Reported Judgements

Some legal decisions are recorded and published in law reports. These are known as 'reported decisions'. Only a small proportion of cases are reported - those that:

• raise significant points of law
• introduce a new principle of law
• significantly modify an existing principle of law
• settle a question of law
• apply an established principle in a new area
• define or interpret legislation or legal terms, or is particularly instructive.

Some courts will have all or most of their cases reported. For instance, all cases appearing in the High Court are reported in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

Specialist Reports and Generalist Law Report Series

The Library collects both subject specialist law report series and generalist law report series. You will need to be aware of the difference when you are citing or referencing a case in your assignment.

Specialist law report series:

• Australian Criminal Reports - contains reported criminal cases from many different jurisdictions
• Family Law Reports - contains reported family law cases from many different jurisdictions

Generalist law report series:

• Australian Law Reports
• Queensland Reports

There are law report series that are authorised to report cases heard in a particular court or jurisdiction.

To Find a Reported Judgement

To find a case with a given citation, you first need to:

1. Decipher the abbreviation used in the citation,
2. Use the library catalogue to search for the full law report title e.g. "Commonwealth Law Reports"
3. Click on the online link or go to the call number in the Statutes and Reports section of the Law Library.

Watch it!

Task: Try it Yourself!