Introduction: Accessing Library Databases
Textbooks and Legal Encyclopedias: Finding Textbooks / Legal Encyclopedias / Online Loose-leaf Services
Finding Articles: Selecting Search Terms /AGIS Plus Text / Finding Journals
Finding Cases: CaseBase / AustLII / Citing Cases
Further Help: Internet Links / Contact Details and Subject Guides

This tutorial will help you to locate resources, such as textbooks, journal articles, cases and legislation, which are related to your course LEGT1711 Legal Environment of Commerce and which will be helpful for your research.

Via Sirius
The databases described in this online tutorial can be accessed in two ways. The first is through Sirius, UNSW Library's gateway to electronic resources. There are links to Sirius from both the UNSW Library and the Law Library homepages.

To list major law resources click on:
Find Resources > Category (tab) > Law

Information on Sirius is available from the Library's About Sirius page.

Via the Legal Databases Guide
This page lists the legal databases that UNSW Library subscribes to by the type of material they provide (e.g. journal articles, cases, legislation, etc.) and which jurisdiction is covered. Hypertext links allow you to access each database.

Links in the Online Tutorial
For ease of use, we have also created links to databases in this online tutorial.

The best starting point for researching a topic is a textbook or a legal encyclopedia. This section will tell you about some useful general textbooks related to your subject and about:

Some general law/commerce textbooks (with copies in Law Reserve on Level 8 of the Law Library), are:

Sweeney B, Law in Commerce, 2nd edition, Chatswood, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2004.
L/KN250/S23/2 Law Reserve,
L/KN250/S23/2A is a four week loan copy.

Gibson A [et al], Commercial Law in Principle, Sydney, Law Book Co, 2003.
L/KN250/R14/2 Law Reserve,
L/KN250/R14/2A, 2B, 2C, are four week loan copies.

Latimer P, Australian Business Law 2005, 24th edition, CCH Australia, 2005.
L/KN250/L8/2005, 2005A Law Reserve

To find other textbooks, use the Library's catalogue (the Library Resources Database). Here are some examples you could try:

Basic Keyword Search

Browse an Alphabetical Index

Click on the New Search drop-down menu and select Browse.

You can limit your search results to recent publications by clicking on the Modify button then select Filter by Year. Then enter the dates (e.g. From 1999 To 2005) and click on Go.

Legal encyclopedias are another useful introductory resource. They will also provide references to relevant cases and legislation. The two Australian legal encyclopedias are:

Halsbury's Laws of Australia

See sections on tort and on negligence.

Another alternative to a textbook is an online loose-leaf service. This brings together commentary, full text case law and legislation on various areas of law and they are available through both LexisNexis AU or CCH Library.

The Torts Law Library in CCH Library, is a particularly useful resource. It contains relevant fulltext legislation, commentary similar to a textbook and cases (including the full text of the Australian Torts Cases and Torts Commentary).

Journal articles are also useful when researching a topic. They are particularly useful when you are looking at very specific topics, or the latest developments.

The Library Resources Database (the library catalogue) provides information about journal titles held by the Library but not the individual articles.

To find articles on your topic you need to use a database that indexes journal articles. Some of these databases provide fulltext, while others provide a reference which you then use to find the print copy.

This section of the tutorial will cover:

The Law Library's Legal Databases Guide describes the legal databases provided for UNSW staff and students. Use the help screens for each database if you need further assistance.

Useful databases include AGIS Plus Text, LegalTrac, Westlaw and Lexis. These can be accessed through Sirius, via the Legal Databases Guide, or by clicking on the links in this online tutorial.

Before you start to search a database, think about the keywords or phrases you could use. If, for example, you want to find articles on the liability of public authorities, the broad area of law to search might be torts or negligence.

Alternatively, you might like to search narrower, more specific search terms such as, breach of statutory duty, or negligent liability and public authorities.

Now you are ready to search for articles on your topic. Start with AGIS Plus Text, the major database that covers journal articles on Australian law.

This database is a good starting point for articles with an Australian focus. Full text articles from some of the journals (from 1999) are available.

Here are some examples to try:

The results screen lists references to journal articles that match your search terms. Each reference provides the title of the article, the author, the journal title and the volume, issues and page number (e.g. Stickley, Amanda, Liability of public authorities : recent cases and reintroduction of immunity, QUEENSLAND LAWYER 26 (6) June 2003: 178-181)

Finding Articles that discuss Cases

Once you have references to journal articles, the next step is to find the fulltext of those articles. Some may be available online from the database (e.g. AGIS Plus Text or Lexis). For others not available electronically, you will need to find the print version.

For example, you may want to find an article about the liability of councils on page number 161, in volume 15, issue 2 of the Insurance Law Journal. Begin by searching the Library Resources Database by title for the name of the journal (i.e. Insurance Law Journal). This will provide you with the call number of the journal that tells where on the shelves the journal is. Once you have the call number (L/K1/I570), go to journal shelves on level 8 and find volume 15, issue 2. Then turn to page 161.

This page demonstrates how to find cases in the UNSW Law Library and on the Internet and how to cite cases.

To find cases we will be using:

CaseBase is an online case citator which allows you to search for information on cases.

Searching by Case Name
You can find the citation for and information about a case where you only have the names of the parties to a case. To find out about the 2001 High Court case Brodie v Singleton Shire Council use the following instructions:

CaseBase Results Screen
The parties to the case are followed by one or more citations showing where the case has been reported. Sometimes a case will be reported in several law report series such as CLR, ALR, ALJR, etc.

Sometimes in CaseBase a citation may appear as a hypertext link which will link to the full text of the case online.

Where there is no link to the full text, you need to find out the full name of the law report series from the citation and where those reports are shelved in the Library. If you wanted to find a case using the citation (2001) 115 FCR 78, you can find out what FCR stands for using the Law Library's Law Reports & Abbreviations Database. This will tell you that the case is in the Federal Court Reports and that they are located on the shelves at L/KH42/F3. You would then need to look at volume 115 at page 78.

Finding other similar cases
To find recent cases on that have discussed Brodie v Singleton Shire Council look under Cases referring to this case in the full CaseBase record.

Searching by Citation
It is also possible to find a case if you only have the citation. The following example shows how to find a case

Searching by Subject
You can also search for cases by subject using the Catchwords/Summary field. Catchwords are subject terms added to a case. For example, to find cases about a council's breach of duty

AustLII (the Australasian Legal Information Institute), provides free internet access to Australian legal materials, including case law.

To find a case on AustLII when you know the jurisdiction, the Court and names of the parties (for example, the High Court case Qantas Airways Ltd v Christie):

To find cases on a topic, you can search across all, or part of, AustLII's case law databases.

Cases which include the phrase "unlawful termination" will be listed. Click on the hypertext link to go to the fulltext of the case and click on the red arrows to find where your search terms appear.

As with all legal citation, it is vital when citing cases to use the accepted standards, which includes paying particular attention to round and square brackets. Square brackets are used for the year of publication when the year is necessary in finding the case (i.e. when a new sequence of volume numbers is started each year). When the volume numbers are consecutive, and the year is not vital to finding the case, round brackets are used.

Round Brackets:
Kable v Director of Public Prosecution (NSW) (1996) 189 CLR 51

Kable v Director of Public Prosecution (NSW) = parties involved
1996 = year of publication or date of judgment
189 = volume
CLR = abbreviation for report series (Commonwealth Law Reports in this example)
51 = page number

Square Brackets:
Presser v Caldwell Estates Pty Ltd [1971] 2 NSWLR 471

To find this case you will need to find the 1971 volumes of the New South Wales Law Reports and go to volume 2.

Pinpoint citation:
L Shaddock & Associates Pty Ltd v Parramatta City Council (No 1) (1981) 150 CLR 225 at 231.
In this example, 231 refers to the page where the point under discussion is located within the judgment.

Medium Neutral Citations

With more and more cases becoming available electronically, the adoption of a more medium neutral citation style is currently being debated. Basically, this means that rather than referring to the law report series, the court of judgment is given instead. This gives the researcher the relevant details to identify the case regardless of the medium i.e. paper-based or electronic.

Smith v Jones [1998] HCA 1

Where:
1998 = year of judgment
HCA = court (High Court of Australia in this example)
1 = court assigned judgment number.

While the High Court of Australia, NSW Supreme Court and others have adopted medium neutral citations, it is always preferable to cite judgments from a law report series if they have been reported.

For further information about legal citations, please see the Guide to Legal Research Materials.

The following sites may be of use when researching your assignment.

AustLII
A joint facility of the UNSW and UTS Law Faculties, AutLII contains cases and legislation from both the states and the Commonwealth.

Guide to Legal Research Materials at UNSW Law Library
Designed to provide up-to-date guide to the major research tools available either in print or electronically for all major common law jurisdictions.

Lawlink NSW
This site is the New South Wales Attorney-General's gateway for legal information including case law, government reports and information on specific agencies and tribunals.

Further information about the Law Library is available from About the Law Library.

You may also contact the Law Library by email.