basic legal research skills course outline getting started part a- introduction to legal research...

Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline1

Basic Legal Research Skills Course Outline Getting started Part A- Introduction to Legal Research Skills Part B- Finding a reported case from a citation Part C- Finding an unreported case from a citat

ion

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Course Outline

Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline

This course aims to provide users the skills to locate legal cases.

Aimed at students from other discipline areas without previous legal research skills, the course could also be a refresher for law students in locating cases.

The course consists of information slides, practical examples and practice questions.

Feedback and queries can be sent to: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]?subject=e-learning%20course

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Getting Started

Basic Legal Research Skills- Getting Started

To access the some of the databases you will need to be a University of Queensland student, with your UQ username and password required for login.

The course can be completed online or downloaded for study at your own pace.

It will take approximately 90 minutes to complete. Part A- approximately 30 minutes Part B- approximately 30 minutes Part C- approximately 30 minutes

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Part A- Introduction to Legal Research Skills

Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Legal research focuses on specific resources, such as cases and legislation.

To locate these resources, there a number of specific tools such as case citators, law specific databases and websites used.

These resources can be accessed from the Law Library’s Legal Research Guide, available from the Law Library Homepage.

http://www.library.uq.edu.au/law/lawsites.phtml

Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A5

Part A- Introduction to Legal Research SkillsThe process for legal research is:

Secondary Resources• Textbooks• Dictionaries• Encyclopaedias• Abbreviations• Case Citators• Journal Articles

Primary Resources• Case Law- Australia• Case Law- International• Legislation

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Part A- Legal Abbreviations

Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Law reports, courts and journals are often abbreviated when used in citations

To determine which law report, court or journal is cited you must decipher the abbreviation

Deciphering tools available via the Legal Research Guide.

Once you have determined the full title of the law report or journal, search the Library's catalogue to verify if the Library holds it

http://www.library.uq.edu.au/law/lawsites.phtml

http://www.library.uq.edu.au/


Part A- Legal Abbreviations Example

Citation:Sir Hon Michael Kirby, “Of advocates, drunks

and other players: Plain tales from Australia”, (2011) 19 TLJ 89

Abbreviation:TLJ What is TLJ an abbreviation for?


Part A- Legal Abbreviations ExampleAbbreviation-

TLJ

Legal Research

Guide

Abbreviations

Casebase

AnswerTorts Law Journal


Part A- Practice QuestionsPlease find the legal abbreviations for the

following: ALJR

Australian Law Journal Reports Crim LJ

Criminal Law Journal FLR

Federal Law Reports HCA

High Court of Australia NSWDC

New South Wales District Court

Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B10

Part B- Finding a reported case from a CitationIntroduction to Case Law: Legal cases are categorised as:

Reported cases Cases that raise significant points of law, such as

introducing a new principle of law, significantly modify an existing principle of law or settle a doubtful question of law, apply an established principle in a new area, define or interpret language used in legislation.

Only a small proportion of cases are ever ‘reported’. Unreported cases

Cases without judgements are unreported. Jury trials do not have “judgements’, their verdicts are

not reported at all.


Part B: Finding a reported case from a citation Criminal cases

Criminal law is the area of law that relates to crime.

This is usually represented in a case citation by the use of “R” which represents the Queen or the Crown.

eg R v Stubbs (2009) 228 FLR 221 This is read as “The Queen” against Stubbs

Civil Cases Civil law is the area of law that is the branch of law

dealing with disputes between individuals or organisations, in which compensation my be awarded to the victim.

Huang V Jupiters Ltd [2008] 1 Qd R 276 This is read as Huang and Jupiters Limited.


Part B- Reported Cases A reported case will be reported in one or

more law report. Federal and High Court decisions will be

covered in several reports, eg Commonwealth Law Report (CLR) and Australian Law Reports (ALR).

Each state has its own law report series covering Supreme Court judgements eg Queensland Report.

Law reports also exist for certain areas of law being referred to as specialist reports eg Family Law Reports, Australian Industrial Law Reports.


Part B- Examples of Reported Case Citations R v Stubbs (2009) 228 FLR 221

This is a criminal case. (“The Queen” against Stubbs ) R v Stubbs = party name 2009 = year 228 = volume FLR = abbreviated law report title 221 = page number the case begins

This case can be located using two different methods: Locating the case in the Law Report Using a case citator (accessed from the Legal Research

Guide)


Part B- Locating the case in a law report

Abbreviation- FLR

Legal Research

GuideAbbreviations

CasebaseAnswer:

Federal Law Reports

Conduct a title search in

the library catalogue

Select link to electronic

copy

Select correct volume and

page number

Locate the case


Part B- Locating the case using a case citator

Legal Research Guide Case Citators Casebase (for

Australian Cases)

Enter party names into case/article

name (R and Stubbs)

Check the citation(2009) 228 FLR

221

Click on the correct case

NB: The results page will give

some information on the case

To access the case click on the hyperlink

eg [2009] ACTSC 63


Part B- Example of Reported Case Citations Huang v Jupiters Ltd [2008] 1 Qd R 276

This is a civil case, Huang and Jupiters Ltd Huang and Jupiters Ltd = party name 2008 = year 1 = number for year Qd R = abbreviated law report title 276 = page number the case begins

NB The square brackets have particular meaning. The brackets signifies the law report is organised by year rather than volume.


Part B- Locating the case in a law report

Abbreviation- Qd R

Legal Research

GuideAbbreviations

CasebaseAnswer:

Queensland Reports

Conduct a title search in

the library catalogue

Select link to electronic

copy

Select correct year and number

Locate the case


Part B- Practice QuestionsLocate the case for the following citations in the

law report: using the library catalogue: Sony Music Productions Pty Ltd v Tansing

(1993) 27 IPR 640 IPR = Intellectual Property Reports

Locate the case for the following citations in the law report: using a case citator:

Commonwealth v Tasmania (Tasmanian Dam Case) (1983) 158 CLR 1 CLR = Commonwealth Law Reports

Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C19

Part C- Finding an unreported case from a citation Unreported judgements are decisions of the

courts that have not been published in a law report.

Most judgements are unreported. Unreported judgements use a ‘medium

neutral’ citation. These judgements and cases can be located

from specific databases, such as Austlii (freely available on the web), Lexis Nexis AU,

As jury trials do not have ‘judgements’, their verdicts are not reported.


Part C- Example of a Medium Neutral Citation Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis [2010] HCA

40 Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis = party name 2010 = year HCA = court (full title High Court of Australia) 40 = judgement number

This type of citation, while identifying the case uniquely, does not tell you where to locate it.

These cases can be located using the Austlii database.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/


Part C- Locating an unreported case using AustliiFind the full name of the court from the abbreviated

title

Select the database tab

from the library homepage

Conduct a search for Austlii via the specific database

option

Select Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Select High Court of Australia

Select Year 2010 (Search options

are case name or year)

Scroll down to locate the case

(results are sorted in month of case)

Case is located in November.


Part C- Example of unreported case International Skin Care Suppliers Pty Ltd v

Whyte [2011] NSWSC 46 International Skin Care Suppliers Pty Ltd v Whyte

= party name 2011= year NSWSC = court (full title New South Wales

Supreme Court) 46 = judgement number

Locating the case using Austlii


Part C- Locating an unreported case using AustliiFind the full name of the court from the abbreviated

title

Select the database tab

from the library homepage

Conduct a search for Austlii via the specific database

option

Select Jurisdiction New

South Wales

Select Supreme

Court

Select Year 2011 (Search options

are case name or year)

Scroll down to locate the case

(results are sorted in month of case)

Case is located in February


Part C- Practice QuestionsFind the following cases using the Austlii database,

listing the court and month of the case as your answers.

Lithgow City Council v Jackson [2011] HCA 36 High Court of Australia September

Waddell v Widley [2009] QDC 166 Queensland District Court June

Driveforce Pty Ltd v Gunns Limited [2008] TASSC 46 Supreme Court of Tasmania August


Part C- Practice Questions Tabet v Gett [2010] HCA 12

High Court of Australia April

Ferrus v Qantas Airways Limited [2006] FCA 812 Federal Court of Australia June

basic legal research skills course outline getting started part a- introduction to legal research...

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