Courts and their decisions

• Commonwealth
• State
• International

Commonwealth

Administrative Appeals Tribunal web site provides access to decisions of the latest week. Earlier decisions are available from AustLII.

AustLII (the Australasian Legal Information Institute) provides free access to the unreported decisions of a large number of Australian courts and tribunals.  Details of the jurisdictions, courts and years covered is available from the heading 'Cases and legislation' on the AustLII home page.

Family Court of Australia web site provides access to information about the court, and to selected Family Court decisions from 1998 onwards.

Federal Court of Australia site provides information about the Court, its history, current practice and reasons for judgments. The majority of judgments from 1977 onwards are available from AustLII. Selected judgments are only available from the court web site at: http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/judgmts.html#below 

High Court of Australia web site provides information about the Court. Judgments from 1947 onwards are available in full text on AustLII.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission web site includes information about the commission with links to  relevant legislation. Selected decisions from 1985 - 1999 are available on AustLII.  The hearings of the commission were transferred to the Federal court and Federal magistrates court at the end of 1999. 

Industrial Relations Court of Australia web site provides information about the Court. Judgments from 1994 onwards are available in full text on AustLII.

Migration Review Tribunal  web site provides brief information about the court.  Decisions from 1999 are available on AustLII.

National Native Title Tribunal site provides information about the Tribunal, applications and agreements. Selected decisions from 1994 onwards are available on AustLII.

Refugee Review Tribunal web site includes a number of useful resources such as practice directions and an update bulletin.  Decisions from 1993 are available on AustLII.

State

CaseLaw NSW and Lawlink NSW provide access to NSW court and tribunal web sites, and to the post-1998 decisions of a wide range of NSW courts including

Land and Environment Court

Supreme Court of NSW

Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales provides links to Commonwealth, State and Territory court and tribunal judgments, home pages and related material

Magistrates Court of Tasmania site provides information about the court, and also provides selected decisions from the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal of Tasmania, and selected coronial findings.

Queensland Courts site contains the full text of Queensland judgments from January 2000 onwards. Judgments from 1998 are available on AustLII. 

Supreme Court of ACT site contains full court ACT judgments from 2002 and court of appeal decisions from 2002.  Supreme court judgments from 1986 are available on AustLII. 

Supreme Court of New South Wales site contains most recent decisions and full text judgments from January 1999 onwards. It also provides links to New South Wales court of appeal decisions from 1999-2003 and New South Wales court of criminal appeal decisions from 1999-2003. Supreme court judgments from 1995 are available on AustLII.

Supreme Court of South Australia information is available from the Courts Administration Authority South Australia. Decisions of the court from 1989 are available on AustLII.

Supreme Court of Tasmania web site provides information about the court. Selected decisions of the Supreme Court from 1987 are available on AustLII and on the tasInLaw database.

Supreme Court of Victoria web site includes information about the court, as well as a monthly summary of judgments emanating from the Court of Appeal. Decisions of the court from 1998 are available on AustLII

Supreme Court of Western Australia provides web information about the court. Judgments of the court from 1999 onwards are published on AustLII.

tasInLaw provides access to decisions from the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation tribunal and Resource Management & Planning Appeals tribunal. TasInLaw is only available on Law Library computers.

Tasmanian Courts site provides links to the Supreme Court, Magistrates Court, and the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal which all have links to their respective decisions. 

Tasmanian Industrial Commission information is provided by the Department of Justice and Industrial Relations. The web site includes decisions and decision summaries from 1985.

International

LawResearch provides free access to national and international court homepages with links to judgments.

WorldLII  provides free access to national and international court judgments and home pages, with information gathered from 

• Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)
• British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)
• Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
• Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII)
• Legal Information Institute (Cornell) (LII (Cornell))
• Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII)
• Wits University School of Law (Wits Law School)

Current Awareness Services

• Alerting services
• Saved database searches
• Individual publishers and table of content pages (TOC)

Current awareness services are used for keeping up to date with recent developments in a variety of legal areas.

Alerting Services

These services provide email and/or newsletter legal alert services on a daily or weekly basis.

The Alerter is an email service that provides a comprehensive bulletin from a wide range of sources and includes relevant events in case law, legislation. It operates as a user- pays subscription service with a free 3-week trial.

Butterworths offer an email alert services called Content Notifier. This notifies the user when Butterworths reports journals or bulletins are updated. Through this service you will receive the table of contents of the latest issue in PDF format. This is a free service and you can subscribe for as many publications as you like. 

CCH offers a free daily email alert service to your email address, on news and events pertaining to the law (or a variety of other categories including Accounting, Business & Management, Industrial Relations, Taxation, Law, Financial Planning, Human Resources, Educational Services, Superannuation and Occupational Health and Safety) sent as headlines with hyperlinks to full text articles if desired.  

Daily Law Notes is a free service established by the Courts of  Justice and European Court of Justice that provides summaries of UK cases deemed important generally within 24 hours of the decision being handed down.  Case summaries are provided from House of Lords, the Privy Council, the Court of Appeals and all divisions of the High Court.  

FindLaw Australia offers free email and newsletter services on legal news, legislation and case law. Areas covered by newsletters include: Family, Privacy, Criminal, Intellectual Property and Information & Technology Law. Daily legislation is also available from the Commonwealth and NSW and the Commonwealth & Victoria. Additionally full texts of cases from the following are also available: High Court, Federal Court decisions (excluding immigration related decisions), NSW Court of Appeal, Victorian Court of Appeal, Queensland Court of Appeal, South Australian Full Court, Western Australian Court of Appeal, Tasmanian Supreme Court, Northern Territory Supreme Court and the ACT Supreme Court. 

Lawbook Daily Digest provides judgment summaries from Australian superior courts from the following jurisdictions: Federal Court, High Court, New South Wales Supreme Court, Victorian Supreme Court, Queensland Supreme Court, South Australian Supreme Court, Western Australian Supreme Court and the Tasmanian Supreme Court, with links (via FindLaw) to the full text unreported judgments.  Additionally they provide a daily alert service via email. 

Lawlex provides a plain English written summary highlighting key features on new legislation and regulations, a link to the new legislation or regulation in question and a section-by-section summary of amendments.  Additionally the researcher will automatically receive an email alerting then to: new bills, assents, proclamations, amendments, repeals and new regulations.  This is a user-pays service with a one-month free trial.  

LexisNexis offers a free email alert service called E-alert that enables the researcher to be notified of the latest announcements, developments and releases of LexisNexis publications and services. 

SCALEplus provides an automatic notification service by email of new data from the Commonwealth jurisdiction and corresponding Territories overseen by the Commonwealth arriving each day at SCALEplus.  The researcher may elect to be notified of all new data or, by selecting databases, choose from individual collections.  

TaxExtra is a free service offered by ATP that emails a variety of tax related information including: Daily tax developments, Terry's Tax Talk (weekly updates), Pending legislation, Conference session notes, Key rates and tables, Key tax links, Articles of interest, Diary Dates and Student Tax Q & A.

University Law Review Project has links to law reviews and other scholarly journals on the web, with keyword searching of articles and an abstract by email subscription service. 

Saved Database Searches

Some databases offer to option to save and re-run a search strategy  that may include author, subject of key words.  These saved searches are run on a regular basis, eg. weekly or monthly.  The results are then forwarded usually by email to the researcher.

Westclip is the Westlaw service that allows you to save and automatically re-run searches in the database..  To activate this service:

Eclipse is the electronic clipping service for saved searches within particular Lexis source files.  To utilise this service:

ECLIPSE searches can be edited or deleted at anytime.  Simply login to Lexis/Nexis and click on ECLIPSE in the upper right corner of the screen to access all your saved ECLIPSE searches.

Individual publishers and Table of Content Pages (TOC)

The Table of Contents of the most recent issue of particular journals may be available from the publisher's Web site. Table of Contents services make take the form of a publicly available Web page, or an email alerting service that sends the "Table of Contents" to registered users.

Blackwell Publishing offers a TOC service with links to abstracts covering all subject areas. 

Cambridge University Press offers a TOC service called My CJO which covers all subject areas.  It also provides saved database searches.

Highwire Press offers a TOC service and saved databases searches covering a science based subject area.

Oxford University Press offers a TOC service called Content Alerting.

Kluwer offers a TOC service covering Science, Technology, Humanities and Law.

SARA or scholarly articles research alerting offers a TOC service covering Science, Technology, Humanities and Law.

Government sites 

• Commonwealth

• State

• International

Commonwealth

The Australian Capital Territory site provides online information and relevant internet links covering government, business, tourism and community.

Australian Commonwealth Government information is provided through the web site fed.gov.au. This site provides quick links to government information, and the site is organised to meet the needs of particular user groups - individuals, students, businesses and non-residents.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department operates a Web site that provides information on the Department and its portfolio responsibilities. It also provides links to the Australian Law Online and Family Law Online sites that are operated by the Department.

State

The New South Wales Government web site provides a searchable directory to NSW government, community and lifestyle information.

Northern Territory Government is the entry point for information about government, business, tourism and lifestyle in the Northern Territory.

Queensland Government contains information about government, business and industry, and leisure and culture in Queensland.

South Australia Central  provides access to government and community information organised into broad topics, as well as quick links to key government agencies and the Parliament.

Tasmania Online is a whole-of-government site providing access to information about the Tasmanian community and government. It provides links to Departmental home pages, annual reports, and directories.

Victoria's Government Information is the official site of the Government of Victoria, providing information and policy statements on a wide range of community and government topics.

  Welcome to Western Australia web site covers a range of government and community information.

www.gov.au provides entry points to commonwealth and state, territory and local governments.  Each entry point gives a brief description and links to enter government sites.

International

GPO Access disseminates official information from all three branches of the United States Federal Government - legislative, executive and judicial. The site includes an A-Z list of official government resources, and a 'What's New' summary of major Supreme Court cases.

UK Online provides browse and search access to more than 900 U.K. government websites, with both A-Z and subject listings for areas like 'Crime, law, justice and rights' and 'International affairs and defence'.

United Nations site provides multilingual access to information about U.N. bodies, events and initiatives, publications and databases.

Law portals and directories

Australian Law Online is provided by the Australian Government to give all Australians access to Government legal information and services available nationwide. It provides links to Commonwealth, State and Territory government legal information, to the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, and to the ScalePlus database of Commonwealth legislation.

CataLaw provides access to worldwide law sites on the Internet. It aids legal research by arranging indexes of law and government into a uniform index.

FindLaw Australia is a free legal information service containing information for legal professionals, students, business people, and members of the public. FindLaw provides access to the full text of recent cases and legislation from most jurisdictions in Australia. It also has a "legal research" section that provides articles on a range of legal areas, written by specialists in those areas. 

Guide to Law Online is one of the most widely known and heavily used foreign law websites.  It includes links to government and country information and links to legal guides and miscellaneous sites.  Emphasis has been placed upon sites offering  full text of laws, regulations and court decisions.

Hieros Gamos Legal Research Centre provides access to information on the law and government of over 230 countries, with special emphasis on United States law, international law, and professional organizations.

InfoEssentials Legal Resources provides links to Australian and international legal resources.

Jurist Australia is especially designed for individuals learning, teaching or researching law and contains authoritative legal information.  It covers not only areas of Australian law but also world law.  It also has links to other international jurist sites such as Jurist USA, Jurist UK and Jurist Canada

Law Portal provides access to Australian sites offering online law including  legislation, regulations, cases, parliamentary publications, tax and company legal resources, and government information.

Law Zone is a U.K. directory to online legal resources and 'lawlinks' organised by areas of law.

LawLinks provides access to global legal information .  A jurisdictional and topical approach to law related web resources is provided.

LegalEngine contains case law, laws, legal topics and research with emphasis on United States Law

The SOSIG Law Gateway provides guidance and access to global legal information resources, organised by jurisdiction, by subject area, and by publication type.

vidElex is an Australian site, providing an alphabetical index to 137 legal subject areas.

WebLaw is a co-operative subject index to Internet resources for Australian legal researchers. Guides are compiled by Law Librarians, and are intended to help students start their research in specific legal areas.

World Law Guide provides a guide to legislation and case law for various countries. It also includes information about law firms, law schools and other organizations by country.  

WorldLII provides free Internet access to legal resources around the world. These sites provide links to courts, law journals, law reform, lawyers, parliaments

Legislation sites

• Commonwealth
• State
• International

Commonwealth

AustLII (the Australasian Legal Information Institute) provides free internet access to legislation and treaties from the Commonwealth and States of Australia.

BillsNet provides the full text of bills currently before the Parliament of Australia, as well as relevant explanatory memoranda, second reading speeches, and amendments. 

LawLex provides a global search for Australian legislation that links to selected government sites and amendment and commencement  information.

SCALEplus is the authoritative site for Commonwealth legislation. It contains statutes and regulations from the Commonwealth and the non self-governing territories of Christmas Island, Cocos-Keeling Island, and Jervis Bay Territory. It also contains 'Legislation Tools' that include passage and commencement information for repealed Acts and regulations, and consolidated Acts and regulations.

State

ACT

ACT Legislation Register provides electronic access to current  and up-to-date ACT legislation in both authorised and unauthorised formats. It also provides A-Z browse and search access to ACT legislation in force. It also has access to commencement details, explanatory memorandum and bills before the parliament. AustLII also has consolidated and numbered acts and regulations.

New South Wales

NSW Legislation provides free access to NSW legislation in force, both Acts and statutory rules. It also features searching and browsing facilities.  It contains historical versions of legislation including repealed legislation. Parliamentary Counsel provides access to all bills introduced, amended or passed by both houses of parliament. AustLII also has consolidated Acts and Regulations.

Northern Territory

Northern Territory Legislation contains all consolidated Acts and subordinate legislation of the Northern Territory of Australia. Each consolidation contains amendments that are in force. Historical consolidations of Acts and subordinate legislation can be found on the Northern Territory Legislation History database. Bills introduced in the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory, and numbered Acts and subordinate legislation of the Northern Territory, are available on the Register of Legislation database.

Queensland

Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel provides access to consolidated and numbered acts and regulations. It also contains electronic access to bills and explanatory notes as they introduced into parliament. AustLII also has consolidated Acts & Regulations.

South Australian 

Parliament of South Australia site provides alphabetic listings of all Acts and Regulations, and search facilities of South Australian legislation.  It has links to searchable bills and Hansard  from both houses of parliament. AustLII also has consolidated Acts & Regulations.

Tasmania

The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel provides tables and information guides to

• Acts with amendments made, or yet to be commenced, in 2002 and 2003
• Alphabetical and numerical access, with consolidation information, from 2000
• Acts repealed or expired
• Acts, or provisions of Acts, not yet commenced
• Acts numerically listed, with "repealed by" references if repealed or expired, from 1826
• Alphabetical and numerical access to Statutory Rules made since 2001
• Principal Statutory Rules with amendments made, or yet to be commenced, in 2003.

The Parliament of Tasmania web site provides access to an 'Annual Register of Bills' tabled during 2002 and 2003,  and to the 'Progress of Bills' and text of Bills currently before the Parliament.

The Tasmanian Legislation site provides free public access to current Tasmanian Acts in consolidated form, with cross-references and amendment history. It also includes Statutory Rules made from the beginning of 1998.

Victoria

Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents home page provides access to

• Acts and Statutory Rules in operation in Victoria
• Consolidated Principal Acts and Statutory Rules in operation in Victoria at a given point in time
• Documents, including Bills, which are under consideration by the Parliament of Victoria.

AustLII provides consolidated acts and regulations from 1996.

Western Australia

The Parliament of Western Australia web site provides information about the progress of bills introduced into the current session of Parliament, and electronic copies of Bills currently being considered by Parliament.

Western Australian statutes and regulations are provided by the State Law Publisher. This site provides A-Z browse and search access to W.A. legislation in force. It also provides an index to statutes, covering Acts in force, Imperial Acts, Acts that have ceased to be in force, Subsidiary legislation, and assent and commencement information for Acts. AustLII  provides consolidated acts and regulations.

International

United Kingdom

Acts of the UK Parliament  offers the full text of all new Public General Acts since 1988, and the full text of all new Local Acts since 1991. It also contains Explanatory notes to public acts, statutory instruments and draft statutory instruments.

The United Kingdom Parliament provides bills before parliament with explanatory notes and amendments.  It also has Hansard from the House of Commons dating back to 1988 and the House of Lords from 1996.

United States

Thomas: U.S. Congress on the Internet makes Federal U.S. legislative information freely available on the Internet. Databases offered by THOMAS include Bill Summary & Status, Bill Text, Public Laws by Law Number, and issues of the Congressional Record.

Parliament sites

Parliament of Australia. This Home Page provides online access to information about the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as records of the debates (Hansard), current Bills, and parliamentary research services and publications.

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

House of Commons. This Home Page provides online access to debates in the House (Hansard), current Bills, parliamentary publications, and information about the House and its Committees.