from 1999. Subject coverage includes administrative law, banking, companies and securities, constitutional law, copyright law, criminal law, environmental law, family law, human rights, international law, legal aid, and trade practices.
APA Full Text — Australian Public Affairs Full Text. There are no abstracts provided, but there are subject descriptors. There are also links to more than 400 journals in full-text from 1995, plus links to free web documents. Subject coverage includes business, health, current affairs, economics, humanities, law, literature, politics and the social sciences.
Family & Society Plus — Australian Family & Society Abstracts. Use this index for abstracts, subject descriptors and a number of full-text articles from 2000. Topics indexed are Australian family policy and practice issues including family law, child protection and social change.
Meditext — This has abstracts and subject descriptors for articles on medico-legal issues, as well as around 120 online journals in full-text from 1995 and links to free web documents.
AFPD — Australian Federal Police Database. This has notes and subject descriptors but no full-text. Subject coverage includes policing, criminology, law enforcement, law, management, occupational health and safety and the social sciences.
CINCH — Australian Criminology Database. This index has abstracts and subject descriptors, no full-text except some links to free web documents. Subject coverage includes all aspects of crime and criminal justice including corrections, crime, crime prevention, criminal law, criminology, juvenile justice, law enforcement, police and victims of crime.
There are also business, environmental, intellectual property and aboriginal indexes available.

This next section will tell you how to use Informit:

Click on 'AGIS Plus Text' in the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php
Enter your UNE username and password when prompted.
Click on the 'Databases' tab at the top right of the screen.
First you need to select the databases you wish to search.
Mark the boxes next to 'AGIS Plus Text' and 'Australian Public Affairs Full Text' at the top of the Informit menu and any other databases you wish to search at the same time.
Click on the 'Continue' button at the top (or bottom) of the Informit list of databases.
To find out quickly if a particular article is available online in full-text, in the first search box type, for example, kirby
Use the pull-down arrow to select 'All Author fields' instead of 'any field'.
In the second search box type a word or phrase from the title, such as judicial
and use the pull-down menu to select 'Title'.
Clicking on 'Search' will result in any matching references to articles.
How do you find references about a legal topic?
In the first search box type, for example, inherit*
* is for truncation and will find inherit, inherits, inherited and inheritance.
Use the pull-down arrow to select OR instead of AND.
In the second search box type success*
Click on 'Search more fields' to open up another search box.
Once again use the pull-down arrow to select OR instead of AND.
Type estat* in the third search box and click on 'Search'.
Don't worry about looking at your results for the moment.
Instead try a search for family provis* in the first box, making sure you clear the other two, and click on 'Search'.
You may want to do a separate search for family provision act 1982.
Underneath the search boxes you will notice your 'Recent searches' are listed.
You can use this to combine your different searches and also to see the results of each one.
Make sure the search boxes at the top are clear before combining any of your searches or you will get strange results.
In the first search box type
#1 and #2
and click 'Search'. This will find results that combine your keywords from your first two searches.
The results are displayed with citation information only, in order of database.
I like to see the subject descriptors or abstracts (so that I get a better idea of what the articles are discussing) and the newest references first.
On the 'Fields to Display' tab choose 'Complete'.
Then use the 'Sort Results' tab (top left of the Informit screen) to click on 'Newest First'.
When you are checking your results, you can mark any records of interest by putting ticks in the boxes next to their titles.
To see your complete list of marked records click on the link 'View selected' at the top of your results list.
Look at the bottom of each record to see full-text options (if available).
To view an article in PDF format click on the link 'Full text PDF'.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your computer. This is available for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Other full-text options you may see are:
'Full text PDF (external)' - the article in PDF format on the web
'Full Text HTML (external)' - the article in HTML on the web
'Full Text (archive)' - the article in an archived electronic journal
If there is no full-text use the yellow 'Find it' icon to discover if there are other ways for you to see the article you want.
If it is available online in another database then click on 'Go' under the 'Electronic' part of the options.
No online full-text available? Then click on 'Go' next to 'UNE Library Catalogue' to find out if UNE holds the journal in print. Items held can be requested using the External Students' Library Service request forms.
You can choose to read an article online or use the Save, Print or Email links above your results list.
For more help try the APA-FT guide in eSKILLS UNE, check the Guides to Databases, or the Help link within Informit.
Click on the Logout button at the top right of the screen when you have finished using Informit.

Back to list of journal indexes

LexisNexis Legal

You can find online full-text journal articles in LexisNexis Legal (also known as lexis.com). It contains millions of documents, including law reports and journal articles for Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA and many other countries. If you want help using LexisNexis Legal there is a guide available or you can consult the online LexisNexis Legal Help.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Select LexisNexis Legal from the list.
Enter your UNE username and password if prompted.
To find the sources for Australia, New Zealand and the UK, make sure the initial screen is on the 'Legal' tab and then scroll down until you see 'Find Laws by Country or Region' on the right hand side.
For British material click on the 'United Kingdom' link underneath this heading.
For Australian and New Zealand (or other international) material click on the 'Find Laws by Country or Region' heading and select a country from the alphabetical list.
Choose a category from those offered, such as 'Case Law', 'Journals', 'Legislation & Regulations' or 'Treaties & International Agreements'.
Select the sources you want to use — some of them can be combined but not all.
To find out the exact titles of the journals you are searching within a particular source click on the small 'i'.
Follow this pathway to search Australian journals for an article:
Legal > Find Laws by Country or Region > Australia > Journals > Australian Law Journals, Combined
You can also track backwards to other levels by using this search history just above the search box.
Choose to search using 'Terms and Connectors' or 'Natural Language'.
The 'Terms and Connectors' search is better for specific topics as you can combine terms in a more focused way.
Type your search words into the box. For example, judicial review
If you want fewer results add more keywords, such as judicial review and high court and constitut!
! is for truncation and will find constitute, constitutes, constituted, constitution, constitutions, constitutional and constitutionally.
By using the AND Boolean operator you will only find hits where all of your search terms appear.
The 'Natural Language' search is useful for general issues or concepts. It allows you to type plain English into the search box. An example is
can employers screen employees (workers) for drug use
Use the parentheses ( ) to find synonyms/alternative keywords.
For a particular article type
author (butler ) and title (gifford )
to find 'Gifford v Strang and the New Landscape for Recovery for Psychiatric Injury in Australia' by Des Butler, (2004) 12 Torts Law Journal 108.
For articles mentioning a particular case use the party names, typing
rogers v whitaker
If you have a citation for a journal volume then try
2003 abr and vol! 24
to find all the articles in volume 24, 2003 of the Australian Bar Review.
Look at your list of results and click on the best matching link to view an article on screen in HTML.
To print or download or email a document use the links at the top right of your screen.
Use the Help at the top right of the LexisNexis Legal screen or check the Guides to databases

Back to list of journal indexes

CaseBase

CaseBase is a citator and annotator that covers more than sixty Australian and overseas Law Reports titles. It also indexes around 100 legal journals so you can find references to articles about cases or legislation. UNE's subscription to CaseBase does not contain full-text judgments (except for NSW Law Reports) or journal articles. Its job is to tell you where specific decisions or journal articles are published. If you want to then find a particular reference or citation then use the catalogue to search for the cited Title of the Law Report or Journal.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Select 'CaseBase Journal Articles' from the list.
You should now see a CaseBase search template with lots of options.
Use the 'Case/Article Name' search box if you are looking for articles referring to a particular case.
Similarly, try the 'References to Legislation' if you want to find articles about a particular Act or section of an Act.
To find articles about a topic use the 'Search Terms' box at the top of the screen.
For example, try copyright and (government! or reform!)
! is for truncation and will find government/s, governmental, reform/s, reformed, reforming and reformation/s.
Once you have your references then look in the catalogue for each journal title. If you don't know what the abbreviations mean, then use the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations to find out the full titles. UNE may hold the journal in print or in another online package so that you can read a copy of the article.

Back to list of journal indexes

HeinOnline Journals Library

HeinOnline is an online archive of over 1,200 journals (all articles are in PDF), the English Reports 1220-1865 and more than 1,000 books in the Legal Classics Library (American plus many early British and Commonwealth books).

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and click on HeinOnline.
You may have to type your UNE username and password.
Click on 'Subscribers Click Here to Enter' on the bright green line near the top of the screen.
Look under 'Subscribed Libraries' and click on 'Law Journal Library'.
To find a particular article you can use the alphabetical list of journal titles, click on the title you want and then on the volume.
Or you can use the 'Citation Navigator' if you know the US style of citation.
The easiest way to retrieve the article is to use the 'Search' tab at the top of the screen.
Click on 'Field Search' underneath the simple search box.
In the first box on the right hand side type
hathaway
In the second box type
human rights treaties
and use the pull-down menu to change 'Creator/Author' to 'Title'.
You can also scroll through the list of journal abbreviations to highlight the journal citation but it isn't essential.
Finally click on the 'Search' button underneath the boxes.
In your list of results click on the blue citation to go straight to the article 'Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?' by Oona A Hathaway (2001-2002) Yale Law Journal 111 (8) 1935.
To find articles about a topic click on the 'Search' tab.
If you want to use the simple search box to find a phrase, click the radio button on 'Phrase', type corporate social responsibility and click on the magnifying glass.
To use the 'Field Search', type your words in the search boxes and choose to find your keywords in 'Text' instead of ''Creator/Author'.
To limit your results to journal articles then remove all the ticks for 'Section Types to Search' except for 'articles'.
An example of a search is forensic AND evidence AND court
Click on the blue link to see a particular article in your results list.
To read/save/print click on the printer icon at the top right of the HeinOnline toolbar above the article.
There's a choice of 'Current section' (complete article) or 'Current page'.
Use the 'PDF' link next to your choice.

Back to list of journal indexes

Lawbook Journals Online

Eleven of Lawbook Company's legal journals are online in PDF from January 2001. The titles are:

Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal
Australian Business Law Review
Australian Tax Review
Companies and Securities Law Journal
Criminal Law Journal
Environmental and Planning Law Journal
Insolvency Law Journal
Journal of Judicial Administration
Journal of Law and Medicine
Public Law Review
Trade Practices Law Journal

There are various ways to search Lawbook Journals Online.

Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and click on 'Lawbook Journals Online'. You may have to type your UNE username and password.
If you already have a reference, then the easiest way is to click on the 'Journals' folder on the left hand side.
Click on the folder for the title you want, such as 'Environmental and Planning Law Journal'.
Then open up the volume and issue number, Volume 24 No 4, July 2007
Finally click on the title of the article you want, 'Climate Change and Corporate Social Responsibility' by Karen Bubna-Litic.
The text of the article appears on the right hand side.
You can read it on screen or there is a link 'Click here for PDF print version' so you can print or save the article.
To find articles on a topic, use the 'Global Search Form' provided on the right hand side of the screen.
You can tick the 'Select All' box to search all eleven journals at once or tick the boxes next to the journals of most relevance to your topic.
As an example, tick the box next to 'Criminal Law Journal'.
In the keyword search box at the top of the screen try
(dna or finger*) and eviden*
This will find articles mentioning DNA and evidence or fingerprinting and evidence.
* is used for truncation and will find finger, fingers, fingered, fingerprint/s, fingerprinted and fingerprinting.
Use quotation marks to find a phrase, such as "forensic evidence" or "directors duties".
Your results list appears at the bottom of the screen, with the text of the first article in the list at the top.
You can use the 'Refine search' box in the middle of the page if you want to add more keywords to narrow your results.
If you want to change your search then use the 'Edit search' option to take you back to the 'Global Search Form' with your keywords still there.
'New Search' at the top of the screen will take you back to a blank 'Global Search Form' with your keywords cleared.
Click on the title of an article to bring the text to the top of the page.
There is no facility to mark records, so if you want to print or save a number of articles you will have to do it one-by-one.
There is also an easy search available. Look at the top left and change 'Select Search Form' to the 'Easy Search Form'.
Once again you can choose the journals you want to search by ticking the boxes next to their titles.
The search options offer you such choices as 'containing all these words', 'not containing any of these words', 'containing this exact phrase' and so on.
'Research Trail' at the top of the screen shows you your previous searches and the documents you have opened up.
Logout when you have finished using Lawbook Journals Online.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias (Halsbury's)

You can find links to many online legal dictionaries and encyclopedias using the Library's 'Law Research Guide'

Halsbury's Laws of Australia

Halsbury's Laws of Australia is an encyclopedia of law covering 89 subject areas and all Australian legal jurisdictions. The statements of law list relevant legislation and cases for each subject area. Halsbury's is one of the LexisNexis AU databases.

Go to the Law databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
Clicking on the link to 'Halsbury's Laws of Australia' will take you to a search page.
To gain an overview of a legal topic, click on Browse on the grey toolbar near the top of the LexisNexis AU screen.
You should now see a list of the 89 legal subject areas in Halsbury's. Think of Halsbury's Laws of Australia as being a large book with a series of chapters.
Scroll down the page until you see a subject that interests you, '20 Animals', for example.
If you want to see the 'big picture' for this topic then click on the + signs.
This will open up each topic section (2) COMPANION ANIMALS
chapters (A) DOGS
and paragraphs [20-135] Wearing of collars and tags
If you want to see the text then click on the name.
On the left hand side you will now see the 'Table of Contents' and text on the right.
Put a tick in the Table of Contents boxes next to any of the Halsbury's sections you would like to print out, save or email.
If you want to focus your search within particular Halsbury's subject/s the easiest way is to go back to Browse.
Then put a tick in the box/es to the left of the topic/s you would like to search.
Now click on the grey 'Search' tab.
You should now see a search template with your subject/s selected, such as '20 Animals'.
In the 'Search Terms' box type liab! and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
! is for truncation and will find liable, liabilities and liability.
Your hitlist will show all the parts containing liability within the chapter on Animals.
You can also search for particular cases by using the 'References to Cases' search box to type aleksoski and state rail
Or look for specific legislation by typing in the 'References to Legislation' search box. An example is animals act 1977
You can print (HTML format), email an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign out' at the top right of the screen.

Referencing

Your lecturers require you to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (2nd ed) when footnoting or creating a bibliography for your assignments. UNE's Academic Skills Office has a section on Referencing Law Essays in Writing Skills for Law. La Trobe University has developed an online tutorial called Citing the Law: AGLC2 that you may like to use. If you use EndNote then the University of Queensland has a handout called Using AGLC2 with EndNote9.

Global UNE Links:

University Library

Related sections:

Sub sections:

Online legal research at UNE

Contents

Textbooks and references

Legislation

Legislation and its amendments

Looseleaf services and forms

Case citators

Law reports

Journal articles

Dictionaries and encyclopedias (Halsbury's)

Referencing