Basic Legal Research Skills Course Outline Getting started

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 citation 1 Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline

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: ssah-law@library. uq. edu. au 2 Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline

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 3 Basic Legal Research Skills- Getting Started

Part A- Introduction to Legal Research Skills � 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. 4 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Part A- Introduction to Legal Research Skills The process for legal research is: 5 Secondary Resources Primary Resources • Textbooks • Dictionaries • Encyclopaedias • Abbreviations • Case Citators • Journal Articles • Case Law- Australia • Case Law- International • Legislation Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Part A- Legal Abbreviations � 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 Guide. tools available via the Legal Research � 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 6 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

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? 7 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Part A- Legal Abbreviations Example Abbreviation. TLJ Legal Research Guide Abbreviations Casebase Answer Torts Law Journal 8 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Part A- Practice Questions Please find the legal abbreviations for the following: � ALJR � Australian � Crim Law Journal Reports LJ � Criminal Law Journal � FLR � Federal Law Reports � HCA � High Court of Australia � NSWDC � New 9 South Wales District Court Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

Part B- Finding a reported case from a Citation Introduction 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. 10 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

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. 11 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

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. 12 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

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 13 Guide) Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

Part B- Locating the case in a law report 14 Abbreviation. FLR Legal Research Guide Abbreviations Conduct a title search in the library catalogue Answer: Federal Law Reports Casebase Select link to electronic copy Select correct volume and page number Locate the case Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

Part B- Locating the case using a case citator Legal Research Guide Click on the correct case NB: The results page will give some information on the case 15 Case Citators Check the citation (2009) 228 FLR 221 To access the case click on the hyperlink eg [2009] ACTSC 63 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B Casebase (for Australian Cases) Enter party names into case/article name (R and Stubbs)

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. 16 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

Part B- Locating the case in a law report Abbreviation- Legal Research Guide Abbreviations Conduct a title search in the library catalogue Answer: Queensland Reports Casebase Select link to electronic copy Select correct year and number Locate the case Qd R 17 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

Part B- Practice Questions Locate 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 18 = Commonwealth Law Reports Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

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. 19 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

Part C- Example of a Medium Neutral Citation � Commissioner of Taxation v Anstis [2010] HCA 40 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. 20 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

Part C- Locating an unreported case using Austlii 21 Find 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 Year 2010 (Search options are case name or year) Select High Court of Australia Select Jurisdiction Commonwealth Scroll down to locate the case (results are sorted in month of case) Case is located in November. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

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 22 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

Part C- Locating an unreported case using Austlii 23 Find 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 Year 2011 (Search options are case name or year) Select Supreme Court Select Jurisdiction New South Wales Scroll down to locate the case (results are sorted in month of case) Case is located in February Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

Part C- Practice Questions Find 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 � Supreme Pty Ltd v Gunns Limited [2008] TASSC 46 Court of Tasmania � August 24 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

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 25 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C