Law reports research guide
What information is in law reports
Law reports are published reports of legally significant decisions of superior courts - for example, the Commonwealth law reports.
Most decisions of courts are not published. Only those that are considered by the editors of law reports to establish new legal principles, or are from superior courts such as the High Court of Australia, and are therefore binding on lower courts, are published.
Fred Hardie & G.W. Wilson & Co., Law courts, Melbourne, ca.1892, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149731986
Fred Hardie & G.W. Wilson & Co., Law courts, Melbourne, ca.1892, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149731986
Key terms (adapted from the CCH Macquarie dictionary of law)
Decision: The determination reached by a court or tribunal after hearing a case or an issue in dispute.
Judgement: The decision of a court as to the rights of parties in an action brought before it. This may include the reasoning and any interpretation of phrases in legislation or awards which led the judge to the decision.
Trial: A civil or criminal court proceeding at first instance.
Case law: The principle of law established by judicial decisions rather than by legislation.
Administrative tribunal: A statutory body responsible for extrajudicial settlement of disputes and hearing of appeals in particular areas of government concern, e.g. the Trade Practices Tribunal.
What can you find in the Library?
The National Library holds law reports published in Australia from 1825. Historical sets of law reports are also held for many overseas countries. Overseas law reports are mainly collected from the Asia/Pacific region. International law is represented through the reports of international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice.
Print resources
The printed collections at the National Library contain substantial collections of law reports both for Australia and overseas. Use the online catalogue to find and retrieve material using your Library login.
Some of these publications have changed title numerous times over the years and each change of title has its own record in the catalogue. See the Former Title and Later Title sections of the catalogue record for information.
Below is a selection of some key publications available at the Library.
- The Australian Digest. 1825+. Includes a subject index and summaries of all published cases from 1825 onwards.
- Australian Legal Monthly Digest - Cumulative Tables and Digest of Law. 1947+. Updates The Australian Digest. These publications have changed title over the years and each new title has its own record in the catalogue. See the Former Title section of the catalogue records.
- Australian Case Citator. Lists all published cases by name arranged by year from 1825 onwards.
- The Laws of Australia. Legal encyclopedia which includes references to many major cases.
- Halsbury's Laws of Australia. Legal encyclopedia which includes references to many major cases.
- Australian Current Law. Reporter. Updates Halsbury's Laws of Australia.
- The Canadian Abridgement: Case Digests.1809-1986. A collection of case digests, or summaries, of issues decided by Canadian courts and administrative tribunals from the early 1800s onwards.
- Canadian Current Law. Case Law Digests. 1948-1995. Updates Canadian Abridgement. These publications have changed title over the years and each new title has its own record in the catalogue. See the Former Title section of the catalogue records.
- The English Reports. 1378-1867. Contents: Vols. 1-11 House of Lords (1694-1865); Vols. 12-20 Privy Council (including Indian Appeals) (1809-1865); Vols. 21-47 Chancery (including Collateral reports) (1557-1865); Vols. 48-55 Rolls Court (1829-1865); Vols. 56-71 Vice Chancellors' Courts (1815-1865); Vols. 72-122 King's Bench (1378-1865); Vols. 123-144 Common Pleas (1486-1865); Vols. 145-160 Exchequer (1200-1865); Vols. 161-167 Ecclesiastical (1752-1857), Admiralty 1776-1840), and Probate and Divorce (1858-1865); Vols. 168-169 Crown cases (1743-1865); Vols. 170-176 Nisi Prius (1688-1867). Includes index of cases in two volumes.
- All England Law Reports Reprint. 1558-1935. Volumes for 1558-1834 selected from early authorised reports; volumes for 1835-1935 selected from the Law Times Reports.
- All England Law Reports Annotated. 1936-1946. Updates All England Law Reports Reprint.
- All England Law Reports. 1947-1995. Cases decided in the House of Lords, The Privy Council, all divisions of the Supreme Court and Courts of Special Jurisdiction.
- The English and Empire Digest. 1200-1981. Aims to provide the whole case law of England and a considerable body of cases from the courts of other countries of the British Commonwealth.
- The Digest: Annotated British, Commonwealth and European Cases. 1982-1995. Updates The English and Empire Digest.
- Abridgement of New Zealand Case Law. 1861+. The digest covers decisions of the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Privy Council reported since 1861.
- LexisNexis Butterworths Current Law. 1974+. Updates Abridgement of New Zealand Case Law. This publication has changed title over the years and each new title has its own record in the catalogue. See the Former Title section of the catalogue record.
- The New Zealand Law Reports. 1883+. Cases from various courts from 1883 onwards.
- Decennial Digest, American Digest System. 1658-1986. This publication has changed title over the years and each new title has its own record in the catalogue. See the Former Title section of the catalogue record.
Online resources
There are several both subscription and free online resources which can be used for finding the full text of law reports, reported cases, and published and unreported judgements.
Westlaw AU is an online database available from within the National Library building only. You can access Westlaw from within the Library building by visiting our eResources portal and searching for the database under the "browse eResources" tab.
Westlaw AU contains the FirstPoint Case Digest and Citator service, covering Australian reported cases since 1825 and unreported judgements from September 1999. Information is sourced from the Australian Case Citator, Australian Digest and Australian Legal Monthly Digest.
Westlaw AU can be used to research the litigation history of a particular case, read summaries of key cases or research a particular area of law. It also features authorised law reports including Commonwealth Law Reports and Federal Court Reports.
AustLII is a free website which includes the full text of law reports and unreported judgments from many of the major Australian courts. Also included is LawCite which indexes cases and journal articles from around the world. If you find a citation to a case of interest, you may be able to find a report on that case in the Library's collection of printed law reports.
All Australian jurisdictions provide recently published judgments for higher courts on their relevant website. The Australian Government Attorney-General's department - Courts web page lists links to all Federal Courts and all State and Territory Supreme Courts.
NZLII contains New Zealand legal information, including case law, legislation, and law journals.
BAILII databases contain British and Irish case law, legislation and other materials (e.g. Law Commission Reports), and European case law.
WorldLII databases contain case law, legislation and other materials for countries across the world. Select a country and then cases.
How to identify and locate law reports
Most individual law reports are not listed in the Library's catalogue. Reference to judgments and decisions that have been published in law reports is given in the form of a case citation.
They are usually referred to by year (in brackets), volume number, title abbreviation and first page. For example, the Mabo decision of the High Court published in the Australian law reports is cited as (1992) 107 A.L.R. 1.
In order to locate a judgment it is necessary to obtain the title of the law report in which it is published by first finding the case citation. You can use the resources listed above to:
- find citations to reports about a specific case
- search for cases that relate to a particular topic or piece of legislation
- locate the series of reports that your judgement was published in
Law reports are published in print and electronically. Electronic access to law reports is available through both subscription databases and on the internet. You can search for a printed law report series in our catalogue by searching for the name of the report series.
What if there is no law report?
Not all cases are officially reported on. If the case was heard by a jury, or related to a relatively minor crime, or was heard in a lower court, there is not likely to be information available in official law report publications.
Most court judgments (i.e. the judges' reasons for their decisions) are not published in law reports and remain unpublished. Only those of legal significance are published in law reports series.
Sometimes you might have to consider other sources of information, such as newspaper reports, and court records.
To locate newspaper reports of trials and cases, you can search Trove for historic Australian newspapers up to approximately 1954. You can also go to our eResources portal, select "browse eResources" and filter to Newspapers & Media under "category" to find a list of online full-text newspaper databases.
To find printed unreported judgments held by the National Library, search the catalogue under the name of the court, tribunal or commission as an Organisation, or browse subject headings such as:
- Judgments -- [Jurisdiction]
- Law reports, digests, etc. -- [Jurisdiction]
Some unreported judgments are published electronically, in both subscription databases and freely on the internet. If the case was heard recently in a higher court, then the judge's decision may be published online.
Unpublished judgments may also be obtained from the registry of the court where the judgment was delivered.
Get help with your research
Our specialist staff can help you with your research, to locate resources and to use our microfilm and scanning equipment but they cannot undertake extensive or ongoing genealogical, historical or other research on your behalf.
Find out more in our Information and research services policy.
Continue your journey
More to explore
William James Mildenhall, Parliament House, Canberra, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141452790
F.A.C., Law courts Melbourne between 1870-1902, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-146721354
Samuel White Sweet, (1869), Supreme Court, Adelaide, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-144217269
