LibGuides: Law: Finding Legislation

Finding a case considering legislation (e.g. section of an Act)

Use CASE CITATORS to search for cases that have considered a particular Statute (Act of Parliament), Bill or delegated/subordinate legislation ('legislation judicially considered').

Lexis+ (CaseBase):

Under Publications, select CaseBase Cases.
Enter the Legislation Title (and Provision Number) into the relevant field(s).

Westlaw (KeyCite):

Use the Westlaw search field to enter the name of the legislation as a phrase, eg. “Trade Practices Act 1974”
A section number can be added, but don't use any punctuation, eg. “Trade Practices Act 1974” & 52
Use the truncation symbol to locate all subsections, eg. Constitution & 128*
Note: the truncation symbol varies for different databases.

Jade Citator (open access)

LawCite (open access)

Australian Legislation - free online

Federal Register of Legislation
The official Australian Government site for access to the most current Commonwealth of Australia legislation.
Other Legislative Instruments are also available on this website and include: Regulations (otherwise known as Statutory Rules), ordinances, orders, determinations and proclamations.
Federal Register of Legislation - Legislation Tables
Legislation tables are tools that were used before the internet to track the history of Acts and important instruments

Help Information: Federal Register of Legislation

Western Australian Legislation
Parliamentary Counsel's Office - the official WA Government site for access to Western Australian legislation, and the most up-to-date resource.

Interpretation Act 1984 (WA) - statutory interpretation: the law on interpreting legislation.
WA Government Gazettes - include published Regulations, Rules (also known as subsidiary legislation) and Government notices. Online only.
- Access PDF versions of the gazettes from 1836 to present.

Other Australian State legislation sites are below:

Extrinsic Materials - Understanding an Act

Extrinsic materials assist with understanding the intent and interpretation of legislation, and include:

Explanatory Memoranda (EMs) - provided with the Bill when introduced to Parliament
- Parliament of Australia - Bills (from 1983)
- Parliament of Australia - Was there an EM? and Index to Explanatory Memoranda 1901–1982
- Parliament of Australia - Guided Search - Documents relating to a Bill
- AustLII - Commonwealth of Australia Bills Explanatory Memoranda (since 1959 where available)
- Parliament of Western Australia - Bills (from 1997, not all with EMs)
- Parliament of Western Australia - Explanatory Memoranda for Bills pre 2001 (via Parliamentary Library)
- AustLII - Western Australian Explanatory Memoranda (1999-2018, where available)

Parliamentary debates (Hansard) - incl. Second Reading Speeches
- Parliament of Australia
- Parliament of Western Australia (since 2000)
  - Parliament of Western Australia (1870 to 2000 archives)
Law Reform Commission Reports and Publications
- ALRC
- LRCWA
Parliamentary Committee Reports
- Parliament of Australia
- Parliament of Western Australia
Australian Tax Office
- Tax legislation - Extrinsic Materials

The Law Library of Victoria provides a useful list of sources for Explanatory Memoranda:

Research - Cases & Legislation - Bills, Hansard, Gazettes & Explanatory Memoranda

Quasi-Legislative Materials

AustLII Australian Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries Library
Reports of nearly 4,000 Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries from the Commonwealth and all states and territories, from the mid-nineteenth century.

International Legislation

Global Regulation This link opens in a new window
A collection of foreign legislation from over 97 countries, translated into English.
Lexis+ (previously Lexis Advance) This link opens in a new window
An online legal research platform that is simple and efficient to use.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
The new Westlaw platform incorporates Westlaw International Materials.

EUR-Lex - European Union law
legislation.gov.uk
UK Government, Office of the Public Sector Information
WTO iLibrary
Every year, the World Trade Organization (WTO) publishes around 70 new titles on various trade issues. The WTO iLibrary brings together all the WTO's key research material on global trade.