Legal research guide: Criminal Law: What is Criminal Law?
A place to start
- Halsbury's Laws of AustraliaTitle 130 - Criminal Law
- Laws of AustraliaVol 9. - Criminal Law Principles
- Ross on CrimeWestlaw AU
- Cross on EvidenceLexis+
Do the right thing - study criminal law
What is Criminal Law?
"The rules of statute and common law which direct that certain actions are punishable by the state. Each Australian jurisdiction has a body of criminal law...In some Australian jurisdictions the criminal law, or a defined part of it, is governed by a statutory code: for example (WA) Criminal Code... In...jurisdictions not covered by a code, the criminal law is made up of both statutory offences and offences at common law that have not been repealed. In every jurisdiction there are numerous other criminal offences which form part of the criminal law..."
Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary
(Lexis+)
For guidance on how to search, click here.
Criminal law databases
- CINCH: Australian Criminology DatabaseAvailable online through Informit. Good source for journal articles on all aspects of crime and criminal justice.
- CINCH –ATSIS : Australian Criminology Database Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SubsetCINCH-ATSIS is a subset of the CINCH database that focuses on all aspects of the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the justice system.
- CINCH Health: Health Issues in Criminal JusticeHealth Issues in Criminal Justice (CINCH-Health), is a subset of CINCH, the Australian Criminology Database. Index to journal articles, reports, and book chapters.
- Criminal Justice AbstractsComprehensive coverage of international journals, books, reports, dissertations and unpublished papers on criminology and related disciplines.
- Lexis+ - Criminal Law9 dots formed into a square; Select US Research. Click on the Practice Area tab, Look for the Criminal Law & Procedure link.
- Thomson Reuters Westlaw - Criminal LawGo to the Practice Areas tab; Select Criminal Law.
Includes U.S. case law, statutes, news, and commentary. - WorldLII - Criminal LawResources available through the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII). Includes journals, legislation, case law, and commentary.
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