There are different ways to find cases; work through the questions below to find the method that will work for you:
Tell me things I need to know about cases.
Not every case that goes before a court will have a written decision. Some are written and made available on court websites. Some cases are selected to be published inside a report. A law report is a collection of cases.
For example, High Court decisions are available on the court's website and are later reported in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
A case citation are the numbers and letters that appear after the case name, these details tell you where the case was published and will help you find the case.
Sometimes a case may be published is several different reports and this will lead to difference case citations (parallel citations).
Authorised reports are decisions that have been approved by a judge, or their associate, and published in a specified report. In Australian courts, it is standard practice to cite an authorised report over other versions, and it is a requirement of the AGLC when citing case law (Rule 2.3). You can find a list of authorised reports on the Law Guide Case Law Page. Sometimes a case may not be published in an authorised report and you may have to cite another version see Rule 2.3 of the AGLC for specific examples.
Once you find the case, you will need to see if it is still being used or if the law is current. Watch the video below that will help you find out how the case is being used today.
Other Quick Videos
If you have the citation of the case you are looking for, for example, from your textbook or unit material, you can search and find a case by using those details.
This is what a case citation looks like:
| Fox v Percy | (2003) | 214 | CLR | 118 |
| Case Name | Year | Volume | Law Report Series | Starting Page |
Type the citation after the case name into the search box of the case citators to find the case in law databases.
If the year of the case is in brackets, then include the brackets in your search, for example: [2022] NTSC 31.
What's in the Database?
KeyCite (Westlaw Australia) has access to authorised law reports such as the Commonwealth Law Reports CLR), Federal Court Reports (FCR), Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR), Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR), South Australian State Reports (SASR), Tasmanian Reports (Tas R), and Western Australian Reports (WAR).
How do I search for a case citation?
Quick Videos
How do I access the database?
What's in the database?
A wide range of law reports, including the Australian Law Reports (ALR), New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR), Northern Territory Reports (NTR), Queensland Reports (QR) and Victorian Reports (VR).
How do I search for a case citation?
Quick Videos
How do I access the database?
What's in the database?
Free access to an international citator. Includes a fairly complete collection of all common law cases cited in the past decade including in Australia.
How do I search by citation?
How do I access this database?
What's in the database?
A free service that collects decisions from selected courts and tribunals. In Jade, you can set up alerts.
How do I search by citation?
How do I access the database?
The case name are the parties that are involved in the case. Not all case names are unique, for example, the same parties may be involved in different matters before the court or in different stages of appeal. It is therefore important when searching by case name to know a little about the case you want to find, for example, what the case was about or the year?
What's in this database?
KeyCite (Westlaw Australia) has access to authorised law reports such as the Commonwealth Law Reports CLR), Federal Court Reports (FCR), Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR), Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR), South Australian State Reports (SASR), Tasmanian Reports (Tas R), and Western Australian Reports (WAR).
How do I search by case name?
Quick Video
How do I access this database?
What's in this database?
A wide range of law reports, including the Australian Law Reports (ALR), New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR), Northern Territory Reports (NTR), Queensland Reports (QR) and Victorian Reports (VR).
How do I search by case name?
Quick Video
How do I access this database?
What's in the database?
Free access to an international citator. Includes a fairly complete collection of all common law cases cited in the past decade including in Australia.
How do I search by case name?
How do I access this database?
What's in the database?
A free service that collects decisions from selected courts and tribunals.
How do I search for the case name?
How do I access this database?
You can search using keywords in case law databases. See this video on searching using keywords.
For more information on selecting keywords and using Boolean see the Build a search strategy page.
What's in this database?
KeyCite (Westlaw Australia) has access to authorised law reports such as the Commonwealth Law Reports CLR), Federal Court Reports (FCR), Australian Capital Territory Reports (ACTR), Northern Territory Law Reports (NTLR), South Australian State Reports (SASR), Tasmanian Reports (Tas R), and Western Australian Reports (WAR).
How do I search by keyword?
Quick Videos
Quick Boolean Connectors
| /s | In same sentence |
| +s | In same sentence and in same order |
| /p | In same paragraph |
| +p | In same paragraph and in same order |
| /[n] | Within n (1-255) terms of |
| +[n] | Within n (1-255) terms of and in same order |
| % | But not |
| [SPACE] | OR connector |
| & | AND connector |
| ! | Root expander suffix for variant endings |
| * | Universal single character(s) (cannot start term) |
| # | Prefix to turn off plurals and equivalents |
How to I access KeyCite?
What's in this database?
A wide range of law reports, including the Australian Law Reports (ALR), New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR), Northern Territory Reports (NTR), Queensland Reports (QR) and Victorian Reports (VR).
How do I search by keyword?
Quick Video
Quick Boolean Connectors
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| ! |
Use at the end of a root word to find the root word and all the words that can be made by adding letters to the end of it, including plurals. This can be used within quotation marks. Use unique root words of three characters or more e.g. child! finds child, children, childless, childish, and so on. |
| ? |
Use within a word to represent one or more variable characters. Use one ? for each variable letter. This can be used within quotation marks, e.g. int???et finds internet and intranet. |
| * |
Use at the end of a root word to find the root word and all the words that can be made by adding letters to the end of it, including plurals. This can be used within quotation marks. For best results, use unique root words of three characters or more e.g. child* finds child, children, childless, childish, and so on. |
| or |
Use to find all documents that contain either or both of the words or phrases linked by the or connector. The location of the word or words within the document does not matter e.g. ship or boat finds all documents that contain the word "ship" and/or "boat". |
| and |
Use to find documents containing two specific words or phrases, regardless of the order in which they appear or their proximity to each other. Searches using only the and connector typically retrieve many documents, but within those documents, the search words or phrases may often appear in unrelated contexts.e.g cat and dog finds documents in which the words "cat" and "dog" both appear. |
| and not |
Use to exclude documents containing specific words or phrases. To enhance your understanding of how search expressions containing and not connectors will be evaluated, it is often helpful often to place the and not connectors at the end of search expressions e.g capital and not gains finds all documents containing the term "capital" except those that also contain the term "gains". |
| /n |
Use to find documents in which a given word appears within "n" words of another given word in the same document section. The value of "n" can be any number up to 255. The order in which the words appear within the document does not matter e.g. cat /6 dog finds documents where the word "cat" occurs within 6 words of "dog". It also finds documents containing "cats and dogs", "dogs or cats", "dog allergens differ from those of cat", and so on. |
| onear/n or pre/n |
Use to find documents where a given word is followed within "n" words by another given word. Or, stated differently, to find documents where the first word precedes the second word by not more than "n" words. For example "summary judgment" is significantly different from "judgment summary". The value of "n" can be any number up to 255, and the two words must appear in the same document section. e.g. cat onear/3 dog or cat pre/3 dog finds documents containing the terms "cats and dogs", "cats or dogs", and so on, but not "dogs and cats", "dogs or cats", and so on. |
| /p |
Use to find documents where the search terms appear within the same paragraph, or within approximately 75 words of each other. The order in which the words appear within the document does not matter. e.g. retirement /p benefit finds documents where the word "retirement" appears within the same paragraph as the word "benefit". |
| /s |
Use to find documents where the search terms appear within the same sentence, or within approximately 25 words of each other. The order in which the words appear within the document does not matter. e.g. earnings /s taxation finds documents where the word "earnings" appears within the same sentence as the word "taxation". |
How do I access CaseBase?
What's in this database?
Cases arranged by subject, including business law, employment, contracts and more.
How do I search this database?
Quick Boolean
How do I access CCH?
 |
If you don't have a specific case you are looking for then you can use secondary sources to help find your cases on the topic. Use the tabs in this box to explore different secondary sources. |
Use Library Search to find books on your topic. Read the relevant chapter on your topic, note relevant secondary sources, and use the citation details to find the case.
An example, if you are given an IRAC question in contract law, and you want to find out some cases on the postal rule, you could use a textbook such as An Introduction to the Law of Contract to find relevant cases under the chapter on acceptance.
Use Library Search and Google Scholar for quick searching. Search by database or journal title; see the Journals page for a list of specific law content.
For example, if you needed to find some cases on strict liability in defamation law, you could search for journal articles using the keywords: strict liability defamation Australia to get results. These journal articles could help you identify key cases on the topic.
What is The Laws of Australia?
A legal encyclopaedia that covers Australian law. It is useful in finding cases as it will show you the core legal principles and link you to primary sources of the law.
Quick Video
How do I access The Laws of Australia?
What is Halsbury's Laws of Australia?
A legal encyclopedia that will outline the law and guide you to cases and legislation.
Quick Video
How do I access Halbsbury's Laws of Australia?
What are KeyNumbers?
Organises points of law by topic and number.
Quick Video
How do I access KeyNumbers?
What is looseleaf and commentary?
A type of of service that publishes legal research that brings together primary and secondary sources on a specific topic.
How do I search looseleaf and commentary services?
Most looseleaf and commentary services allow you to search using keywords or browsing by topic.
How do I access looseleaf services?
Searching by citation.
You lecturer mentions a US case in reference to drug trafficking offenses in international jurisdictions. Using the citation off your lecture PowerPoint slides you want to quickly find the case and read about the case.
Searching using keywords.
For your assignment you have a problem-solving question where a child is injured on a slide during a school day, the local school that owns the slide asks for your advice on their duty of care for the child. You want to know if there have been any cases that are similar and will help you answer the question.
