Case Law: Home
Find Australian cases
- Cardiff Index to Legal AbbreviationsSearch for abbreviations found in legal citations to find the full title of law reports and journals
- CaseBase (Lexis+)Australian case citator. As well as citations for cases, CaseBase provides information about how the case has been treated, and may provide details of where the case has been discussed in journal articles.
- KeyCite (Westlaw AU)Keycite includes FirstPoint, an Australian case citator that provides access to case references, citation, history and digest information, and Laws of Australia.
- KeyCite - Westlaw AUWatch this video for an overview of KeyCite
- Lexis+Lexis+ contains both Australian and US case law, as well as journals and sources of commentary.
- Westlaw AUWestlaw contains many of the authorised Australian law report series.
- Westlaw AUWatch this video for an overview of the new Westlaw AU database
- CCH iKnowConnectDecisions from many practice areas
- AustLIIUnreported judgments
- JADELatest decisions of Australian Courts and Tribunals
- Western Australian ReportsAuthorised law reports of the Supreme Court of Western Australia
- WAIRC DecisionsWestern Australian Industrial Relations Commission
What is Case Law?
|
|
Together with statute law, case law is a primary source of law. It is a key feature of the common law system and researching case law is an important part of the legal research process.
Case law is law based on the reported decisions of judges in cases that come before them. In their decisions the judges will give the relevant facts of the case and the legal reasoning that applied in coming to their decision.
In each jurisdiction one law report series is designated “authorised” . (Called authorised because they have been reviewed and approved by a judge of the respective court).
Under common law, there is a hierarchy of authority in judgements. Those made in superior courts form precedents and inferior courts must follow these precedents, so the reported decisions of judges in cases form an important part of the law.
Contact for support
Email your questions to our friendly library staff.
Students
HDR Students
UWA Staff
More contact options are available on the Library Contact us page.
Find foreign cases
- Incorporated Council of Law ReportingOnline platform including ICLR's Law Reports and Weekly Law Reports covering case law from the Superior and Appellate Courts in England and Wales. The platform also includes: case summaries, a citator service, access to legislation, and individual profiles, in order to manage complex research
- Westlaw UKIncludes an analysis of UK cases. This database can also be used to locate UK legislation and some journals
- Thomson Reuters WestlawIncludes UK, US, European, Hong Kong, Canadian, and international materials
- Lexis+ - US and other jurisdictionsIncludes All England Law Reports (in England & Wales Cases, Combined) and other jurisdictions worldwide
- English Reports (1220-1873)Online & On the shelf. Republication of the Nominate Reports
- CommonLII60 Commonwealth and common law jurisdictions (Africa, Asia, Europe, Caribbean, Oceania)
- WorldLIICategories > Courts & Case Law
See links to other LII sites at the bottom of the page - LawCiteFree international case citator via AustLII
CONTENT LICENCE
Except for logos, Canva designs, AI generated images or where otherwise indicated, content in this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.
Staff & Students
The University of Western Australia
PRV12169, Australian University