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Basic Legal Research Skills

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. Course Outline. This course aims to provide users the skills to locate legal cases.

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Basic Legal Research Skills

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  1. 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 Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline

  2. 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 Basic Legal Research Skills- Course Outline

  3. 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 Basic Legal Research Skills- Getting Started

  4. 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

  5. Part A- Introduction to Legal Research Skills The process for legal research is: Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

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

  7. 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? Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

  8. Part A- Legal Abbreviations Example Basic Legal Research Skills- Part A

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

  10. 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  11. 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. egR 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  12. 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  13. 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 Guide) Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  14. Part B- Locating the case in a law report Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  15. Part B- Locating the case using a case citator Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  16. 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  17. Part B- Locating the case in a law report Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  18. 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 = Commonwealth Law Reports Basic Legal Research Skills- Part B

  19. 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. Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

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

  21. Part C- Locating an unreported case using Austlii Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

  22. 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 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

  23. Part C- Locating an unreported case using Austlii Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

  24. 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 Pty Ltd v Gunns Limited [2008] TASSC 46 • Supreme Court of Tasmania • August Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

  25. 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 Basic Legal Research Skills- Part C

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