1. Case Law Natalie Wieland

2. Overview of case law including: Search techniques Online citators Casebase (LexisNexisAU) FirstPoint (Legal Online) Case citation Abbreviations Full text databases Authorised reports Finding relevant research guide

3. What is a case citator How to use Firstpoint and CaseBase to find a case when you know the party name a case that refers to legislation cases on a topic of law How to find full text decisions Understanding authorised and unauthorised citations Finding legal definitions

4. Law Library Home Page Law Library Research Guides Law Library Information Desk Consultation with Legal Research Skills Adviser – make appointments through Student Services or Masters Office

5. Links concepts and words into search statement AND – finds records containing both words (limits) OR – finds records containing either one word or the other, as well as both (broadens search) NOT – to exclude a word or phrase quotation marks = search as a phrase

6. Truncation to find all possible endings or alternative spellings (Help or Search Tips) symbol* finds symbol, symbols, symbolic, symbolism etc. In LexisNexisAu and Westlaw Au you need to use ! Eg. Negl! To find negligence, negligent, negligently. wom*n will find women and woman. colo*r will find occurrences of colour and color and organi*ation will find both organisation and organization.

7. Indexes and full text databases require the use of different search techniques Most databases allow the user to search individual fields Be aware of the content of the database – you cant find what isnt there. Remember to use Boolean operators: AND OR NEAR NOT () Use proximity operators in full text databases E.g. /p w/10 SUMMARY()

8. What is the purpose of case citators? provide the correct citation for a case record if the case has been reported in several report series track what has happened to the case by providing a list of any cases that refer to the main case

9. Casebase (online citator) -LexisNexisAU First Point (online citator) – Westlaw Au LawCite (online and international) JustCite (UK) Ref: Legal Research Guide Case Law

10. Each reported case has a unique citation which identifies the law report in which the case has been published. There are well-established rules and conventions about how cases are cited. The following details are necessary for the full citation of judgments: names of parties date or volume number, or both abbreviated name of report series beginning page of case

11. Authorised and unauthorised reports – these rules are available on the library website under Legal Research- Research and tools CourtAuthorised series Abbreviation High Court of Australia Commonwealth Law Reports CLR Federal Court of Australia Federal Court Reports FCR Victorian Supreme Court Victorian Reports VRs

12. An Australian case citator Also some coverage of NZ and UK Has a record for each judgment it indexes It is a database designed to allow users to locate judgments and information about those judgments It does not contain the text of judgment. It has links to the judgments themselves where they are available on other LNAU databases.

14. Using CaseBase we will find: Cole v South Tweed Heads Rugby League Football Club Ltd (2004) 217 CLR 469;

16. By citation Party name By subject By section of an Act By definition 146 CLR 40 Scott and CAL contributory negligence Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) duty of care

22. An Australian case citator Has a record for each judgment it indexes It is a database designed to allow users to locate judgments and information about those judgments It does not contain the text of judgment. It has links to the judgments themselves where they are available on other Westlaw Au databases.

24. Using FirstPoint we will find: Cole v South Tweed Heads Rugby League Football Club Ltd (2004) 217 CLR 469

26. By citation Party name By subject By section of an Act By definition 146 CLR 40 Scott and CAL contributory negligence Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) duty of care

31. Law Library Home Page – legal research – services and tools: Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations Guide to citation - AGLC Law Library holdings list Casebase list Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary - available on LexisNexisAU

32. LexisNexisAU ALR etc in reports folder and unreported judgments Legal Online CLRs, etc in reports folder and unreported judgments AustLII free online gateway Cases from courts Immediately available as unreported Lexis, Westlaw & Justis UK, US cases Authorised Reports preferred e.g. CLRs (see link at Services and Tools page from Law Library homepage)

33. We are looking for a case we have read about in the news. The crown argued that an aboriginal womanTopsy Kundrilba, had given her informed consent to her son's removal from Utopia Station to St Mary's Hostel You need to search unreported judgments not a case citator

35. After using a citator to find a citation for a case, you may find that the full text of the case is not available on line. In this case theres an extra step involved – you will need to find the case in a paper law report series located on level 4 of the Law Library. The citation will assist you in identifying the series. Use the Holdings List to locate series.

36. Primarily a case citator Provides- full case citation details of subsequent cases Links to full text cases published by LexisNexisAU Very useful for finding journal articles on cases.

37. Also a case citator Similar in content and coverage to Casebase Provides links to full text cases published by Lawbook including Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR)

38. Sometimes the case citators are not enough. You need to refer to the full text databases. But you will then need to refer to a case citator to get most authorised version and establish what has happened since.

39. Refer to the Law Library Home Page Ask at the Law Library Information Desk Attend additional classes Refer to the Library Research Guide