Case law

1. Click on the drop down button next to the search box, and select "Advanced Search..."
2. Uncheck "Select the database(s) to search..." to clear the selections
3. Check the box for "All Case Law Databases"
4. Select the "Boolean Query" tab above the search box
5. Enter your search string in the search box and press enter
6. Results can be sorted:
   • By relevance
   • By Citation Frequency
   • By Database
   • By Date
   • By Title

Note: If you want to do an initial search for everything on a topic in AustLII, use the search box on the Westlaw AU home page. Results can then be filtered By Database to access different legal materials

Option 1: Search All Content

1. Enter your search string in the search box and select "Search"
2. Results can be filtered by:
   • Document Type
     • Cases
     • CCH Commentary
     • Finding Aids
     • Introduction
     • Legislation
     • News
     • Practice Tools
     • Roadmaps
     • Rulings and releases
   • Library
   • Topic
   • Jurisdiction

Option 2: Search content within a topic

1. In the left hand menu, select the "Your practice areas" (briefcase icon)
2. Click the down arrow to expand the practice areas list
3. Browse the list for the relevant practice area
4. Click the down arrow again to further expand the list
5. Select from
   • What's new
   • Commentary
   • Legislation
   • Cases 
   • Regulatory resources
   • Practical tools
6. Enter your terms in the "Search within..." search box and click "Search" (magnifying glass icon)

Option 1: Global search

1. Enter your search terms in Westlaw search box
2. From the "Content type" list, select "Cases"
3. Results can be filtered by:
   • Jurisdiction
   • Date
   • Reported status
   • Practice area

Option 2: Key Number search

Westlaw's Key Number System identifies and indexes legal concepts so you can find cases stating or applying a legal concept.

1. Under "Content types", find "Key Number System" and select "Browse by topic"
2. Select the link to the relevant Key Number System. If you'd like to select more than one, first click on "Specify Content to View"
3. Select the Key Number relevant to your topic
4. Results can be filtered by:
   • Key Number
   • Jurisdiction
   • Date

1. Enter your search terms in the search box and select "Search now". (Note: If you don't put any Boolean connectors in your search the default will be to combine them with AND)
2. Browse the results list, utilising the "Excerpt", "Summary" and "Miniviewer" tabs (located to the right of each results record) to aid in selection
3. Results can be further filtered by:
   • Date
   • Collection (court, legislation, etc.)
   • Search within by keywords
4. Select a case to be redirected to the case summary, and in many instances, the full text of the case
5. On the left of screen select "Focus matches". This highlights parts of the judgment which satisfy the search string and allows you to browse through them using the up/down arrows.

1. Under the Advanced Search dropdown, select "AU Cases"
2. Type your search string into the "Terms" field
3. Select a jurisdiction
4. Select "Search"
5. Results can be filtered by:
   • Jurisdiction
   • Court
   • Timeline
   • Publication
   • Legal topics.

To find a case by citation in AustLII:

1. Type case citation into the Search box, enclosed in double inverted commas: "2013 HCA 1". Note: It is more efficient to use the medium neutral citation when searching in AustLII
2. Click on the magnifying glass icon for Search
3. Select the relevant case from the Results list. Example: Google Inc v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2013] HCA 1 (6 February 2013).

To find a case by citation in Jade:

1. Type case citation into the Search box, enclosed in double inverted commas "249 CLR 435"
2. Click on 'Search now'
3. Select the relevant case from the Results list. Example: Google Inc v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; [2013] HCA 1 (06 February 2013) (French CJ, Hayne, Heydon, Crennan and Kiefel JJ); 249 CLR 435; 87 ALJR 235; 294 ALR 404; 99 IPR 197.

Tip: Sign up for Jade Professional using your Murdoch student email address @student.murdoch.edu.au.

To find a case by citation in Lexis+:

1. Type the case citation into the search box, enclosed in double inverted commas. E.g., "249 CLR 435"
2. Select "Search"
3. Under the "All Content" filter, select "AU Cases".

To find a case by citation in Westlaw Australia:

1. Type the case citation into the search box, enclosed in double inverted commas: "249 CLR 435". Pause and wait for suggestions
2. Select the relevant case from the drop-down suggestion/s
3. Click on the 'Other versions' drop-down arrow to access the authorised version.

1. Type the case citation or in the search box
2. Select the case with the relevant citation from the results list

You may be surprised by how often cases are only available in print on the library shelves (e.g., Western Australian Reports 1959-1982). To find case reports in print, you will need to:

1. Solve the abbreviation of the court reporting series into full using Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations
2. Search for the full name of the court reporting series using Library Search. Note the item location. 
3. Source the court reporting series from the Hon. Michael Murray Law Library shelves (you will find the location in the Library Search record). Print material in the law library is firstly arranged by jurisdiction. Then, within a jurisdiction, the material is arranged in the following order:
   1. Bills
   2. Acts
   3. Regulations
   4. Case law (arranged alphabetically by series name).

Once you've located the series you will need to find the volume and the page number.

1. Click on the LawCite link, at the far right end in the red ribbon on the AustLII home page
2. If you know the parties involved in a case you should enter significant elements of the parties' names. For instance, if you were looking for a case involving someone called Bradley and you knew it had something to do with the Commonwealth, you might type:
   • Bradley in the first "Parties" box
   • Commonwealth in the "Jurisdiction" box
   • High Court of Australia in the "Court" box

There is no way to refine a search in LawCite, so make sure you have enough information when looking for a case on this database.

Hint: LawCite is a free online resource. You do not need to go through Murdoch University to access it.

1.  In the search pane at the top of the screen, add the name AND any other identifying information you have about the case (e.g., Bradley AND constitution)
2. Select "Search now"
3. Refine the search results by court
   • Click in the text box for "Filter by collection"
   • From the drop-down offering, select the court (e.g., High Court of Australia (HCA))
   • Click on the "Filter now" button
   • Suggestions, select Mabo v Queensland (No.2) [1992] HCA 23; 175 CLR 1 - document in Jade
4. From the results list, use the Summary tab to view each case to determine the required case
5. Select the entry for the case (e.g., Bradley v the Commonwealth [1973] HCA 34 (10 September 1973) (. Barwick C.J., McTiernan, Menzies, Gibbs and Stephen JJ.) 128 CLR 557; 47 ALJR 504)
6. See the CaseTrace entry (summary pane to the right of screen) for:
   • Citations
   • Number of citations to this case (cases citing this case)
   • most recent case citing this case
   • Number of cases cited
   • Statutory material cited (legislation)
   • link to Jade Citator (searches for all references to the case)
   • link to Citation report  which provides:
   • Legislation cited by this case
   • Cases citing this case
   • Cases cited by this case
     • Cited Documents - case and legislation used to support the arguments made in the case
     • Citing References - cases, commentary and articles written about the case
7. Select the "Focus matches" button to navigate quickly to the relevant sections of the case 
8. Select the "Show in document" button to return to the original full text
9. Use the Visualisation tools to represent the CaseTrace information graphically
10. Use the Print and Export option to download the PDF version of the case

1. Under the Advanced Search dropdown, select "AU Cases"
2. Type the case name into the "Case Name" field
3. Add in any more information you have
4. Select "Search"
5. Results can be filtered by:
   • Jurisdiction
   • Court
   • Timeline
   • Publication
   • Legal topics.

1. Select 'Cases' from the 'Content types' filter on the Westlaw Australia home page
2. Select 'Advanced search'
3. Complete the 'Case Title/Party Name' field, then press 'Search' (e.g., Roman Catholic Church Trustees v Hadba )

4. Select relevant result. Example: Trustees of Roman Catholic Church for Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn v Hadba; [2005] HCA 31, 221 CLR 161.

1. Log in to Jade to access the Jade Professional features (registration is free for current Murdoch Students)
2. Add the case citation or party names to the search box
3. Select the "Suggested document in Jade" option
4. Click "Search now"
5. To the left on the screen, click on the "Visualisations" icon (visualisation tools represent information graphically)
6. Select the "Similarity" box

1. Type case citation into the global search box, enclosed in double inverted commas. Example: "2009 NSWCA 148". Wait for suggestions to appear.
2. Select the relevant case from the drop-down suggestion/s
3. From the Document tab, navigate down to the Digest pane.
4. Select one of the following two options:
   • "Key Number classification term" to see other cases on this topic
   • "Detailed Key Number" (on right of screen) to see other cases on this specific point within the topic<