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Secondary Sources in Law : Finding Encyclopedia Entries Relating to a Case

This guide contains resources and guidance to help students find secondary legal materials.

Finding encyclopedia entries relating to a case

 

Legal encyclopaedias don't tend to have entries on specific cases, however:

  • they will often refer to particular cases in the footnotes of an entry on a legal topic. You can search the full text of the encyclopaedia for entries that mention a specific case.

  • Alternatively, it is possible to work backwards from the case to the encyclopaedia. Once you have located a case in a legal database (such as Lexis+ Australia), it will generally provide a selection of links to secondary materials, including encyclopaedia entries - and you can use that function to look up legal terms used in that case.

Lexis+ Australia

Finding secondary materials relating to a case

 
  • Go to Lexis+ Australia
  • Click on Advanced Search and then choose AU Cases
  • Locate the relevant case
  • Locate the Related Documents section on the right side of the page
  • Click on the Find references to this case link
  • Select AU Secondary Materials from the menu on the left of the screen
  • From the Publication drop-down on the left, choose Halsbury's Laws of Australia to limit your secondary sources to materials found in Halsbury's Laws of Australia.

Note: for some cases, there may not be any related secondary materials.

Laws of Australia (Westlaw AU)

Finding secondary materials relating to a case

 
  • Go to the Laws of Australia (part of Westlaw AU)
  • Click on Search TOC
  • Enter the case citation as your search term (for example, 175 CLR 1). (If you don't have a case citation, you can enter party names.
  • Click Search
  • Encyclopedia entries from the Laws of Australia (where that case has been mentioned) will be displayed.

Note: for some cases, there may not be any related secondary materials.