Law and Society
A good way to being researching your topic is by consulting the 'secondary sources'. These include commentary about the 'primary sources'. The primary sources of law is the law itself; case law and legislation. Secondary sources include textbooks, journal articles, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Dictionaries
Australian Law Dictionary (Oxford Reference Online). This dictionary is also available in the Law Library General collection at KL 40 .K1 AUS 2010.
Textbooks
Search for textbooks using the Summon search box, located below and on the Library homepage.
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Australian Legal Encyclopedias
Start with one of these comprehensive legal encyclopedia to get a concise overview of an area of law, including the most important cases and statutes.
Case Law
Interpreting Case Law Citations
Every case has legal citation. A reported case might be cited as follows:
Al-Kateb v Godwin (2004) 219 CLR 562
The elements of a reported citation are:
| Al-Kateb v Godwin |
The parties to the case (there are other formats depending on the nature of the case) |
| 2004 |
This is the year in which the report was published - not necessarily the year of the judgment |
| 219 |
The volume of the law report |
| CLR |
This is short for Commonwealth Law Reports, a report series which contains cases decided in the High Court of Australia |
| 562 |
This is the page on which this particular case starts in volume 219 of the CLR |
Finding a Case from a Citation
Where are the full-text decisions located?
If you have a case citation, then you have all the information you need to locate the full-text of the decision. To check if you have access to the full-text through the Bond Law Library, check the Abbreviations and Sources for Reported and Unreported Case Law.
The following short video shows you how to quickly locate the text of a case through the Bond Library website. The steps involved are also described below.
Finding a Case on a Topic
Case citators can be used to find cases about a particular legal concept or topic. Two main case citators are:
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