Guides: Foundations of Law: Journals & Databases

Finding Journal Articles on a Topic

AGIS Plus Text (Informit) This link opens in a new window
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The Australian Attorney-General Information Service (AGIS) provides full text, peer reviewed access to legal research on Banking, Constitutional Law, Copyright, Criminal Law, Environmental Law, Family Law, Human Rights, International Law, Law and Legal Aid, Medical Law.

Journal articles provide analysis and opinion and can be useful for supporting your research of the primary materials.

Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
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Provides an extensive collection of Australian legal databases. Includes CaseBase, (a case citator), Halsbury's Laws of Australia (encyclopedia), case law, legislation, law reports, journals and subject commentaries.
Note: All content generated through Lexis+ now features a watermark stating 'For Academic Use Only.' This update is designed to promote responsible use and uphold a commitment to ethical sharing and distribution.
Westlaw Australia This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to law reports, unreported judgments, commentaries and journals. Includes FirstPoint, (a case citator) and the Laws of Australia (encyclopaedia).

Abbreviations

If the title of the law report or journal is abbreviated, you will need to find the full title before searching the Library Catalogue.

Useful legal abbreviation indexes include:

Australian courts use a system of Medium Neutral Citation to identify judgments. Each court has an 'identifier' or abbreviation that is used in these citations. Use the Legal Abbreviations list above from Monash University to identify abbreviations.

Tips for using the major databases

When searching in some of the major legal databases the use of connectors can be a very helpful tool in obtaining accurate research results.

Both Lexis+ and Westlaw provide information on searching with connectors via the help menu.

Journals in Browzine

Finding Articles about Cases

Articles about cases, or case notes, are generally shorter than scholarly articles, and can help by providing analysis of the key aspects of a case. There are many ways to find articles about cases and the resources below are just a starting point.

Q. Find some analysis for the High Court case Gilbert v R (2000) 201 CLR 414

Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
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Using the advanced search function select Cases and type in the Citation box type "201 clr 414". Select the section Publications referring to this case.
Westlaw Australia This link opens in a new window
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Select Case Citation and in the search box type 201 clr 414 > Select the case name to view the record > Scroll down to the section Noted in journals

Note: Generally, CaseBase (Lexis Advance) includes a more comprehensive list of articles about cases than FirstPoint (Westlaw).
AUSTLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute) This link opens in a new window
Australasian Information Institute (AustLII) provides access to legislation, cases, journals, law reform, commission materials and unreported judgments in all Australian jurisdictions and links to some New Zealand and overseas legal material