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Researching Case Law

Guide outline

Getting started with researching case law


This introductory legal research guide will help you to get started with researching case law. Read through the outlines below to learn what is covered in each section of this guide. You can navigate to these sections via the menu on the left.

 

Case law overview: This guide provides a brief overview on how case law is a primary source of law.

Case law reporting formats: Demonstrates a case law lifecycle, from unreported judgment format through to being published in an authorised law report. 

Case citators: A case citator is an index of cases containing a brief summary of the case. This section provides step-by-step instructions on how to undertake research in Australian case citator databases.

Find cases: This section provides step-by-step instructions on how to research for Australian, UK and US cases.

Abbreviations overview: A brief overview of understanding legal abbreviations to law reports and law journal titles.

Citing cases: Examples on how to reference cases using the AGLC4 referencing style.