Legal resources and research - Resources

Case law Navigation Show below Hide below

This section will help you find any judgements passed down in Australian courts. We have collated a list of free to access platforms that provide access to Australian case law. These include government websites as well as external case law providers.

All Australian jurisdictions

Austlii

AustLII publishes public legal information -- that is, primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports for example) and a substantial collection of law journals.

Jade

JADE contains the full text of over 240 000 Australian decisions and legislation. An amazing citator containing references to more than 1.5 million decisions and legislation from around the world, linked to particular page references. The most ambitious project of BarNet's OpenLaw project to date.

Victoria

Supreme Court of Victoria CaseLaw - from the 'Library Search' drop down choose 'Judgments Index'

Western Australia

Supreme Court of Western Australia

Australian legislation Navigation Show below Hide below

All Australian jurisdictions

Lawlex

Lawlex provides links to authorised legislation (Bills, Acts and Regulations) in all Australian jurisdictions.

Austlii

AustLII publishes public legal information -- that is, primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals); and secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports for example) and a substantial collection of law journals.

Acts / Regulations / Bills / Explanatory Memorandums

Federal Register of Legislation

ACT Register of Legislation

NSW Parliamentary Counsel

Northern Territory of Legislation

Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel

Office of the South Australian Parliamentary Counsel

Tasmanian Legislation

Vic Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel

WA State Law Publisher

Federal and State Parliaments

Parliament of Australia

ACT Legislative Assembly

Parliament of NSW

Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory

Queensland Parliament

Parliament of South Australia

Parliament of Tasmania

Parliament of Victoria

Parliament of Western Australia

Government gazettes

Government notices gazette

ACT government gazettes

NSW government gazettes

Queensland government gazettes

SA government gazette

Tasmanian government gazette

Victorian government gazette

Western Australian government gazette

Northern Territory gazette

Miscellaneous

Queensland Law Collection – historical Qld legislation

The Queensland Law Collection contains historical Queensland legislation and other legal materials relating to Queensland.

Historical Commonwealth second reading speeches

International Navigation Show below Hide below

Including treaty databases, free legal resources for specific countries, information on major international courts and bodies as well as secondary material that can be used to give an overview of International Law as a subject.

Getting the Deal Through Free access for company in-house counsel (excludes government employees ) - Register for Getting the Deal Through here

GTDT has combined with Lexology Pro to create a comparative international legal resource, under one platform. Lexology have added GTDT's content to the platform and functionality. You can drill down into the content, directly compare law and regulation between jurisdictions and create tailored reports in a matter of seconds. Create a report to compare law and regulation between jurisdictions.

Globalex

The information and articles published by GlobaLex represent both research and teaching resources used by legal academics, practitioners and other specialists around the world who are active either in foreign, international, and comparative law research or those focusing on their own domestic law. The guides and articles published are written by scholars well known in their respective fields and are recommended as a legal resource by universities, library schools, and legal training courses. The tools available in GlobaLex will continue to expand to cover international law topics, countries and legal systems thus providing a coherent and encompassing research tool for all constituencies.

Guide to Law Online - Library of Congress

Research guides provide a starting point for researching legal topics and recommend relevant materials in the Law Library's collections and online. The Law Library creates research guides that range from animal and landlord-tenant law to instructions for compiling a federal legislative history. Established by Congress in 1832, the Law Library has a collection of over 2.9 million volumes spanning all systems and periods of law and covering all the nations of the world. Please note that although research guides are selective, inclusion of a site or resource does not constitute endorsement by the Law Library of Congress. None of the information in any of our research guides is legal advice.

Lawcite

Lawcite is an automatically generated international legal case and journal article citator.

Legal resources at Oxford University: Resources for jurisdictions

The subject hub for the Bodleian Law Library's online subject & research guides.

Social Science Research Network

SSRN´s eLibrary provides 1,182,128 research papers from 1,045,564 researchers in more than 65 disciplines.

WorldLII

The World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII) is a free, independent and non-profit global legal research facility developed collaboratively by various Legal Information Institutes and other organisations.
WorldLII provides a single search facility for databases located on the following Legal Information Institutes: AustLII; BAILII; CanLII; HKLII; LII (Cornell); and PacLII. The WorldLII Catalogue provides links to over 15,000 law-related web sites in every country in the world.

International Comparative Legal Guides

ICLG.com is a leading global platform for legal reference, analysis and news, hosting comprehensive comparative legal guides and research tools that cover law in more than 176 jurisdictions across 58 practice areas. ICLG.com also provides daily legal news and legal conference directories, as well as online purchasing of the renowned International Comparative Legal Guide series of print publications.

Timeline of the history of international law (Oxford Academic)

From 1494 to the present. The timeline is a concise map of 'the broad history of public international law with particular attention paid to the signing of major treaties, the foundation of fundamental institutions, the birth of major figures in international law and milestones in the development of some of the field's best-known doctrines'.

Canada

Canadian Government

CanLII – Canadian Legal Information Institute

Justice Laws Website – Consolidated Acts & Regulations

China & Hong Kong

AsianLii - China

HKLII

Hong Kong Judiciary

Legislative Council of HKSAR

State Council of the People's Republic of China – laws & regulations

Supreme People's Court of China

The Basic Law of the HKSAR

Europe

Eur-Lex

EUROPA

New Zealand

Companies Office

Courts of New Zealand

New Zealand Government

New Zealand Legislation

Treaties

AustLII – Australian Treaties Library

DFAT - Australian Treaties Database

Flare Index to Treaties

United Kingdom

BAILII – British and Irish Legal Information Institute

English Reports (CommonLII)

Scottish Courts & Tribunals

UK Government

UK Legislation

UK Parliament

United States

Cornell Law School – US Legal Information (US Code, Supreme Court opinions)

GPO - US Government Publishing Office

THOMAS – Bills progress etc from the Library of Congress

USA Government

US Securities and Exchange Commission

Legal research online guides Navigation Show below Hide below

This section provides a range of resources that can be used for legal research. They range from university study guides which provide comprehensive overviews of numerous jurisdictions and subject areas. As well as regulatory bodies for different sectors in Australia which provide up to date overviews of specific sectors. We have also provided links to free legal dictionaries and citation guides to help with specific searches.

COVID-19 and the Law of Australia

This online textbook is intended to provide readers with succinct, timely and accurate information about the interaction of COVID-19 and the law of Australia. The authors hope that it will assist practitioners to navigate the legal complexities of the pandemic.

Legal Research Skills: An Australian Law Guide

This is a free to access basic legal research guide published in 2023 by Australian University Law Librarians. This book is designed to support students undertaking legal studies and contribute to the development of research skills in Australian law schools.

Australian Guide to Legal Citation

The AGLC aims to clarify Australian citation customs where they are settled and suggests best practice where no settle custom exists. Prescribed by law schools and law journals around Australia as their official legal citation guide.

GovPubs: the Australian Government Publications Guide

The AGLC aims to clarify Australian citation customs where they are settled and suggests best practice where no settle custom exists. Prescribed by law schools and law journals around Australia as their official legal citation guide.

Parliament of Australia - Parliamentary Library

University of Melbourne Law School Research Guides

These guides are designed to help you find the best research resources for your area of law and include subscription and open access resources. They are developed by law librarians and are continuously updated with new content.

Wayback Machine

Internet Archive's web archive, launched in 1996, contains over 2 petabytes of data compressed, or 150+ billion web captures, including content from every top-level domain, 200+ million web sites, and over 40 languages.

The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.

COMMENTARY

The Conversation

LAW REFORM

Australian Law Reform Commission

Justice Programs and Initiatives - Justice and Community Safety Directorate (act.gov.au)

NT Law Reform Committee

Queensland Law Reform Commission

SA Law Reform Institute

Tasmania Law Reform Institute

Victorian Law Reform Commission

WA Law Reform Commission