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Introduction to Legal Systems and Methods (LS 100)

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Basic Resources

Research Guide

For information on how to use all of UNE's online legal tools, look at Online Legal Research at UNE. For hints and tutorials on how to write in a legal style, try Writing Skills for Law, from the UNE Academic Skills Office. For your referencing style you are expected to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (3rd).

This Subject Guide will help you to find information useful to you for your assignment for Introduction to Legal Systems and Methods LS 100.

Below you will find hints on how to

Finding a case

Your first assignment requires you to read and answer questions about a particular case from the New South Wales Supreme Court, Sweeney v Thornton [2010] NSWSC 1030. There are two ways you can find this:

Use LawLink, the NSW Attorney General's website.

  • Go to the Legal Databases page. (You might like to bookmark this page)
  • Click on LawLink.
  • Click on Court Decisions under Quck Links.
  • Under Supreme Court, click on all decisions.
  • Click on 2010.
  • Click on Case Name.
  • Click on S.
  • Scroll down to Shaw v Thomas [2010] NSWCA 169

Use AustLII, the Australasian Legal Information Institute's website.

  • Go to the Legal Databases page.
  • Click on AustLII.
  • Click on Advanced Search underneath the search box at the top of the screen.
  • You can select the AustLII database to search. Choose All Case Law Databases or New South Wales: All Cases.
  • In the Find box choose this case name instead of the default this Boolean query.
  • Type Shaw v Thomas into the Enter search query: box and click on Search.
  • If you had the citation, another easy way to find the report would be to choose this phrase and enter 2010 NSWCA 169
  • For more help about law reports on AustLII, look here.

Using First Point

FirstPoint is a legal research product which helps you find information about Australian case law. FirstPoint comprises valuable Australian case research from a variety of sources.

With FirstPoint, you can:

  • retrieve a case on a specific topic or point of law using Thomson's classification scheme;
  • browse the hierarchical structure of cases using Thomson's classificcation scheme; and
  • view relevant case details such as judges, date of judgment, digest notes (for some cases), catchwords, litigation history, cases considered, cases citing, legislation judicially considered and words and cases judicially considered.

To go locate information about Shaw v Thomas using FirstPoint:

  • Go to the Legal Databases page.
  • Click on Legal Online.
  • Click on Cases to display Thomson's classification scheme by topic. Clicking on the + sign next to each heading expands its contents.
  • Enter Shaw v Thomas in the Case Name search box and click Search. Alternatively, you can enter the citation 2010 NSWCA 169 in the Case Citation search box and click on Search.
  • Click on the case name, ie Shaw v Thomas
  • Click on the case citation, ie 2010 NSWCA 169
  • Click on Click here for RTF print version to get more details about the case, including catchwords, cases cited, legislation considered and orders.

Find an online dictionary

One of your questions requires you to know a legal definition.

  • Go to Oxford Reference Online.
  • Click on Law under Subject Reference.
  • Click on Australian Legal Dictionary.
  • Enter ratio decidendi in the Search box.
  • Click on the Search button.

Writing in a legal style

Help and examples of how to write letters of advice or memoranda to clients are found in the following sources:

Books

  • Call number: 808.06634/F175w
    Author: Fajans, Elizabeth
    Title: Writing for law practice / Elizabeth Fajans, Mary R. Falk and Helene S. Shapo.
    Publication: New York : Foundation Press, 2004.
    Chapter 7: Informing and persuading: Letters pp. 215-251
  • Call number: 808.06634/N492L/2009
    Author: Neumann, Richard K., 1947-
    Title: Legal reasoning and legal writing : structure, strategy, and style / Richard K. Neumann, Jr.
    Edition: 6th ed.
    Publication New York : Aspen Law & Business, c2009
    Chapter 21: Client Advice Letters pp 279-283; Appendix D: Sample Client Advice Letter pp 477-480
  • Call number: 808.06634/A738t
    Author: Armstrong, Stephen V.
    Title: Thinking like a writer : a lawyer's guide to effective writing and editing / by Stephen V. Armstrong and Timothy P. Terrell.
    Publication: Deerfield, Il. : Clark Boardman Callaghan, c1992
    Chapter 10: More advice for common types of legal writing pp. 10-1 to 10-26.
  • Call number: 346.94407/C697/2008
    Title: The College of Law practice papers.
    Publication: Chatswood, N.S.W. : LexisNexis Butterworths, 2008.
    Vol 1. Skills S2.130-S2.220  pp 36-43

Books on legal drafting include

  • Call Number 808.06634/B988m/2006
    Author Butt, Peter.
    Title Modern legal drafting : a guide to using clearer language / Peter Butt, Richard Castle.
    Edition 2nd ed.
    Publication Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Call Number 808.066347/P624e/2004
    Author Aitken, J. K. (James K.)
    Title Piesse, the elements of drafting / by J.K. Aitken and Peter Butt.
    Title Elements of drafting
    Edition 10th ed.
    Publication Sydney : Lawbook Co., 2004
  • Call Number 346.4107/C556d/2009
    Author Christou, Richard.
    Title Drafting commercial agreements / Richard Christou.
    Edition 4th ed.
    Publication London : Sweet & Maxwell, 2009.
  • Call Number 808.06634/G234L
    Author Garner, Bryan A.
    Title Legal writing in plain English : a text with exercises / Bryan A. Garner.
    Publication Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001.
  • Call Number 808.06634/S795w
    Author Stark, Steven D.
    Title Writing to win : the legal writer : the complete guide to writing strategies in court and in the office that will make your case and win it / Steven D. Stark.
    Edition 1st ed.
    Publication New York : Main Street Books, 1999.
  • Call Number 347.94072/Y75r
    Author Young, P. W. (Peter Wolstenholme), 1940-
    Title Rose's pleadings without tears in Australia : a guide to legal drafting / Peter Young and Hugh Selby.
    Title Pleadings without tears in Australia.
    Edition Australian ed.
    Publication Leichhardt, N.S.W. : Federation Press, 1997.
  • Call Number 347.94072/D926p
    Author Dunstone, Shelley.
    Title A practical guide to drafting pleadings / by Shelley Dunstone.
    Publication North Ryde, N.S.W. : LBC Information Services, 1997

Websites:

Finding authorised legislation

Your second assignment requires you to find a particular act, the Impounding Act 1993 (NSW). AustLII has legislation on its website but it is not always kept up to date, so it is better to use the authorised sources.

Authorised NSW legislation is available at the NSW Legislation site. This provides the most current version of NSW Acts, Regulations and Environmental Planning Instruments, as well as historical versions as far back as 1990.

Here is an example of how to search for a current NSW Act:

  • Go to the NSW Legislation site
  • Click on Browse link. The As Made link provides Acts in their original form, not the latest versions.
  • Click on A underneath Browse in Force.
  • The Acts are arranged alphabetically, so scroll down until you see Apiaries Act 1985 (NSW) and click on the title.
  • The screen splits into two: the Table of Contents on the left and Current Text of the Act on the right.
  • Click on Status Information to see the currency of an Act.
  • Clicking on Whole Title takes you to the text of the entire Act (it is a web page, not in PDF).
  • To see the regulations associated with a particular Act, click on Regulations.
  • Click on Historical Versions to see earlier versions of the Act.
  • Clicking on Historical Notes shows you the history of amendments of a particular Act.
  • The Search Title link allows you to look for keywords within the Apiaries Act 1985 (NSW).
  • If you only need to see a particular section of an Act, click on the relevant section title, such as Part 2 Administration, 5 Inspectors,  under Table of Contents.
  • To print, click on the Print icon.

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Referencing

When you use material written by other people for your assignments, it is important to acknowledge their work and use the correct style. Click here for more information about referencing and plagiarism. The UNE School of Law requires the use of the Australian legal referencing system found in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (3rd ed).

Further assistance

Library staff are happy to help you. Phone 02 6773 2322 during Law Library opening hours or Ask a Librarian online.