This page aims to offer a guide on where you can locate sources of Australia cases with various categories of resources, including:
*Since there are large number of courts under each state and various under the Federal, only key materials will be mentioned in this page.
Please be reminded that cases or judgments are not indexed in FIND@HKUL. To look for full text cases, you will have to search in relevant legal databases, or search by the full title of a law report in FIND@HKUL with "Books+" search scope.
Alternatively, you may also change to Advance Search and enter the following search term for all available law reports within the HKUL Collection:
If you find the images blur, you may zoom in the webpage for a better view.
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Under the HKU Libraries subscription, Australia's case law is available via this platform.
To look up for law reports, follow the below steps after entering the platform:
Law reports of different states are available under the HKU Libraries subscription. Other than catchwords and additional information regarding the case, abbreviations of each law report are shown at the main page for a handy identification.
To browse different law reports, follow the below steps after entering the platform:
Federal Level
State Level
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Title |
HKUL Availability |
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Australian Capital Territory Law Reports [ACTLR]
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Electronic: 2008 – present (via Westlaw Asia)
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New South Wales Law Reports [NSWLR]
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Print: 1971 – 2014 (PR KH75 N5)
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Northern Territory Law Reports [NTLR]
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Electronic: 1991 – present (via Westlaw Asia)
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Queensland Reports [QdR]
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Electronic: 1958 – present (via Westlaw Asia)
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South Australian State Reports [SASR]
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Electronic: 1971 – present (via Westlaw Asia)
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Tasmanian Reports [Tas R]
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Electronic: 1992 – present (via Westlaw Asia)
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Victorian Reports [VR]
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Print: 1957 – 2008 (PR KH155 V6 R)
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Western Australian Reports [WAR]
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Electronic: 1983 – present (via Westlaw Asia) |
Due to there being various law reporting agencies across different states, listed below are only a few major law reports in the country. To search for other law report titles, you may search directly in Lexis Advance Hong Kong/ Westlaw Asia for more details (search steps please refer to Key Databases tab).
High Court of Australia (click to visit)
The High Court of Australia serves to be the highest court and final court of appeal in Australia. Full text of cases are available from February 2011 to present, while summaries of cases can be traced back to 2006.
Federal Court of Australia (click to visit)
The Federal Court of Australia covers matters arising from Australia federal law, and hears appeals from decision of the Federal Circuit Court (except Family Court). Case documents of this Court are to be accessed upon requests, while selected cases of public interest are available online.
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (click to visit)
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia share jurisdictions on family law, migration law and general federal law. Most judgments available on this site are up to as recent as 12-months. For more details, or historical records, you may visit AustLII.
Below are the quick links to Supreme Court of each State:
Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) (click to visit)
Supporting the free access of legal information, AustLII offers an extensive collection of materials. Since laws and court systems might vary from states to state, territory to territory, you may visit AustLII where organised and detailed information are given. Information on case law is generally presented on the left.
