Library Guides: Legal research guide: Secondary sources: Dictionaries & Encyclopaedia

Finding Dictionaries and Encyclopaedia

Find and use legal dictionaries and encyclopaedias to define legal terms and point you to key primary and secondary sources.

Use these to find definitions of legal terms and cases/legislation where terms were judicially defined.

Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary
Online: Lexis+
Halsbury's Laws of Australia
Online: Lexis+
Laws of Australia
Online: Westlaw AU
Halsbury's Laws of England
Online: Lexis+
Select UK Jurisdiction in Lexis+ and then select View all Publications block, H section.
CCH Macquarie Dictionary of Law
Beasley Law Library level 2: 340.03 1996 CCH. (If it is required for a Unit, it will be located in the Beasley Law Library High Demand section).
The Longman Dictionary of Law
Beasley Law Library Main collection: 340.03 2007 LON (If it is required for a Unit, it will be located in the Beasley Law Library High Demand section).
Australian Legal Words and Phrases
Available online through Lexis+. Use to find acts and cases in which legal terms are defined.
Oxford English Dictionary Online
For standard word usage
Australian Law Dictionary
2018 3rd edition available Online
Also available at Beasley Law Library Main collection: 340.03 2010 AUS.

Stroud's judicial dictionary of words and phrases (UK)
Available at Welshpool Offsite Storage (349.4103 2006 STR). Please submit request through OneSearch.
Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
Available online via Westlaw. Search for 'Canadian Encyclopedic Digest' without quotes and choose the suggested item in the drop down.
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Amalgamates the full text of the 2 versions of this work - (Western and Ontario).
Black's Law Dictionary (US)
Westlaw (Secondary Sources link > TOOLS & RESOURCES menu) and Beasley Law Library Main collection 340.03 2004 BLA
Black's Law dictionary
Definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern. Available at Beasley Law Library Main Collection 340.03 1979 BLA
Ballentine's Law Dictionary (US)
Lexis+ - US Research subset (to access use the 9 dots)
Content tab > Secondary Materials link > Dictionaries > Ballentine's Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition link
American Jurisprudence (US)
Available in print in Beasley Law Library Law Reports Collection (P.345.473).
Also available online in Lexis+ - US Research subset: Secondary Materials > American Law Reports (ALR) link and Thomson Reuters Westlaw: Secondary Sources link > Jurisprudence & Encyclopedias link
Corpus Juris Secundum (US)
Available at Welshpool Offsite Storage (P 345.473). Please submit request through OneSearch. Also available online in Thomson Reuters Westlaw: Secondary Sources link > Jurispudence & Encyclopedias link.