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Legal Research Guide

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

See the Law Online Tutorial.

Check out the full list of databases for law.

Dictionaries: 

See the Law Online Tutorial.

Check out the full list of databases for law.

Abbreviations: 
  • Help to find the full titles of law reports, courts, journal titles and commonly used legal terms.
  • Tip: Once you have found the full title of a law report or journal, search the Library's catalogue to verify that the Library holds it.

CaseBase - Australia and some international jurisdictions.

Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations - UK, Commonwealth, USA, and a selection of other jurisdictions.

FirstPoint Legal Abbreviations - Australia, UK and USA.

Abbreviations of Legal Publications - Australian and international.

Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations - USA only.

For more information about legal abbreviations see the Law Online Tutorial.

Case Law
Case Citators: 

CaseBase (via LexisNexis AU) Australian reported and unreported judgments and some international. CaseBase quick reference guide.

FirstPoint (via Westlaw AU) Australian case references, citations, history, and digest information. Westlaw AU Quickguide.

LawCite (via AustLII) Automated case citator for Australian and some international cases LawCite Help.

Australian and New Zealand citator to UK reports (via LexisNexis AU) UK cases considered by courts in Australia and New Zealand.

United Kingdom case law locator (via Westlaw International) UK and EU cases, citations, history, and digest information.

KeyCite (via Westlaw International) Citing references for cases and legislation in UK, US, and Canada. Cases only for Australia and Hong Kong.

Shepard's citations service (via Lexis.com) US cases only.

Tip: Case citators may provide you with the full text of the judgment - but not always!

More information: Case citators are a very useful legal research tool! Learn more about case citators on the Law Online Tutorial.

Australian Courts: 

Authorised Report Series

Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR)

Federal Court Reports (FCR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII Cth case law

Courts

Federal Court of Australia

Federal Circuit Court of Australia (formerly Federal Magistrates Court)

Family Court of Australia

High Court of Australia

Authorised Report Series

Queensland Reports (Qd R)

State Reports Queensland (St R Qld)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII Qld case law

Queensland Legal Indices Indexes Queensland judgments (click on the password link in the catalogue first before accessing)

Queensland Judgments via the Supreme Court of Queensland Library

Courts

Queensland Courts Court website including judgments

Industrial Court of Queensland Queensland Industrial Relations Commission

Land Court of Queensland Tribunal decisions

Obtaining Court Transcriptions

Authorised Report Series

Australian Capital Territory Law Reports (ACTLR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII ACT case law

Courts

ACT Law Courts & Tribunal

Authorised Report Series

New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR)

New South Wales Reports (NSWR)

Weekly Notes (WN(NSW))

Unreported Judgments

AustLII NSW case law

Courts

Courts & Tribunals of New South Wales

Authorised Report Series

The Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII NT Case law

Courts

Courts Northern Territory (Department of the Attorney-General & Justice)

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory Court web site including judgments

Authorised Report Series

South Australian State Reports (SASR)

South Australian Law Reports (SALR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII SA case law

Courts

Courts Administration Authority

Authorised Report Series

Tasmanian Reports (Tas R)

Tasmanian State Reports (Tas SR)

Tasmanian Law Reports (TLR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII Tas case law

Courts

Supreme Court of Tasmania

Tasmanian Courts

Authorised Report Series

Victorian Reports (VR)

Victorian Law Reports (VLR)

Unreported Judgments

AustLII Vic case law

Judgments and Summaries via the Supreme Court of Queensland Library

Courts

Courts & Tribunal Victoria (Department of Justice)

Supreme Court of Victoria

International: 

Authorised Report Series

Law Reports, Appeal Cases

Law Reports, Chancery Division

Law Reports, Queen's Bench Division

Databases

British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)

English Reports (via HeinOnline)

Lexis.com

Old Bailey online Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court (1674-1913)

Westlaw International

More Databases:

Review the full list of databases for law.

Hansards
Hansards: 

For more information on Hansards see Second Reading Speech page of the Law Online Tutorial.

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

Australian Journal Indexes

AGIS Plus Text - comprehensive coverage of Australian legal journals; selected full text.

APA Full Text - Australian social and legal issues; selected full text.

Australian Full Text Databases

AustLII - selected Australian and New Zealand law journals freely available online

Westlaw AU - selected journals published by Thomson

LexisNexis AU - selected journals published by LexisNexis AU

International Journal Indexes

Legal Journals Index - indexes more than 400 journals from the UK and Europe

International Full Text Databases

Westlaw International

Lexis.com

HeinOnline

Learn about locating journal articles and creating effective search strategies on the Law Online Tutorial.

More Databases:

Review the full list of databases for law.

Legislation
Australia: 

Links to legislation and bills via Offices of Parliamentary Council are provided by jurisdiction below. Australian legislation and bills are also available for all jurisdictions via TimeBase LawOne. The Library subscribes to various point in time products.

ComLaw Federal Statutes, Legislative Instruments and Bills

Bills Parliament of Australia

Queensland Legislation Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel

Bills & Explanatory Notes

Tabled Papers Queensland Parliament

Queensland Local Laws

Queensland Historical Acts AustLII

Ozcase Queensland Historical Legal Collection

Legislation Office of Parliamentary Counsel

Subject Index to South Australian Legislation

South Australian Legal History Archive South Australian Acts and Ordinances 1837 - 2002

International: 

WorldLII

Westlaw International (select 'international directory')

Lexis.com (select the 'foreign law' tab)

Lexis.com

United States Code Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Legal Information Institute (LII) Cornell University

THOMAS Legislative Information from the Library of Congress

For more information about legislation consult the Legislation Module of the Law Online Tutorial.

More Databases:

Review the full list of databases for law.

News
News: 

Factiva Search the full text of hundreds of newspapers from Australia and around the world. Full text is usually available back to the 1990s. No images or full-page views.

Press Display Shows page layout views of newspapers, showing the stories exactly as published. Only the last 60 days of publication available.

Informit TVNews Videoclips of news broadcasts from Australian television stations from 2007 onwards.

For more information see the Law Online Tutorial and the News and Newspapers "How-to Guide"

Related Guides
Related Guides: 

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Looseleaf Resources

Looseleaf services (known online as 'commentaries') are specialist resources relied upon by professional practitioners. They offer current information (eg. legislation, cases), provide commentary and analysis on specific areas of law and are updated regularly. To locate a looseleaf service, do a keyword search of the Library catalogue incorporating the word looseleaf into your search.

Law Reform Commission Reports

Law reform commission reports are based on extensive research. They comprehensively analyse the present law and make law reform proposals on areas on law in need of reform.

Celebrating International Women's Day: March 1945 Queenslands First Female Juror

Published: Fri, 2013-03-08 23:18 by Kelly Dann
in

From the State Library of Queensland Blog

On 1 March 1945 Queensland's first female juror was empanelled at Brisbane's Supreme Court. Nellie Bishop, a housewife from Kelvin Grove who had never before been inside a courtroom, was thrust into the media spotlight. "I was scared stiff" she told a reporter from The Courier Mail

Contract Law

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

Laws of Australia, titles 7-8 - Contract: General Principles; Contracts: Specific

Halsbury's laws of Australia, vol 6, title 110 - Contract

Reference Books:

Principles of Contract Law / Paterson, Robertson and Duke (Law Book Co, 4th ed., 2012)

Contract Law In Australia / J. W. Carter (LexisNexis Butterworths, 6th ed., 2013)

Contract Law / Willmott, Christensen, Butler and Dixon (Oxford University Press, 4th ed., 2013)

Handbooks: 

Carter on contract - This is an online looseleaf which is a separate publication to Carter's Contract Law in Australia (the recommended student text as above); it has a very similar structure, but includes more detailed commentary relevant to practitioners.

The Queensland law handbook: your practical guide to the law, 11th ed, chapter 5

Dictionaries: 

Butterworths concise Australian legal dictionary

Butterworths encyclopaedic Australian legal dictionary

Legal Terms

How-to Guides: 

Legal Research Guide

Browsing the Shelves

You can also browse the catalogue or the shelves at the following call numbers:

KD1554 Contracts

KU810 Contracts - Australia

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

AGIS Plus Text (Attorney-General's information service)

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Australian Contract Law Cases

Carter on Contract

Chitty on Contracts

New Legal Research Guide!

Published: Thu, 2013-02-28 14:03 by Thomas Palmer
in

The Library has published a new Legal Research Guide for the start of Semester 1, 2013!

For those students who have never used our Legal Research Guide, this is where you can access:

  • Legal encyclopaedias and dictionaries
  • Australian and international case law
  • Legislation
  • Hansard and parliamentary documents
  • Key databases for legal information

You can access the Guide using the link below, or via the Walter Harrison Law Library homepage. Don't forget to bookmark it while you are there!

Insight: Getting Away with Murder

Published: Tue, 2012-11-13 10:17 by Anna Matich
in

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Did you miss this?

Criminal Law

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

Halsbury's Laws of Australia, vol 9, title 130 - Criminal Law

Laws of Australia, vol 9-12, titles 9-12 - Criminal Law-Principles; Criminal Law-Offences; Criminal Law-Procedure; Criminal Law-Sentencing

Handbooks: 

Queensland law handbook : your practical guide to the law, 11th ed, chapters 25 and 26

Criminal Law of Queensland

Criminal law Western Australia

Criminal practice and procedure NSW

Bourke's criminal law, Victoria

Dictionaries: 

Australian law dictionary

Butterworths Australian criminal law dictionary

Butterworths concise Australian legal dictionary, 3rd ed

Encyclopdaedic Australian legal dictionary

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

CINCH (Australian Criminology Database)

AGIS plus text (Attorney-General's Information Service)

AFPD (Australian Federal Police digest)

APA full text (Australian Public Affairs Information Service)

National Criminal Justice Reference Service abstracts

Journals
Journals: 

Criminal law journal.

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Queensland sentencing manual

Watson & Watson Australian criminal law

Summary offences law and practice Queensland

Federal criminal law

Australian criminal trial directions

Web Sites
Web Sites: 

Australian Institute of Criminology

Qld Government. Office of Economic and Statistical Research Crime and Justice.

Crime and Misconduct Commission

Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions - Queensland

Australian Crime Commission

Queensland Law Reform Commission

Queensland Legal Aid

WorldLII: Criminal Law

Native Title Law

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

Halsbury's laws of Australia, vol 1, title 5 - Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders

Laws of Australia, vol 1, title 1 - Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders

Handbooks: 

Native Title

Dictionaries: 

Butterworths concise Australian legal dictionary

Butterworths encyclopdaedic Australian legal dictionary

Legal terms

Browsing the Shelves

You can also browse the catalogue or the shelves at the following call numbers:

DU 120 Native Title - Australia
KU 659 Land tenure - Australia
KU 2562 Mabo or Wik

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

AGIS plus text (Attorney-General's Information Service)

APA full text (Australian Public Affairs Information Service)

Indigenous Australia

Journals
Journals: 

Indigenous law bulletin

Native title news

Native title newsletter

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Australian native title law

Native title in Australia

Web Sites
Web Sites: 

Native Title - Australian Human Rights Commission

Native Title guide - Federal Court of Australia

Native Title Representative Bodies

National Native Title Tribunal

Aboriginal Studies WWW Virtual Library

WordLII: Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders

Law, Mooting and Advocacy

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Handbooks: 

Australasian mooting manual

Mooting manual

Hampel on advocacy : a practical guide to basics

Advocacy in practice : being the fourth edition of Cross-examination: practice and procedure

Winning in court : an introduction to advocacy

Fundamentals of trial techniques

Advocacy

Winning advocacy

The Art and science of advocacy

Queensland civil practice

Cavendish guide to mooting

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

AGIS plus text (Attorney-General's Information Service)

APA full text (Australian Public Affairs Information Service)

Lexis

Westlaw International

HeinOnline

JStor

LexisNexis AU

Westlaw AU

IntelliConnect

Journals
Journals: 

Practical litigator.

Multimedia
Multimedia: 

Mooting and Legal Negotiation Videos - UQLS

Mooting

The 2009 Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition

The 2008 Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition

Final round, Shearman & Sterling International Rounds, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Australian civil procedure

Appellate courts and the management of appeals in Australia

Introduction to advocacy: briefwriting and oral argument in moot court

Blackstone's book of moots

Advocacy, negotiation and conference skills

Web Sites
Web Sites: 

TC Beirne School of Law - Mooting

Sydney University Law Society - Mooting manual

University of Technology, Sydney - Mooting handbook

Cambridge University- Guide to mooting

Introduction to Mooting: incorporating mooting's most frequently asked questions

MootingNet

Oxford University Press - What is mooting and how is it done?

Media Law

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

Halsbury's laws of Australia Vol 18, title 275 - Media and communications

Halsbury's laws of Australia, vol 10, title 145 - Defamation

Laws of Australia, vol 6, title 6 - Communications

Handbooks: 

Media and Internet law and practice

Communications law and policy in Australia

Dictionaries: 

Butterworths concise Australian legal dictionary, 3rd ed

Encyclopaedic Australian legal dictionary

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

AGIS plus text (Attorney-General's Information Service)

APA full text (Australian Public Affaris Information Service)

Journals
Journals: 

Gazette of law and journalism online

Journal of media law

Journal of international media & entertainment law

Media and arts law review

News
News: 

Factiva Search the full text of hundreds of newspapers from Australia and around the world. Full text is usually available back to the 1990s. No images or full-page views.

Press Display Shows page layout views of newspapers, showing the stories exactly as published. Only the last 60 days of publication available.

Informit TVNews Videoclips of news broadcasts from Australian television stations from 2007 onwards.

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

ABC all-media law handbook : for journalists, presenters, program makers, authors, editors and publishers, 3rd ed

Australian defamation law and practice

Australian Law Reform Commission

Australian media law

The journalist's guide to media law : dealing with legal and ethical issues, 2nd ed

Telemedia

Web Sites
Web Sites: 

WebLaw: Media and Telecommunications

WorldLII: Media and Communications

International Law

Getting Started

If you are not sure what your topic is about, try one or more of the following:

Encyclopaedias: 

Max Planck encyclopedia of public international law online

A concise encyclopedia of the United Nations

American Jurisprudence

Corpus Juris Secundum

Halsbury's Laws of England

Handbooks: 

Handbook of international law

Dictionaries: 

Black's Law Dictionary

Dictionary of international and comparative law

International law : a dictionary

Parry and Grant encyclopaedic dictionary of international law

Browsing the Shelves

You can also browse the catalogue or the shelves at the following call numbers:

  • K1150-K1231 Maritime Law
  • KZ1165-KZ1208 Trials. War crime trials.
  • KZ1249-KZ1252 International Law and other Disciplines
  • KZ1298-KZ1304 Law of Treaties
  • KZ4850-KZ5490 Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs)
  • KZ3670-KZ3881 Objects of the laws of nations. Territory and its different parts.
  • KZ5510-KZ6299 International law of peace and peace enforcement

Contact Librarians

Angela Allen / Rebecca Carter

bel@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3553

Help for Researchers & Postgraduate Students

Thomas Palmer

t.palmer@library.uq.edu.au

3346 3693

Help for Undergraduate students

Case Law
Case Citators: 

Westlaw International

Lexis.com

International Legal Materials

International Law Reports via Justis

World Court digest (volume 4, 2001-2005)

Oxford Reports on International Law Online

International: 

Courts and Tribunals

European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Justice

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

International Court of Justice

International Criminal Court

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Permanent Court of Arbitration

Special Court for Sierra Leone

Journal Articles

For recent information, journal articles are often the best sources. Looking through individual journals in the hope of finding relevant material is time-consuming. It is better to use the databases to find articles on your topic.

Journal Articles: 

Lexis.com
• International Law Review Articles (access via the International Law sub-tab on Lexis.com)

Westlaw International
• Combined World Journals and Law Reviews via Westlaw International
• Legal Journals Index

HeinOnline
• Foreign and International Law Resources Database
• Law Journal Library
• Kluwer Law International Journal Library

Browse all library databases for Law

Journals
Journals: 

Below is a selected list of relevant journals available via the Library

American Journal of International Law

Australian International Law Journal

Australian Yearbook of International Law

British Yearbook of International Law

Canadian Yearbook of International law

European Journal of International Law

Harvard Human Rights Journal

Harvard International Law Journal

International and Comparative Law Quarterly

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Yearbook

Michigan Journal of International Law

Transnational dispute management journal

Yale Journal of International Law

Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law

Yearbook of the International Law Commission

Primary Materials
Primary Materials: 

Treaties and Agreements

International Legal Materials (via HeinOnline, Westlaw)

Treaties and Agreements Library (via HeinOnline)

Australian Treaties Database

Australian Treaties Library (AustLII)

Flare Index to Treaties

International Treaties Collection (WorldLII)

Multilaterals Project

United Nations Treaty Collection

Sourcebooks

Basic documents in international law

Blackstone's international law documents

Brownlie's documents on human rights

Cases and materials on international law

Constitutions

World constitutions illustrated : contemporary & historical documents & resources

Related Guides
Related Guides: 

Legal Research Guide University of Queensland Library

Electronic Resource Guide American Society of International Law

Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) American Society of International Law

ILS Web Resources Foreign & International Law Resources: An Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World - Harvard Law School Library

Public International Law WorldLII

Researching International Law White and Case Jessup Guide

Specialised Resources
Specialised Resources: 

Collected courses of the Hague Academy of International Law online

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court competition compendium via HeinOnline

United Nations Yearbook Collection (1946-2000)

Web Sites
Web Sites: 

American Society of International Law (ASIL)

Amnesty International Library

Avalon Project - Judgement of the International Military Tribunal (Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library)

Basic Documents Governing the International Court of Justice

Council of Europe

Global Legal Monitor (Library of Congress)

Hague Academy of International Law

International Judicial Monitor

International Law (United Nations)

International Law Association

International Law Commission

Lauterpacht Centre for International Law

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Guide to Law Online - Nations (Law Library of Congress)

Treaty Reference Guide (United Nations)

United Nations

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library

World Trade Organization