Key Databases
Case law may be referred to as judgments or decisions, and sometimes reasons or orders. These are written decisions given by a Judge.
You can find case law online on court websites or AustLII which provide unreported decisions of cases. At JCU Library, we subscribe to databases which provide the authorised version of judgments published in law report series as well as unreported decisions.
Click on the image above or link below to be guided to options for accessing case law from JCU Library and beyond.
Legislation and other related materials, including bills, explanatory memorandum, second reading speeches, and other parliamentary documents are available freely from government websites in their respective jurisdiction.
Acts, or statutes, are primary sources of law. It is important to ensure you are using the most up-to-date version of legislation.
Click on the image above or link below to be guided to options for accessing legislation from JCU Library and beyond.
Secondary sources such as commentaries, dictionaries & encyclopedias, books, and journal articles are an important step when conducting legal research.
We recommend these resources as a starting point to your research. Secondary sources will provide information about key areas of law and will point you to primary law such as cases and legislation.
Click on the image above or link below to be guided to various secondary sources available from JCU Library.
We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students, live, learn and work.
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.