Introduction to Legal ResearchSLSS 1001

Animals Act 1977 No 25Current version for 3 December 1999 to date (accessed 16 March 2009 at 18:15)Part 3Section 8

8 Danger from presence or behaviour of animal on premises

Where damage results from a danger to a person entering premises, being a danger due to the state of the premises or due to things done or left undone on the premises, the liability (if any) of a person as an occupier of the premises in respect of the damage depends only on the law relating to the liability of occupiers, notwithstanding that the danger is, or is associated with, the presence or behaviour of an animal in or on the premises.

Animals Act 1977 No 25Current version for 3 December 1999 to date (accessed 16 March 2009 at 18:15)Part 3Section 8

8 Danger from presence or behaviour of animal on premises

Where damage results from a danger to a person entering premises, being a danger due to the state of the premises or due to things done or left undone on the premises, the liability (if any) of a person as an occupier of the premises in respect of the damage depends only on the law relating to the liability of occupiers, notwithstanding that the danger is, or is associated with, the presence or behaviour of an animal in or on the premises.

Fair Trading Act 1987 No 68Current version for 7 December 2007 to date (accessed 16 March 2009 at 18:19)Part 2Division 3ASection 23B

23B Implied representation that goods or services will be able to be supplied at advertised price(1) When a person, in trade or commerce, publishes or causes to be published a statement advertising goods or services for supply at a specified price, the statement is taken to include a representation that the person will be able to offer the goods or services for supply at the advertised price for a period that is, and in quantities that are, reasonable having regard to the nature of the market in which the person carries on

business and the nature of the advertisement.

Road Rules 2008Current version for 1 September 2008 to date (accessed 16 March 2009 at 18:21)Part 2Division 2Rule 18

18 Who is a pedestrian

A pedestrian includes:(a) a person driving a motorised wheelchair that cannot travel at over 10 kilometres per hour (on level ground), and(b) a person in a non-motorised wheelchair, and(c) a person pushing a motorised or non-motorised wheelchair, and(d) a person in or on a wheeled recreational device or wheeled toy.Note. Wheelchair, wheeled recreational device and wheeled toy are defined in the Dictionary.

Road Rules 2008Current version for 1 September 2008 to date (accessed 16 March 2009 at 18:21)Part 2Division 2Rule 18

18 Who is a pedestrian

A pedestrian includes:(a) a person driving a motorised wheelchair that cannot travel at over 10 kilometres per hour (on level ground), and(b) a person in a non-motorised wheelchair, and(c) a person pushing a motorised or non-motorised wheelchair, and(d) a person in or on a wheeled recreational device or wheeled toy.Note. Wheelchair, wheeled recreational device and wheeled toy are defined in the Dictionary.

"credit reporting business" means a business or undertaking (other than a business or undertaking of a kind in respect of which regulations made for the purposes of subsection (5C) are in force) that involves the preparation or maintenance of records containing personal information relating to individuals (other than records in which the only personal information relating to individuals is publicly available information), for the purpose of, or for purposes that include as the dominant purpose the purpose of, providing to other persons (whether for profit or reward or otherwise) information on an individual's:……                    

"credit reporting business" means a business or undertaking (other than a business or undertaking of a kind in respect of which regulations made for the purposes of subsection (5C) are in force) that involves the preparation or maintenance of records containing personal information relating to individuals (other than records in which the only personal information relating to individuals is publicly available information), for the purpose of, or for purposes that include as the dominant purpose the purpose of, providing to other persons (whether for profit or reward or otherwise) information on an individual's:……                    

COPYRIGHT(6)  Subsection (2) is taken never to have applied if the owner of the book, newspaper or periodical publication disposes of it (in the form from which the main copy was made) to another person.

COPYRIGHT(6)  Subsection (2) is taken never to have applied if the owner of the book, newspaper or periodical publication disposes of it (in the form from which the main copy was made) to another person.

Why Legal Research…

› Law is a continuously changing field

› Effective research skills facilitate an understanding of the legal process

› Legal studies requires understanding and use of

- Primary source material

- Secondary source material

› Effective legal research skills allow you to:

- find the law for a specific research area

- update legal information for a specific law cases/legislation

- find sources which provide analysis, commentary and background context for the law

Today…

› Primary v secondary sources

› Legal citation & abbreviations

› Key tools to start legal research

› Finding:

- Legislation

- Case law

- Parliamentary documents

- Other secondary sources

Legal Sources and Publications

•primary sources are the law itself

•secondary sources of law are works about the law

Primary v secondary sources

Primary Sources

› Authoritative sources of law made by law making bodies including

› Legislation – made in federal & state parliament- Acts or statutes- Rules and regulations, by-laws and ordinances

- also know as sub-ordinate legislation- may also be made by individuals or bodies to which

Parliament has delegated authority› Cases - case law is developed in courts

- recorded in judgements or judicial decisions- published in Law reports- also available as unreported judgements- customary law – Mabo v Queensland (1992) 175 CLR 1

Primary sources…

› Other primary source material:- Bills

- draft of proposed new or altered law

- public, private, cognate

- Hansard - daily record of parliamentary debates,

speeches and questions

- hearings of parliamentary committees

- Treaties- agreements made between states

(countries)

Federal Parliament Bills Digesthttp://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/index.htm

Primary Sources Example:

› Legislation- Principal Act

- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).- Amending Act

- Income Tax Amendment Act 2007 (Cth).

› Cases- Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v The State of

Victoria (2002) 194 ALR 538

› Bills- Australian Crime Commission Amendment Bill 2007(Cth)- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2006

› Treaty- Security Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United

States of America [ANZUS], opened for signature 1 September 1951, [1952] ATS 2 (entered into force 29 April 1952)(Cth)

Secondary Sources

› Secondary sources allow you to:

- Identify primary sources relevant to your topic

- Interpret/understand or analyse relevant primary sources

- Obtain background information and discussion on a legal topic

› Secondary sources include:- books – comprehensive background, history, analysis and discussion of a legal area

- journal articles – analysis, discussion of legal topic

- annotator – notations and references to treatment of a case

- citator – allow locate information for cases – eg, correct or alternate citations

- digests & current awareness services - provides summaries and updates of cases

- looseleaf and online commentary services – provide commentaries on primary sources

- legal encyclopedias – comprehensive overview of legislation and cases for a legal topic

- legal dictionaries – defines legal concepts and words and phrases

Secondary Sources

› Legal current awareness & digest services

› Examples:

- Current awareness eg. Australian Current Law

- Summarises (digests) judgments from the High Court, the Federal Court and the State Supreme courts

- Important decisions from the Family court

- Digests eg. Australian Legal monthly digest- Summarise or index reported cases by subject

Secondary sources cont…

› Legal commentary - Law Reform Commissions- reforms and review legal issues of

concern - Loose-leaf and online legal commentary services - provide such

access to cases and legislation- Commentary services are often hybrid including both secondary and primary

sources- Online sources available via the Law Library website

- http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/databases/law_databases.html#books

Legal Commentary -Online and loose-leaf services

› may focus on a specific area of law and are written by expert academics or practitioners within in that area, include

- statement of current law in an area

- explanations, interpretations and commentary

- relevant case law and legislation to legal area covered

› Example: Criminal Law of New South Wales ( Legal online)

› Criminal Law New South Wales

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Secondary Sources Examples

› Textbooks

- Weir T, (2006) An introduction to tort law, 2nd ed, Oxford’ Oxford University Press, Oxford; New York.

› Journal article

- Brown, K. (2000) Indigenous forums: laughed out of court? Aborigines have a right to justice on their own cultural terms.  Alternative Law Journal 25 (5) Oct p216

› Dictionary & Encyclopedias

- International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences

- Laws of Australia

› Case notes

- Finnin S, (2006) Case note : Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Petitioner v Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense : has the Bush Administration's experiment with military commissions come to an end? Melbourne Journal of International Law 7 (2) Oct pp372-406

Sources which analyse, discuss and interpret primary sources including:

• Textbooks• Encyclopaedias & Dictionaries• Journal articles• Case notes

Sources which analyse, discuss and interpret primary sources including:

• Textbooks• Encyclopaedias & Dictionaries• Journal articles• Case notes

Legal Citation

Legal Citation

› Understanding Legal citation (referencing primary sources) is important- a statement of law requires reference/attribution to the source of its authority –

legislation or case

- conventions and legal rules determine how the law is cited

- will help you quickly find and locate legal sources – cases, legislation, bills…

- form can be important (round and square brackets)

- allows someone reading your work to identify and locate sources you have used

- recognise or distinguish different legal sources

› You will be able identify that- Native Title Act 1993(Cth) is Commonwealth legislation

- R v Folbigg (2005) 152 A Crim R 35 is a criminal case

- Al Masri v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (2002) 192 ALR is a case published in a law report series

- Swain v Waverley Municipal Council [2005] HCA 4 is available online via a public legal information website such as AustLII or Lawlink

Stuhmcke A. (2012) Legal Referencing 4th ed. Sydney: Butterworths.

Library Location Law Short Loan 340.148 4 C

Stuhmcke A. (2012) Legal Referencing 4th ed. Sydney: Butterworths.

Library Location Law Short Loan 340.148 4 C

Case Citation format

› A case citation will include the following parts:

› Examples:- Mabo v Queensland (1992) 175 CLR 1 (law report citation)- Wotton v Queensland [2012] HCA 2 (non law report citation – medium neutral citation)

› Case citation may vary if (examples)”- the case is only available online

- parties, year of decision, court/tribunal, judgement number- the case is not published in a law report

- no volume or report series name- is a criminal case

- R v Milat (NSW Sup Ct, No 70114/1994, Hunt CJ at CL, 22 April 1996, unreported)

› Pinpoint citation (reference to a specific page or section):- Mabo v Queensland (1992) 175 CLR 1 at 3

Names of the parties (in italics)

Year in round or square brackets

Volume number Abbreviation for law report series (or court if not published)

Page number on which case commences

Round and Square brackets rule

› Many cases are published in Law report series- not all series cite cases in the same way- volume number OR date is essential for locating the case

› Case Citation with year in round brackets- Law report series, number volumes sequentially.- The volume number is essential for locating the case.

(The date appears in round brackets and refers to the year in which the decision was handed down. It is not required in order to locate the case in the Law Report series.)

› Case Citation with year in square bracket- the date is essential for locating a case in a Law report series. (Volumes do not have a unique volume number and the correct volume can only be identified

by the year of publication.)

Al Masri v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (2002) 192 ALR 609

Barrett v Enfield London Borough [1999] All ER 193

Finding law reports

Search using citation (Key cite Westlaw)

Search for the following citations :

(2005) 223 ALR 679 round brackets citation date not required in search. Correct citation locates case

or [2005] FCAFC 128 square brackets date essential

Incorrect citation date excluded in search – case not found

Citing Legislation

› Citation for a Statute (Act) should include the following information:

- Short title (italics)

- Year (italics)

- Jurisdiction in brackets (no italics)

- If you are referring to a specific section of the act it should be noted at the end of the citation

Native title Act 1993 (Cth) s 47Example from Austlii

Legal abbreviations

› The University Law Library provides a comprehensive listing of legal abbreviationshttp://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/abbreviations.html

(1983) 158 CLR 1[2005] HCA 4(1983) 46 ALR 625[1995] HCA 2057 ALJR 450[1999] All ER 193

Starting points

Websites, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Digests

Legal research is more than volumes on a shelf. Many of the resources you need will be available online.

FlickrStorm All rights reserved by radiospike photography

Websites & databases

› Legal resource Directories- Weblaw Subject Directory to Australian Legal Resources

- http://www.weblaw.edu.au/

› Socio-legal Studies Database Guide- Cases, legislation, encyclopedias, databases, Parliamentary

documents- http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/databases/sociolegal.html

› Law subject guide- Legislation, cases, abbreviations, encyclopedias, dictionaries, databases..- http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/law

› Comprehensive legal research services- Westlaw, LexisNexis, AustLii, Firstpoint- Bring together collections of primary and secondary sources

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

› Specialised legal dictionaries and encyclopedias - define or provide an overview of subject or assist in finding related search

terms- define legal words and phrases- identify legislation or cases relating to a specific topic- summarize or discusses the socio-legal context of a legal issue

› Legal encyclopedias - locate legal principles by topic - The Laws Of Australia (TLA)

- Access via Firstpoint listed in Socio-legal databases- Halsbury’s Laws of Australia

- Access via LexisNexis.au listed in Socio-legal databases› International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral

Sciences- Overview of theoretical and sociological context of a legal research area- Acces via Library catalogue search by title enter IESB

Online Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

› Laws of Australia(Lawbook) & Halsbury’s Laws of Australia (Butterworths) both publications- summarises legal principles relating to all areas of Australian Law

- references both legislation and cases on a topic

- have some fulltext published by either Lawbook or Butterworths

- browse or search by keyword, case name

› International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral sciences (IESB)- academic articles on the theoretical and sociological context of

law

› FirstPoint- Information about Australian cases (reported 1825; unreported

since 1991), summaries, litigation history, journal articles about cases

Legal Encyclopedias - Firstpoint

› Allows you to:- search an area of law by subject

- identify relevant cases and related legislation

- access the litigation and subsequent history for Australian cases

- locate journal articles on your topic

- access summaries of cases from the a legal digest

- obtain case histories

› Includes:- Laws of Australia (legal encyclopedia)

- Australian case citator

- Australian Digest

- Australian Legal monthly digest

› Acces via the Socio-legal Studies Database Guide

Laws of Australia (Online)

› Provides access to legal statement which summarise areas of law with Australian jurisdictions

› Useful for - identifying the law for a specific topic

- locating legislation and cases that relate to a specific area of the law

- search by topic or browse within area of the law that you are researching

- Acces via the Socio-legal Studies Database Guide

Browse subject categories or search by keyword

The Laws of Australia – browse subject categories

Search by Keyword

• Browse within categories

• Keyword search

• Select and view topic

Laws of Australia (TLA)

Halsbury’s Laws of Australia

Legal Digests

› Index and summarise reported cases by subject or topic.

› May categorize cases in defined topic areas

› Include “keys” to help you locate the correct subject category for your topic

› Include cases indexes which allow you to find a summary of a case

› Digests for Australian Law include:

- FirstPoint on Legal Online

- Australian Legal Monthly Digest

- Australian Current Law : Reporter

› Useful when cases and judgements are very long

Search the Library catalogue for legal dictionaries

Finding Legislation

Legislation

› Commonwealth and State Parliaments are empowered to pass laws.

› Laws can also be made by bodies or persons delegated by parliament.

› Some Acts only define broad principles; the administrative detail is defined at a later stage. - referred to as subordinate or delegated legislation- usually defined in Rules, By-laws, Regulations and Ordinances.

› For an overview of How Law is made consult- Parliament of Australia. House of Representatives, Infosheet no. 7

Making Laws April 2002.

- http://www.aph.gov.au/house/info/infosheets/is07.pdf

- Parliament of New South Wales. How Law is made

- http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/key/billsabout

Jurisdiction

Heading of statute

Long title

Date of assent

Year and Number

Jurisdiction

Indication of short title

Section and subsection

Commencement information

Legislative History

› History of a piece of legislation included in the notes table at the end of an act and includes

- assent and commencement date

- reprint history

› Table of Acts

- includes amendment history to specific provisions in the Act (or Table of Acts) is also found in the Notes Section of the consolidated version of an act.

› Point-in-time legislation

- Allows you to establish the content of an act at a specific point in time

- ComLaw and NSW PCO

43

Finding Legislation

› Austlii - Public legal information freely available via the internet- Compiled by UTS and UNSW- Cases and legislation all Australian jurisdictions and many courts and tribunals

› ComLaw- Official source for current commonwealth legislation- Includes Federal Register of Legislative Instruments

- authoritative source for legislative instruments- Most current source for in-force legslation

› NSW Parliamentary Counsel’s Office- maintains the NSW legislation website- official NSW Government site for the online publication of legislation- information guides and a weekly bulletin service for NSW legislation

› Parliamentary Websites- Useful for locating bills, debates and other parliamentary information- Federal- State

Finding Legislation on Austlii

Native Title Act 1993 (Cth)

http://www.austlii.edu.au

Search within the Act for key term

View legislative history, table, date of assent

Locate cases or articles which refer to this act

View full section or subsection

Finding Case Law

Cases,Case citators and Digests

Finding Case Law

› Case law is developed in courts. - unenacted law as it is not made in parliament- recorded in judgements or judicial decisions. - usually published in Law Reports - many unpublished cases (unreported judgements) now avilable online

› Law report series- reported judgements are published in law report series - usually record the decisions of higher courts- important to report decisions, as judgements can be used as precedent for other cases.- cases are selected for reporting – new law, extends application of existing principles, clarifies conflicting decisions or point of practice or procedure ...

› Authorised reports approved by judges (Commonwealth) or in New South Wales by the Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales before publication

- Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR), New South Wales Law Reports (NSWLR)› Unreported judgements

- decision is not regarded as being sufficiently important to report- referred to as unreported judgements

Law reports examples 

Some examples of legal abbreviations include

CLR - Commonwealth Law Reports

ALR – Australian Law Reports

NSWLR – New South Wales Law Reports

Legal abbreviations are available from the University of Sydney Law School Library Website http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/abbreviations.html

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Case name/parties

Court

Judges

catchwords

Headnote summary of the case does not form

part of the case

Finding Cases

› Encyclopedias, digests, citators, legal databases and indexes be used to locate- case law on a specific subject- subsequent history of a case- case notes and references- meanings of words and phrases in a case

› Austlii- Case law from courts in both Federal and State jurisdictions- Full-text available for cases

› LexisNexis.au CaseBase - Case citator- Provides citations (references to cases) and the full-text for only the

Australian Law Reports (ALR)› Firstpoint (Thomson’s Lawbook)

- Includes a case citator and digest- Full-text for several authorised Law report series

- Commonwealth Law reports (CLR), Federal Court Reports (FCA)

Case Notes

› provide commentary about a case

› analysing and evaluating a case

› Information may include subsequent treatments in later judgments. They are found in secondary sources.

› Journal articles and text books also include case notes, for example, the Sydney Law Review contains case notes in most issues

Find this case and cases which relate to this judgement. Google??

Case Citators

› Provide listings of cases with reference- to where they have been reported - listing of any cases that have considered the main case- symbols which tell you how a case has been treated by subsequent

judgements› Case citators:

- verify citations for cases- record if cases have been reported in more than one Law report series- effective tool for location partial citations- trace cases where the main case has been considered

› Some citators include references - to secondary material such as journal articles which discuss a specific

case. - case notes

› The Library subscribes to- LexisNexis.au CaseBase and - Firstpoint: Australian Case Citator Plus

Case Annotations› annotations are used by a court to indicate how primary case has been

judicially considered

› court annotations are included in casebase they show:

how other cases have subsequently referred to a case

how the court treated or followed that decision. In subsequent judgements

Case Citators- Signals› CaseBase provides signals so that court annotations can

be quickly interpreted

Finding Parliamentary documents

Bills, debates,reports and proceedings of committees

Parliamentary Documents

› Bills

- are drafts of proposed legislation

- second reading

- member of parliament introduces bill and explains purpose

- bill debated in parliament

› Hansard

- official record of the proceedings of the Parliament

› Explanatory memoranda

- explain background and content of bill

Sources for Parliamentary Documents

› Australian Parliamentary Website- Billsnet

- Bills Digest

› ParlinfoWeb- Search the full-text of parliamentary debates

- Proceedings of committees

› Capital Monitor- Monitors parliamentary proceedings and business

- Commonwealth, New South Wales

- Access via Library Socio-legal databases page

› New South Wales Parliamentary Website

Secondary Sources

Library catalogue and reserve, legal commentary, journal articles and case notes

Locating secondary resources

› 2 Hour collection- readings required for a unit of study

- access via the Library catalogue

- search for readings by course code or lecturers name eg.

- SLSS 1001

- print material Level 3 Fisher Library

- access electronic material off-campus using unikey

› Library catalogue- search for topics by subject

- locate references by title or author

Legal research - Secondary sources

› Legal Commentary

› Law Reform Commissions

› Databases for Locating Journal Articles

Law Reform Commissions

› Law Reform Commissions - examine the law and propose reforms and review issues of

concern.

- produce many documents relevant to socio-legal research, including issues papers, working papers, discussion papers and reports.

› New South Wales Law Reform Commission

› Australian Law Reform Commission

Legal Commentary

› Online commentary services

- Legal commentary on many legal fields

- corporations, taxation, torts, family law

- Updated regularly to ensure access to current information

- background to information for a specific legal area, historical as well as current information.

- may include the text of relevant legislation, and reports on cases

- CCH Australia e.g.. Family Law

- Law Book Company e.g. Criminology

› Commentaries available in loose-leaf form in Law Library

Finding Articles in Journals

› The term journal refers to any ongoing publication › may also be referred to as a

- serial, magazine, periodical

› Library does not index or catalogue the content of these publications

Journal articles…..

Brown, K. (2000) Indigenous forums: laughed out of court? Aborigines have a right to justice on their own cultural terms.  Alternative Law Journal v25 i5 Oct p216

Feather, N T.(1996) Domestic violence, gender, and perceptions of justice. Sex Roles : A journal of research 35 (7-8) Oct p507

Finnin S, (2006) Case note : Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Petitioner v Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense : has the Bush Administration's experiment with military commissions come to an end? Melbourne Journal of International Law 7 (2) Oct pp372-406

Databases and Electronic Resources

› index and in many cases abstract (summarise) the content of journals within specific or broad subject areas.

› may also index theses, book reviews, conference proceedings & collections of essays.

› some provide the full text for an article› may link to full text via ‘Check Library’

› references not necessarily held in the Library

Electronic Resources - databases

› Access

- alphabetical list

- Subject list

- Law

- Socio-legal Studies

- Sociology

search termsresults

List of all your recent searches

If the article is not available within the database this link will check the Library catalogue.

The complete record provides

• additional information about an article.

• information on any cases or Legislation discussed.

• list the subjects covered by the article.

• click on the subject heading to find additional articles on your topic

TVNews

ARTS1000

› Access via usyd eLearning

› Use your unikey login

› Modules provide you with key

skills for Library research

Fisher Library – Floor plan