Abbreviation meaning: Jurisdiction: Abbreviation meaning: Jurisdiction:

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1 Worksheet: Case Law Legal Research Session (Beginner) LPAB Legal Institutions Introductory Weekend, Sunday 12 th May 2013 Starting point: Case citations give you all the information you need to: Find the full text of a case Find additional information about a case 1: Understanding case citation abbreviations If you don t recognise an abbreviation, the first step is to look it up in an abbreviation finder. For links to online legal abbreviations websites, go to: Law Library Homepage > Free Web Law and Primary Materials > Legal Abbreviations Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations is one comprehensive international legal abbreviations database accessible via the Law Library s Legal Abbreviations page. Demonstration: Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Abbreviation meaning: All England Reports Jurisdiction: England & Wales Practice: R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 Abbreviation meaning: Jurisdiction: Practice: Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37 Abbreviation meaning: Jurisdiction: Tip: another good place to look up abbreviations is the appendix at the back of Laying Down the Law. Page 1

2 2: Finding Australian cases Now you know the jurisdiction of the case you can look for the full text online. Australian Reported Cases The Law Library s Law Databases page has a link to an A-Z listing of Australian law reports available online in full text. Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z > choose from A to Z list Demonstration: R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z Use A to Z list at the top to go to online access to report series starting with N Go to NSWLR and click on Westlaw AU Select volume 46 from list Sort by Case Title (alphabetical) then scroll down to R v Young. Click on the link to (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 or the adjacent PDF link to get a scan of the judgment that can be saved or printed. Practice using Legal Online: Foley v Padley (1984) 154 CLR 349 Question: which shopping mall did this case involve? Answer: Go back to the Law Library Homepage Guided practice using LexisNexisAU: Ng v R (2003) 197 ALR 10 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z Use A to Z list at the top to go to online access to report series starting with A Go to ALR and click on link to LexisNexisAU Choose the volume number by clicking on the + sign next to the number Choose the case by clicking on the case name (cases are sorted in page number order) Page 2

3 Go back to the Law Library Homepage Finding Australian cases on AustLII AustLII is a free website where you can find many Australian cases and all current Australian legislation. If you have a medium neutral citation for a case (a citation where you have been given a reference to a court rather than a law report) you can easily find it by browsing. Go to: Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > AustLII or: Demonstration: Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > AustLII On the left-hand Cases & Legislation menu choose Commonwealth from available jurisdictions Choose High Court of Australia Decisions Choose 2004 From the browser choose Edit > Find on this page (or Ctrl+F on your keyboard) Type in Godwin and hit Enter on your keyboard Any cases with Godwin in the title will be highlighted When you locate the correct case click on the title to see the full text of the case. 3. Finding UK Cases The Justis database on the Law Databases page is an easy place to locate the full text of many English cases online. Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Justis & JustCite Demonstration: Adler v George [1964] 2 QB 7 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Justis & JustCite Type in the citation eg. [1964] 2 QB 7 or case name eg. Adler v George in the Search box Choose case from results list Full text and/or case details appear Full text PDF version click on the red PDF link on left hand side Practice: Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1989] AC 53 Question: Was there a general duty of care owed by police in this case to identify and apprehend an unknown criminal? Answer: Page 3

4 4. Putting it all together: practice questions Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163 Is this an Australian or UK case? Mocatta J. held that the defendants were half to blame for the plaintiff's accident and awarded him in damages. Who were the judges in this case? Pepper Finance Corporation Ltd v Williams [2008] NSWSC 4 Is this a citation for a law report or a medium neutral citation? Where could I go to find the full text of this case using the above citation? What is the exact date of this judgment (hint access the full text of the case to get the answer)? Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1996) 189 CLR 1 What database would you use to access the full text of the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR)? In what court was this decision handed down? Who was the dissenting judge? Page 4

5 ANSWERS TO BEGINNER WORKSHEET Worksheet: Case Law Legal Research Session (Beginner) LPAB Legal Institutions Introductory Weekend, Sunday 12 th May 2013 Starting point: Case citations give you all the information you need to: Find the full text of a case Find additional information about a case 1: Understanding case citation abbreviations If you don t recognise an abbreviation, the first step is to look it up in an abbreviation finder. For links to online legal abbreviations websites, go to: Law Library Homepage > Free Web Law and Primary Materials > Legal Abbreviations Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations is one comprehensive international legal abbreviations database accessible via the Law Library s Legal Abbreviations page. The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations will give you the full title of a case s abbreviation and the country of origin of the court or report series. This is useful because you need to know whether a case is Australian or English, and whether the citation is referring to a court (medium neutral citation) or a law report in order to choose the best pathway to find the full text of the case online. Demonstration: Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Abbreviation meaning: All England Reports Jurisdiction: England & Wales Page 5

6 Practice: R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 Abbreviation meaning: New South Wales Law Reports Jurisdiction: Australia New South Wales Practice: Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37 Abbreviation meaning: High Court of Australia Jurisdiction: Australia - Commonwealth Tip: another good place to look up abbreviations is the appendix at the back of Laying Down the Law. 2: Finding Australian cases Now you know the jurisdiction of the case you can look for the full text online. There are a large number of databases that have full text access to Australian and UK cases. However, the main databases that you use to find the full text of Australian cases do not contain UK cases and vice versa. The following exercises provide you with a pathway for finding: Law reports for Australian cases (that is, an Australian case with a citation referring you to a law report series) Australian cases where you have been given a medium neutral citation (that is, a case with a citation referring you to a court as opposed to a law report series) UK cases Australian Reported Cases The Law Library s Law Databases page has a link to an A-Z listing of Australian law reports available online in full text. Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z > choose from A to Z list Page 6

7 Demonstration: R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z Use A to Z list at the top to go to online access to report series starting with N Go to NSWLR and click on Westlaw AU Select volume 46 from list Sort by Case Title (alphabetical) then scroll down to R v Young. Click on the link to (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 or the adjacent PDF link to get a scan of the judgment that can be saved or printed. Practice using Legal Online: Foley v Padley (1984) 154 CLR 349 Question: which shopping mall did this case involve? Answer: Rundle St Mall, Adelaide (see head note at the beginning of the full text of the case) Steps: o First you may have needed to look up the abbreviation in Cardiff or other legal abbreviations web site to find out that CLR means Commonwealth Law Reports and that the law report series is Australian. Note that sometimes a website like Cardiff will give you many possible abbreviations from all sorts of jurisdictions. You may need to do a process of elimination. Start with the references to Australian then UK jurisdictions as these are most likely the ones you are being referred to. Soon enough many abbreviations will be second nature to you. o Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases < Law Reports A-Z o Scroll down to the Commonwealth Law Reports C (because case citation is CLR ) o Go to CLR and click on Westlaw AU o Select volume 154 from list o Sort by Case Title (alphabetical) then scroll down to Foley v Padley. Click on the link to (1984) 154 CLR 349 or the adjacent PDF link to get a scan of the judgment that can be saved or printed. o The name of the mall is mentioned in the head notes at the top of the case. Page 7

8 Go back to the Law Library Homepage Guided practice using LexisNexisAU: Ng v R (2003) 197 ALR 10 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Law Reports A - Z Use A to Z list at the top to go to online access to report series starting with A Go to ALR and click on link to LexisNexisAU Choose the volume number by clicking on the + sign next to the number Choose the case by clicking on the case name (cases are sorted in page number order) Go back to the Law Library Homepage Finding Australian cases on AustLII AustLII is a free website where you can find many Australian cases and all current Australian legislation. If you have a medium neutral citation for a case (a citation where you have been given a reference to a court rather than a law report) you can easily find it by browsing. Go to: Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > AustLII or: Demonstration: Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > AustLII On the left-hand Cases & Legislation menu choose Commonwealth from available jurisdictions Choose High Court of Australia Decisions Choose 2004 From the browser choose Edit > Find on this page (or Ctrl+F on your keyboard) Type in Godwin and hit Enter on your keyboard Any cases with Godwin in the title will be highlighted When you locate the correct case click on the title to see the full text of the case. Page 8

9 3. Finding UK Cases The Justis database on the Law Databases page is an easy place to locate the full text of many English cases online. Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Justis & JustCite Demonstration: Adler v George [1964] 2 QB 7 Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Justis & JustCite Type in the citation eg. [1964] 2 QB 7 or case name eg. Adler v George in the Search box Choose case from results list Full text and/or case details appear Full text PDF version click on the red PDF link on left hand side Practice: Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1989] AC 53 Question: Was there a general duty of care owed by police in this case to identify and apprehend an unknown criminal? Answer: No see second paragraph of head note summary of the case (paragraph starting with Held ) Steps: Law Library Homepage > Law Databases > Cases > Justis & JustCite o In the box on the main search page type in citation or case name eg. [1989 AC 53] or Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire. Note that a citation search often retrieves the case more easily than a name search. If one method does not work try the other. Click on the blue magnifying glass next to the search box to submit the search. o Choose case from list (if more than one). Use the citation you have to double check it s the right case. o Case details appear. Click on the PDF link on the left side of the page to see a scan of the full text from the law report. Note also the other links on the left side of the page to related information about the case. Page 9

10 4. Putting it all together: practice questions Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1971] 2 QB 163 Is this an Australian or UK case? United Kingdom (use Cardiff or other legal abbreviations website see part 1 of this worksheet) Mocatta J. held that the defendants were half to blame for the plaintiff's accident and awarded him 3637 pounds in damages. You ll need to find the full text of the case to answer this question it s a UK case so use Justis see Part 3 of this worksheet. The answer is at the bottom of the second paragraph of the head note summary of the case. Who were the judges in this case? Lord Denning M.R.; Megaw L.J. and Sir Gordon Willmer (answer is at the beginning of the document). Pepper Finance Corporation Ltd v Williams [2008] NSWSC 4 Is this a citation for a law report or a medium neutral citation? Medium neutral citation - because the abbreviation is referring to a court rather than a law report series. Where could I go to find the full text of this case using the above citation? AustLII see Part 2 of worksheet (Finding Australian cases on AustLII) What is the exact date of this judgment (hint access the full text of the case to get the answer)? 15 th January Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1996) 189 CLR 1 What database would you use to access the full text of the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR)? Westlaw AU See Part 2 of worksheet (Australian Reported Cases) In what court was this decision handed down? High Court of Australia Who was the dissenting judge? Kirby J (see head note in Commonwealth Law Reports) Page 10