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LS 264/364 Indigenous Australians and Law

Finding cases

Case Citators

Use a Case Citator to find out about reported judgments and unreported decisions. Citators will give you the reference details of all the law report series that publish a report on a specific judgment. There are usually digests (or summaries) of the case provided and all relevant legislation and legal topics listed. The main benefit of a citator is to show you the history of a case and how it has been subsequently considered judicially.

CaseBase

UNE subscribes to CaseBase, which covers more than sixty Australian and overseas Law Reports titles. It also cites unreported decisions of the High Court, the Federal Court and all Australian Supreme Courts. CaseBase is a case citator and annotator. It does not contain full-text case reports. Its job is to tell you where specific case decisions are published. If you want to then find a particular reference or citation then use the catalogue to search for the cited Title of the Law Report. This will tell you if it is available in print or online, enabling you to retrieve it yourself or request a copy from the Library.

  • Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php and bookmark this link (Add to your Favorites).
  • Select 'CaseBase Cases' from the list.  
  • You should now see a search template with lots of options. 
  • If you are looking for cases about a legal topic, use the 'Search Terms' box at the top of the screen and type your keywords. For example, type
    customary law and (aborig! or indig!)
    and click on the red Search button (with the small torch) to the top right of the screen.
    ! is for truncation and will find Aborigine/s, Aboriginal/s or Aboriginality.
    Placing keywords within parentheses means that you will find cases that mention Aborigines and customary law or Indigenous and customary law.
    A slightly different way to search on this same topic is
    (aborig! or indig!) w/5 custom!
    w/5 means variations of 'Aboriginal' or 'Indigenous' have to appear within 5 words of a version of custom.
    LexisNexis AU (Butterworths) automatically looks for plurals and will find results for custom and customs.
  • If you have a particular case in mind, type one or both party names in the 'Case/Article Name' box, such as cubillo
    Join the party names using the Boolean operator AND because 'v' will not give you results. Try looking for walker and state 
  • Use the 'Citation' search box if you already have the citation 103 fcr 1
    A list of the 'Abbreviations' used in CaseBase is linked under 'How do I...?' on the right hand side of the screen. 
  • If you want to find cases about a particular Act or section of legislation use the 'References to Legislation' box to type, for example, welfare ordinance 1953 
  • You can also choose to restrict your search to particular judgment dates, jurisdictions, courts and judges by using the appropriate boxes.
  • Your Results list will show the cases mentioning your keywords. Click on the title of an entry that interests you.
    Or if you would like to reduce the size of your hitlist then use the 'Narrow Search' box at the top right to find more keywords within your results.
  • At the top of the screen for each case entry you will see the legal citations where it is reported, such as
    Walker v State of New South Wales (1994) 182 CLR 45; (1994) 126 ALR 321; (1994) 69 ALJR 111; (1994) 76 A Crim R 173; (1995) 19 Crim LJ 160n; BC9404667
    Some of the citations are linked. If the links don't work it means UNE does not subscribe to that particular online Report series through LexisNexis AU.
    UNE's only subscription through LexisNexis AU is to NSW Law Reports in PDF from 1971.
    Use a Title or Journal Title search in the catalogue to find out if UNE holds the Law Report series you want, in print or online in another database such as LexisNexis Legal or CCH Online.
    The BC number is a Butterworths Unreported Decision number. You can use this to find the unreported case in the Australian section of LexisNexis Legal. The ALRs are also in LexisNexis Legal from 1973, so you would be able to find Walker v State of New South Wales there. Help using LexisNexis Legal is here.
  • Each CaseBase entry will have some or all of the following sections:
    • 'Cases referring to this case' — other cases that used this particular case in their own submissions.
    • 'Journal articles referring to this case' — citations for articles about this particular case (not the full-text).
    • 'Cases considered by this case' — cases used by this particular case in its own submissions.
    • 'Catchwords/Digest' — Catchwords are Halsbury's Laws of Australia subjects and the Digest a brief description of the legal issues that arose.
    • 'Legislation considered by this case'.
  • CaseBase Signals are annotations that tell you how a case has been judicially considered in later judgments. Click on 'Signal Help' at the top of a case's screen to find out what these visual clues mean.
  • You can print your results in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
  • For in-context Help use the hints on the right hand side of the screen or for the complete Help manual click on 'Help' at the top right of the LexisNexis AU screen.
    Help using LexisNexis AU is also available at http://www.une.edu.au/library/training/dbguides/index.php
  • When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

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Finding journal articles

If you want to find references about legal issues and cases you need to use a journal index. Indexes tell you the titles of articles, authors, and (most importantly) the source — journal title, year, volume number, issue number and pages. Indexes provide either an abstract (a short summary of the topics covered) or subject descriptors so that you can judge if an article is going to be useful to you. Increasingly indexes are also providing the article itself, online in full-text.

Now you will find out how to use two legal index tools — Informit and CaseBase Journal Articles.

Informit

Informit is the software platform that runs a large number of Australian journal indexes, the most relevant ones for Law being:

AGIS Plus Text — Attorney General's Information Service. Information about the articles includes abstracts, subject descriptors, case names and jurisdictions. Over 120 of the journals indexed are also available in full-text, mainly from 1999. Subject coverage includes administrative law, banking, companies and securities, constitutional law, copyright law, criminal law, environmental law, family law, human rights, international law, legal aid, and trade practices.
APA Full Text — Australian Public Affairs Full Text. There are no abstracts provided, but there are subject descriptors. There are also links to more than 400 journals in full-text from 1995, plus links to free web documents. Subject coverage includes business, health, current affairs, economics, humanities, law, literature, politics and the social sciences.
Family & Society Plus — Australian Family & Society Abstracts. Use this index for abstracts, subject descriptors and a number of full-text articles from 2000. Topics indexed are Australian family policy and practice issues including family law, child protection and social change.
Meditext — This has abstracts and subject descriptors for articles on medico-legal issues, as well as around 120 online journals in full-text from 1995 and links to free web documents.
AFPD — Australian Federal Police Database. This has notes and subject descriptors but no full-text. Subject coverage includes policing, criminology, law enforcement, law, management, occupational health and safety and the social sciences.
CINCH — Australian Criminology Database. This index has abstracts and subject descriptors, no full-text except some links to free web documents. Subject coverage includes all aspects of crime and criminal justice including corrections, crime, crime prevention, criminal law, criminology, juvenile justice, law enforcement, police and victims of crime.
There are also business, environmental, intellectual property and Aboriginal indexes available.

This next section will tell you how to use Informit:

  • Click on 'AGIS Plus Text' in the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
  • Enter your UNE username and password when prompted.
  • Click on the 'Databases' tab at the top right of the screen.
  • First you need to select the databases you wish to search.
    Mark the boxes next to 'AGIS Plus Text' and 'Australian Public Affairs Full Text' at the top of the Informit menu and any other databases you wish to search at the same time.
  • Click on the 'Continue' button at the top (or bottom) of the Informit list of databases.
  • To find out quickly if a particular article is available online in full-text, in the first search box type, for example, durbach
    Use the pull-down arrow to select 'All Author fields' instead of 'any field'.
    In the second search box type a word or phrase from the title, such as damage and use the pull-down menu to select 'Title'.
    Clicking on 'Search' will find Andrea Durbach's article 'Repairing the Damage: Achieving Reparations for the Stolen Generations' (2002) 27(6) ALJ 262
  • How do you find references about a legal topic?
    In the first search box type, for example, aborig*
    * is for truncation and will find Aborigine/s, Aboriginal/s and Aboriginality.
    Use the pull-down arrow to select OR instead of AND.
    In the second search box type indig* and click on 'Search'.
  • Don't worry about looking at your results for the moment.
    Instead try a search for mandatory sentenc* in the first box, making sure you clear the other one, and click on 'Search'.
    You may also like to try a search for stolen generat* or another one for customary law
  • You can also search for cases. Try cubillo in the first search box (clear the others) or anunga. 
  • Underneath the search boxes you will see your 'Recent searches' are listed.
    You can use this to combine your different searches and also to see the results of each one.
    Make sure the search boxes at the top are clear before combining any of your searches or you will get strange results.
    In the first search box type
    #1 and #2
    and click 'Search'. This will find results that combine your keywords from your first two searches (Aborigines OR Indigenous with mandatory sentencing).
    You could also combine #1 Aborigines OR Indigenous with your search for customary law
  • The results are displayed with citation information only, in order of database.
    You may want to see the subject descriptors or abstracts (so that you get a better idea of what the articles are discussing) and the newest references first.
    On the 'Fields to Display' tab choose 'Complete'.
    Then use the 'Sort Results' tab (top left of the Informit screen) to click on 'Newest First'.
  • When you are checking your results, you can mark any records of interest by putting ticks in the boxes next to their titles.
    To see your complete list of marked records click on the link 'View selected' at the top of your results list.
  • Look at the bottom of each record to see full-text options (if available).
    To view an article in PDF format click on the link 'Full text PDF'.
    You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your computer. This is available for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
  • Other full-text options you may see are:
    'Full text PDF (external)' - the article in PDF format on the web
    'Full Text HTML (external)' - the article in HTML on the web
    'Full Text (archive)' - the article in an archived electronic journal  
  • You can choose to read an article online or use the Save, Print or Email links above your results list. 
  • For more help try the APA-FT guide in eSKILLS UNE, check the Guides to Databases, or the Help link within Informit.
  • Click on the Logout button at the top right of the screen when you have finished using Informit.

CaseBase Journal Articles

CaseBase is a citator and annotator that also indexes around 100 legal journals so you can find references to articles about cases or legal issues. UNE does not subscribe to any journals through LexisNexis AU so none of the articles will be available online there.

  • Go to the Law Databases at http://www.une.edu.au/library/resources/guides/law/databases.php.
  • Select 'CaseBase Journal Articles' from the list. 
  • You should now see a CaseBase search template with lots of options.
  • Use the 'Case/Article Name' search box if you are looking for articles referring to a particular case. An example is looking for wik
  • Similarly, try the 'References to Legislation' if you want to find articles about a particular Act or section of an Act. Look for native title amendment act 1998
  • To find articles about a topic use the 'Search Terms' box at the top of the screen.
    For example, try (circle or mandat!) w/5 sentenc!
    ! is for truncation and will find mandate/s, mandated and mandatory. w/5 means you will find references where circle (or mandatory) appears within five words of sentencing.
    Another search to try is (language or linguis!) and (aborig! or indig!). LexisNexis AU finds plurals automatically so will bring up language or languages.
  • You can mark references of interest by ticking the box next to their titles. Click on the 'View tagged' icon above the Results to see your list.
  • You can print your results in HTML format (as a web page), email yourself an attachment (Word, HTML or RTF) or save (Word, HTML or RTF) using the 'Print', 'Email' or 'Save' icons on the LexisNexis AU toolbar.
  • When you have finished using LexisNexis AU click on 'Sign Out' at the top right of the screen.

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Can't find an article online?

If you don't find the article you want online in an Informit database or CaseBase, search the UNE Library Catalogue. The Library catalogue tells you which law reports and journals are held at UNE, either in paper or online in a database. Here are two examples:

  • Let's say you want to find Ben Saul, 'International Crime of Genocide in Australian Law' (2000) 22(4) SydLR 527
    Look in our catalogue and try a Title or Journal Title search for the Source sydney law review
    You need to use full words to find journals, not the abbreviations.
    You should see four matches. The first one tells you the journal is held in print from volume 1 at Call Number P340.05/SYD.
    The third and fourth entries say [electronic resource]. This journal is online in LexisNexis Legal, AustLII, AGIS Plus Text and APA Full Text.
    You can click on the URL (web address) provided to go to the databases (AustLII or LexisNexis Legal since you know already it is not in AGIS or APA).
    Once you are there you will need to search for the article you want.
  • If you wanted to read Julie Cassidy's article 'A Denial of the Stolen Generation? Case Note; Cubillo and Gunner v Commonwealth' (2003) 12(1) GriffLR 114, look in the catalogue for griffith law review
    The catalogue then tells you that UNE holds Griffith Law Review in print from volume 1 at Call number P340/G854. There are no [electronic resource] entries (or sometimes you will see [Internet access] as the Call Number), so this journal is not available online.
    If you are an external student, you can ask for a photocopy of an article to be sent to you.

Tip: Try the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations at http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/ if you want to know the titles that match the abbreviations.

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