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Case law

Judicial considerations

Research case law at Murdoch University Library

Case considerations

Once you have located a case, an additional component of legal research can be to find cases that judicially consider the case (or parts of the decision) and journal articles that discuss the case. Where the case is interpreted or discussed in a court, this is referred to as judicial consideration.

The subsequent discussion of a case in other decisions is evidence of the operation of the doctrine of precedent. Textbooks and commentary often also provide a valuable discussion of case law where it is relevant to the subject of the textbook or commentary.

Definitions (judicial consideration)

You can use legal databases to search for definitions of [needs clarification - legal concepts? What's the right terminology]

For example, a search string for the definition of slavery might look like:

(character* OR compris* OR defin* OR describ* OR discuss* OR element* OR expla* OR interpret* OR mean* OR phras*) /15  slave*

See the following tabs for instructions for searching in the most common databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

  1. Select "Advanced Search" from the drop-down arrow
  2. Select the 'Boolean Query" tab
  3. Complete the "Enter your search" field: (character* OR compris* OR defin* OR describ* OR discuss* OR element* OR expla* OR interpret* OR mean* OR phras*) W/15 SearchWord
  4. Scroll down and click in the check-box beside "Select the database(s) to search" to clear the checked boxes
  5. Check the box for "All Case Law Databases"
  6. Click on "Advanced Search"

  7. Results can be sorted by relevance, database (recommended), date or title

  1. Select "Advanced Search" from the drop-down arrow
  2. Complete the "Words and phrases" field
  3. Click on "Search"
  4. Results can be filtered by date, search within results or collection

Tip: Sign up for Jade Professional using your Murdoch student email address.

  1. Under Advanced Search, select "AU Cases"
  2. Enter the case name in the "Words and Phrases Judicially Considered" field
  3. Select "Search"

  4. Results can be filtered by Jurisdiction, Court or Legal Topics.

Option 1

  1. Select "Content Type - Cases"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"
  3. Complete the "Words and Phrases" field
  4. Click on "Search"

  5. Results can be filtered by jurisdiction, date, practice area or key number.

Option 2

  1. Select "Cases - Advanced Search"
  2. In the "All of these terms" field: (character! OR compris! OR defin! OR describ! OR discuss! OR element! OR expla! OR interpret! OR mean! OR phras!) /15 SearchWord
  3. Click on "Search".

Cases considering Acts (judicial consideration)

In each database:

  • Select Cases Advanced Search 
  • Select relevant jurisdiction
  • Complete the Legislation name and provision text boxes
  • Select relevant Court, if required 

See the following tabs for instructions for the most commonly used databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select LawCite (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete "Legislation Considered" field e.g., Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act
  3. Complete "Section" field e.g., 141
  4. Click "Search". You will then see a list of cases that have considered the relevant act.

Option 2: NoteUp

  1. Select the relevant jurisdiction from the black ribbon on the AustLII homepage
  2. Type the act title and section number in the "Search selected databases" box. Example: Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022  141. Tip: AustLII does not like punctuation, so do not include brackets.
  3. Select the magnifying glass to search
  4. Select relevant Act and Section from the Results list
  5. From the task menu on the right of screen, select the "NoteUp references" link. NoteUp searches for all materials on AustLII referring to this case. Tip: Sort the results by Database to easily identify cases
  1. Select "Jade Browser" tab
    • Select "Legislation Collection"
    • Select "By legislature"
  2. Select "Western Australian Legislation - Acts (WALegAct)"
    • Navigate to the relevant Act
    • Select Le
    • Select Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act
  3. Navigate to relevant section
    • Select section title
    • Select relevant citations

Tip: Sign up for Jade Professional using your Murdoch student email address.

  1. From the Explore pod, select "Legislation"
  2. From the drop down menu, select the relevant jurisdiction. E.g., "Western Australia"
  3. Scroll down to the "Acts" section of the table and select "All Acts by title"
  4. Browse the alphabetic index to find the relevant Act title
  5. Click on the link to the relevant Act
  6. Select "View Legislation Citator".

Option 1: Global search 1

  1. Type the Act title and section number in the global search box, then wait for suggestions to appear. (Example: Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022 141)
  2. From the drop down suggestions, select the linked section title
  3. From the "Citing References" tab, select "Cases"

Option 2: Global search 2

  1. Search by Act title in double inverted commas and section number to be within 10 words of Act title (e.g. "Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022" /10 141)

  2. Select "Cases"
    • Option 1: Select View All Cases
    • Option 2: Select Cases from the "Content types" menu

Option 3: Advanced search

  1. Select "Content type", then "All Cases"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"

  3. Complete "Legislation Cited (Title)" and "Legislation Cited (Provision)" fields (Tip: Do not include a designation abbreviation
    - just the number)

Cases considering cases (judicial consideration)

In each database:

  • Select "Cases Advanced Search"
  • Search by case name or citation 
  • Select "Cited by"

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select LawCite (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete Citation" OR "Party Names" fields. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148.
  3. Navigate to "Cases Referring to this Case)

Option 2: NoteUp

  1. Search by case citation in the search box. Example: "2009 NSWCA 148" Tip: AustLII does not like punctuation, so do not include brackets.
  2. Select relevant case in the Results list
  3. From the task menu on the right of screen, select the "NoteUp references" link. NoteUp searches for all materials on AustLII referring to this case. Tip: Sort results by selecting the Databases tab to easily identify jurisdiction.

Option 1: Citator

  1. Select the "Citator" tab
  2. Complete Case citation. Example:  [2009] NSWCA 148
  3. Select the suggested relevant case
  4. Determine order of Results list. Click on "Search".

Option 2: Citation Report

  1. Search for case by citation or party name. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148
  2. From the CaseTrace panel, click on the "Citation report" link
  3. Navigate to "Cases citing this decision"

Option 3: Visualisations

  1. Search for case by citation or party name. Example: [2009] NSWCA 148
  2. Select the Visualisations button to expand the Visualisations menu
  3. Select "Precedent Tracker"
  1. Under Advanced Search, select "AU Cases"
  2. Complete the Citation or Case Names fields
  3. Select "Search"
  4. From the result for the relevant case, select the "CaseBase" link
  5. From the top menu, select "Cases referring to this case".
  1. Type the case citation in the global search box (Example: [2009] NSWCA 148), then wait for suggestions to appear
  2. Select relevant suggestion
  3. Select "Cases" from the "Citing References" tab

Journal articles considering cases

In each database:

  • Select "Journals Advanced Search"
  • Search by case name or citation
  • Select "Journals referring to this case"

See the following tabs for instructions for the most commonly used databases.

You can access legal databases via our Databases page:

Finding full text articles

In some instances you may find a citation for an article in a database, but be unable to access the full text of that article. When this happens you will need to search for the article through Murdoch University Library's Library Search.

Follow the below steps to find the full text of a case or journal article when you have the citation.

Determining the journal

To find the full text of a journal article, you must first determine the journal that it comes from. Many citations for journal articles can appear in an abbreviated form.

For an example, take the citation:

(2010) 17 Aust ILJ 89

"Aust ILJ" is the abbreviation for the Australian International Law Journal.

For a list of tools to help you find abbreviations, see:

Finding the journal

Once you have determined the full title of the journal enter the title into Library Search, with quotation marks around it. Example: "Australian International Law Journal".

If the Library holds the full text version of the article, you will be able to access it online or find its print location through the item record. If the Library does not hold the full text article, see Borrowing from other Libraries for more help:

Finding the article

To find the specific article, you must extract the information you need from the citation you have been given.

For the example journal article: (2010) 17 Aust ILJ 89

  1. Locate the Journal in print or online and find the volume or volumes for the year in question, in this case 2010.
  2. Find volume 17
  3. Turn to page 89, or locate the article that starts on page 89.
  4. You will find this article:
    • Sadhana Abayasekara, 'A Dog without a Bark: A Critical Assessment of the International Law on Language Rights' (2010) 17 Australian International Law Journal 89.

Option 1: LawCite

  1. Select "LawCite" (located at the far right on the red band)
  2. Complete "Case citation" OR "Party names" fields 
  3. Navigate to "Law Journal Articles Referring to this Case"

Option 2: Database search

  1. Select "Journals & Scholarship" from the red ribbon
  2. Add the citation within double inverted commas to the search box (located in the top right corner). Example: "2009 NSWCA 148".
  3. Click on the magnifying icon to Search
  4. Results can be sorted:
    • By relevance
    • By citation frequency
    • By database
    • By date
    • By title
  1. Under Advanced Search, select "AU Cases"
  2. Complete the Citation field
  3. Select "Search"
  4. From the result for the relevant case, select the "CaseBase" link
  5. From the top menu, select "Publications referring to this case".
  1. Select "Content types", then "Secondary sources"
  2. Select "Advanced Search"
  3. Complete Citation field (Example: 2009 NSWCA 148)
  4. Filter Results by publication type, and select "Law Reviews & Journals"

You can also search for articles journal articles on the following databases:

  • Informit AGIS Plus Text
  • CCH iKnowConnect

You can find these databases through our Databases page:

Use the central search boxes on the home screens to add party names.

Example: "Callow Rupchev".