LAW1111 - Jump Starting your

Legal Research 3: Cases and

Legislation

LAW1111, Semester 1, 2022

 In this class you will learn...
● where to find information about cases
● what a citator is
● how cases are published
● what it means when we talk about:
○ unreported
○ reported
○ and authorised cases
● where to find the full text of cases
● how to recognise a citation and find
out what the abbreviation means
Cases - how they are published
● Published on the internet or never published
Unreported judgment

● Legal publisher/s decide to publish the

judgment in a law report series
Reported judgment

● Cases published in a law report and which

have the official approval of the judiciary
Authorised law report series
Unreported Judgments

Can be found in full text on AustLII, JADE or HCA websites

and legal publisher databases

Have no reference to volumes, issues or pagination

Are cited with a Medium Neutral Citation (MNC) consisting

of a Court abbreviation
 Medium Neutral Citation follows this format…
Tabet v Gett [2010] HCA 12
parties = Tabet v Gett

[year of decision] = [2010]

court abbreviation = HCA (High Court of Australia)

sequential judgment number for that court for that

year = 12
Reported judgments
Cases of sufficient interest to report can be found in:
• subject based report series (e.g. Intellectual Property Reports,
Criminal Reports)
• general report series (e.g. Australian Law Reports, Federal Law
Reports)

If available, prefer these over the unreported judgment version of the same case
Authorised reports
Cases published in a law report and which have the official approval of the
judiciary are authorised

IF there is an authorised version of a case, prefer this over all other versions.

Court Practice Directions still insist on the authorised version, where available.
 Authorised reports
The list of authorised reports for Australia and
England can be found at

https://guides.lib.monash.edu/law-cases/authorised
 Parallel citations
A case may have parallel, or alternative, citations to choose from.
• the unreported version, one or more reported versions, the
authorised version (if available).

You need to choose the preferred citation to use. Only use ONE citation.

NOTE: do not use a BC number (LexisNexis number) in a citation. Create an

unreported citation (check AGLC4) if there’s no other citation.
 What about English cases?
Authorised reports are The Law Reports
series – including AC, QB, KB, Ch, Fam, etc
Cases from England and Wales from 1865 to
present
Access via ICLR.3 (see Law Databases page)
OR link directly from Casebase records (Lexis
Advance)
Find other UK cases on Westlaw UK, Lexis
Advance, or JustCite databases via the United
Kingdom Library Guide
How will I remember all this?

See our Infographic on the Cases

Library guide

guides.lib.monash.edu/cases

11
So where do I find cases?
Case databases
● provide all the citations for cases and link to
full-text where available
● offer case summaries and other information
● indicate subsequent judicial treatment of cases

Be wary of the symbols; they are a guide only. Always read the
cases to determine the context and relevance to point of law!
What are the Australian case databases?
● CaseBase
● Westlaw Australia (Cases)

CaseBase and Westlaw Australia (Cases) will only link to the full-text
of the law report series published by the same publisher.
For instance, the CLRs are published by Thomson Reuters so are
linked from Westlaw Australia (Cases).

Check the Online Law Reports library guide if you can’t find the
full-text https://guides.lib.monash.edu/cases/online

You can also search Jade, CCH and AustLII (Lawcite) for cases.
Finding Cases: CaseBase or Westlaw Australia (Cases)
You can search using the case name or citation if you know them, or you can use the other
search fields.
Finding Cases CaseBase or Westlaw Australia (Cases)

● From the Researching Cases Subject Guide open

CaseBase or Westlaw Australia Cases. (Don’t open
FirstPoint)
● If you open Westlaw Australia Cases you can click
‘advanced’ (top right hand corner).
● Try putting “[1983] HCA 21” into the citation box
● What’s the name of this case?
● What is the preferred citation? Is this authorised?
● Can you all access the pdf of the preferred citation?
● https://guides.lib.monash.edu/law-cases/authorised
Practice
● Now open the moodle book under Class 3 in the Law
Library Workshops and Resources section of the
LAW1111 moodle.