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Case law

Case reporting

Research case law at Murdoch University Library

Case reporting

Law reports are the written judgments of courts on cases which raise significant points of law or expand upon the current understanding of the law.

Law reports are published for the purpose of being used as precedents, providing consistency in the development of common law by ensuring that like cases are decided in the same manner. They may relate to a particular jurisdiction or to a particular area of law, with almost all reported cases being heard in superior courts (all High Court of Australia decisions are reported). For example, the Commonwealth Law Reports only report cases decided in the High Court of Australia, while the Federal Law Reports cover cases decided in courts of federal jurisdiction, other than the High Court.

Not all cases heard are reported. Since the late 1990s unreported judgments are available for most jurisdictions.

Reading cases and law reports

If you want to get more familiar with the anatomy of a law report - take a look at this Talking Essay from LawBore:

For help with reading a case, see Orin Kerr, ‘How to read a legal opinion: a guide for new law students’ (2007) 11 The Green Bag 51:

Types of reports and judgments

The following flow chart shows that court judgments can be split into two categories: reported judgments and unreported judgments. Reported judgments are then considered to be either authorised reports and unauthorised reports. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This infographic, "Types of reports and judgments", is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by Murdoch University Library.

Only those cases which raise significant points of law or expand on the understanding of the law are published. Almost all reported cases are heard in superior courts. All High Court of Australia decisions are reported.

Few series are mutually exclusive: cases may appear in several series depending on editorial interest and assessment of the importance of the case. For example, significant High Court decisions are reported in the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR), Australian Law Reports (ALR) and Australian Law Journal Reports (ALJR).

  • The ALR and ALJR are unauthorised series and the CLR authorised
  • The Authorised Report Series is a list of authorised reports of various jurisdictions

An authorised report should always be cited in preference to an unauthorised report (Rules of the Supreme Court 1971 (WA) 0.34.5.9A).

The version of a case to be cited should follow the preference order below:

  1. Authorised report
  2. Generalist unauthorised report
  3. Subject-specific unauthorised report
  4. Unreported (medium neutral citation)
  5. Unreported (no medium neutral citation)

See our AGLC referencing guide for more details and examples:

Authorised or official reports are those selected and approved by the judiciary, their nominees, or relevant governments department, containing cases which enunciate a general principle or point of law.

A series of court reports officially approved by the judiciary or government is known as an authorised or official series of reports. In each jurisdiction only one series is designated as authorised.

Cases which enunciate a general principle or point of law are usually included in the authorised series of reports.

For more information see The Journey of Authorised Law Reports: From the 'Mists of Antiquity' to the Third Millennium by Michelle Bendall:

You can find lists of authorised reports by jurisdiction below.

Australia

Australian authorised report series by jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Authorised Series

Federal Court
  • Federal Court Reports 1984+ (FCR)
High Court
  • Commonwealth Law Reports 1903+ (CLR)

Administrative Appeals Tribunal
  • Administrative Law Decisions 1976+ (ALD)

Australian Industrial Relations Commission
  • Industrial Reports (Authorised reports included from Vol. 154, 2006+) (IR)

Industrial Relations Commission
  • Commonwealth Arbitration Report(s) 1905-1993 (CAR)
Veterans Review Board
  • Repatriation Pension Decisions 1985+ (RPD)

Supreme Court of New South Wales
  • New South Wales Law Reports 1970+ (NSWLR)
  • State Reports NSW 1901 – 1970 (SR NSW)
  • New South Wales Law Reports 1825 – 1900 (NSWLR)

Northern Territory
  • Northern Territory Law Reports 1991+ (NTLR)

Queensland
  • Queensland Reports 1958+ (QR, QdR)
  • State Reports. Queensland 1902-57 (ST R Qd)

South Australia
  • South Australian State Reports 1971+ (SASR)
  • State Reports. South Australia 1921-71 (SRSA)
  • South Australian Law Reports 1865-1920 (SALR)

Tasmania
  • Tasmanian Reports 1979+ (Tas R)
  • State Reports Tasmania 1941-1978 (Tas SR)
  • Tasmanian Law Reports 1897-1940 (TLR)

Victoria
  • Victorian Reports 1957+ (VR)
  • Victorian Law Reports 1875-1956 (VLR)

Western Australia
  • Western Australian Reports 1983+  (WAR)
  • Western Australian Reports 1960-1982 - print only (WAR) 
  • Western Australian Law Reports 1898-1959 (WALR)

International

International authorised report series by jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

Authorised Series

New Zealand
  • New Zealand Law Reports 1883+ (NZLR)
England & Wales
  • Chancery Division 1891+ (Ch.D or Ch)
  • Probate, Divorce and Admiralty (P. or P.D.)
  • Division 1891-1971 Family Division 1972+ (Fam)
  • Queen’s/King’s Bench Division 1891+ (QB or KB)
  • Appeal Cases 1891+ (A.C.)
  • Reports of Patent, Design & Trade Mark Cases 1884+ (RPC)
  • Reports of Tax Cases 1875+ (TC)
Northern Ireland
  • Northern Ireland Law Reports 1925 + (NI, NILR)
Scotland
  • Session Cases 1821+ (SC)
Canada
  • Canada Supreme Court Reports 1970+ (SCR)
  • Canada Law Reports, Supreme Court of Canada 1923-69 (SCR)
  • Canada Supreme Court Reports 1876-1922 (SCR)
  • Canada Law Reports, Exchequer Court of Canada 1923-1969 (Ex.CR)
  • Reports of the Exchequer Court of Canada 1881-1922 (Ex.CR)
  • Canada Federal Court Reports 1971 (FCR)
United States of America
  • United States Supreme Court Reports 1790+ (USSC.Rep, US)

Unauthorised reports are produced quickly and many are directed towards satisfying the needs of specialist practitioners. Unauthorised series of reports include many reports of cases which may be published later in an authorised series, however they also include reports which may only be of transient interest, or illustrate the application of authoritative cases.

When decisions are handed down by a judge or judges they are described as being unreported, thus all judgments start their life as being unreported. Decisions are then selected by the judge or judicial editorial board to be reported in the authorised series, or by publishers for reporting in one of the subject series of reports. Although there is debate about the precedent value of unreported decisions, they are heavily used as they may contain the only statement of the law on a particular subject.

Unreported judgments have different citation rules to law reports. See our AGLC guide for more information: