Law
Starting point contains definitions, facts, figures and overviews
- Dictionaries help you to define your keywords
- Encyclopedias help you to get an overview of your topic and provide more information
than a dictionary
- Handbooks and manuals provide figures and facts
Use the catalogue
to search for more dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks
You can search the Library Catalogue to find books, DVDs, journals and other materials
If you know the exact title in the New catalogue
- At the search screen select a Title search
- Type in the exact title. You can use double quotes around phrases, for example, “room with a view”
- Link to online material or take note of the collection, call number and status to find items in the Library
If you are searching for a topic in the New catalogue
- Type in keywords from your topic to find catalogue records that contain all of your keywords
For example,
+torts +damages
- Use + before a word to indicate that the word must be included
- Another way of doing this is to combine keywords with AND (the AND must be in upper case)
- If a keyword search gives you too many results, you could add another keyword with +
For example, +torts +damages +Australia
Truncation is generally not needed as entering any version of a word will retrieve many variations.
More information
- For more information select the catalogue Help button
Databases and journal articles for Law
Use databases to search for journal articles, book chapters, conference papers or
research reports
|
Databases |
Notes |
Help |
| AGIS Plus text | Indexing and some full text of journal articles on all aspects of law. Australian, New Zealand and Pacific law focus with some selected articles from major US, Canadian and UK law journals. | Help and tips are available online from the AGIS Plus Text search screen. |
| Australian Legal Journals Index | Contains journal abstracts, cases referred to, legislative references, key-citing information by jurisdiction. Contains links to some full text online journals, authorised and specialist law reports, plus links to FirstPoint. | Help and tips are available online from the Australian Legal Journals Index search screen. |
| CCH Library | Australian legislation, law reports, digests, cases and legal guides in a range of areas of law including topics such as industrial law, trade practices, taxation and occupational health and safety. | Help and tips are available online from the CCH Library search screen. |
| Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text | Indexes legal journals, books, law reviews and many other publications. Includes full text of selected periodicals. International coverage including periodicals from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. | Help and tips are available online from the Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text search screen. |
| Justis | United Kingdom cases and legislation dating back to 1220 including coverage of The Law Reports, The Weekly Law Reports, English Reports, Daily Cases and The Times Law Reports. Citation information available through JustCite. | Help and tips are available online from the Justis search screen. |
| Legal Online | Australian case law and commentary including the Commonwealth Law Reports, Federal Court Reports and Federal Law Reports. | Help and tips are available online from the Legal Online search screen. |
| Lawlex | Full text database providing links to Australian legislation, amendment and commencement information, and progress of bills through the Premium Research facility. | Help and tips are available online from the Lawlex search screen. |
| LexisNexis AU | Australian cases, legislation and commentary including CaseBase, Unreported Judgments, Halsbury's Laws of Australia and Australian Current Law. Also includes the New Zealand Law Reports and the All England Reports. | Help and tips are available online from the LexisNexis AU search screen. |
| Westlaw | International cases, legislation and commentary with citation information available for US and Canadian cases through KeyCite. | Help and tips are available online from the Westlaw search screen. |
Complete list of Law databases. Also check the multidisciplinary databases as they cover a wide range of academic topics. You can select other subjects from the database subject list
Full text not available?
When the full text is not available, search for the journal title in the Library
catalogue to discover if print or online copies are available
Database search tips
- Define your topic and identify the main concepts involved
For example ethics and confidentiality
- Make a list of keywords for each concept
For example
ethics, privilege, professionalism
confidentiality, privacy
- Think about how you can combine these keywords in your search using OR, AND or
NOT
Keywords on the same concept combine with an OR
Combine different concepts with an AND
For example
ethics OR privilege OR professionalism
and
confidential* OR privacy
- Appropriate truncation symbols can be used in databases to find variations of
a word, for example confidential* finds confidential, confidentiality, confidentially and so on
For help with searching databases see Connecting and Combining Search Terms or Truncation/Wildcards/Phrase searching: Basic or Online training or Ask the Library
It is important to critically evaluate all information you find particularly
information found on the web.
This is a starting list of internet sites. You may want to do your own searches
using
search engines
- Federal Court of Australia Features information about the Federal Court, its role and responsibilities. Also provides links, information for litigants and practitioners, court documents and judgements.
- High Court of Australia Includes information about the High Court and its role. Also includes publications, justices, web links and an online library.
- Parliament of South Australia Details the processes of the South Australian Parliament and its history. Also includes resources, including a glossary, Hansard and Bills.
- South Australian Legislation Access to South Australian legislation. Includes information about the creation, variation or cessation of legislation. Updated every weekday.
- ATO legal database Online database featuring legislation, case law and policy information from the Australian Taxation Office.
- AustLII Australasian Legal Information Institute. Includes legislation, superior courts and tribunal decisions, journals and some overseas legal information. Can access other Legal information Institutes/World Law Resources from this site.
- ComLaw Provides low or no-cost access to Commonwealth law. Maintained by the Australian Attorney-General's Department.
- Parliament of Australia Includes publications detailing events in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Also provides access to other resources, including the Hansard and Bills.
- British and Irish Legal information Institute (BaiLII) Access to full text copies of the Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments and case law. Also includes links to other legal information institutes. Can access other Legal information Institutes/World Law Resources from this site.
- LII: Legal Information Institute Research and electronic publishing activity of the Cornell Law School. Popular collections include: the U.S. Code, Supreme Court opinions, and Wex. North American focus.
- WorldLII Searches 270 databases from 48 jurisdictions in 20 countries, covering legislation, case law, high court decisions, journals, treaties, law reform, domain name decisions, and secondary materials. Can access other Legal information Institutes/World Law Resources from this site.
For further information about any of these resources please contact the
Ask the Library service or ask at the library desk
Coordinated by: BUE Academic Library Services Team
