Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are legal materials containing discussions about the law or legal commentary.
Materials include: Journal articles, books, digests, legal encyclopaedia, loose-leaf publications, extrinsic materials (about legislation) and online services.
What are Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles?
- Scholarly or peer-reviewed or refereed journals are academic-quality publications, which disseminate research findings. Journals have a consistent cover title, are published at regular intervals, and contain specific, up-to-date articles, written by experts. Students are expected to use these journal articles when researching an assignment.
By contrast, trade publications are published to keep professionals up-to-date and magazines are published for the general public. These do not go through a peer-review process.
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Ulrichsweb This link opens in a new windowUse the UlrichsWeb database to check if a journal is peer-reviewed / refereed.
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Halsbury's Laws of Australia (via Lexis+) Halsbury's Laws of Australia is a legal encyclopaedia providing a comprehensive overview of Australian law, and is a must-have reference tool for legal professionals in private and public sectors, librarians and students. Halsbury's 89 titles cover both mainstream and little known subject areas. Halsbury's Laws of Australia presents principles of law in a succinct propositional style, supported by extensive references to Australian legislative and judicial authority which allow users to quickly find the required information and conduct further research. Each subject within this encyclopaedia of law is written by highly-experienced and well-regarded authors and then extensively checked to ensure accuracy.Publication Date: Continually Updated Resource
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The Laws of Australia (via Westlaw) Instant access to over 320 specific topics across 36 broad subject areas. Aiding your research, The Laws of Australia online also provides thousands of links to Westlaw's other online services such as KeyCite, law journals, law reports and unreported judgments, all in the one service, all on Westlaw.Publication Date: Continually Updated Resource
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Australian Legal Words and Phrases (via Lexis+)Publication Date: Continually Updated Resource
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Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary (via Lexis+)Publication Date: Continually Updated Resource
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Australian Law Dictionary (3rd ed)
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The Australian Law Dictionary is a key reference for those who need familiarity with, and knowledge of, Australian legal terms most commonly encountered when studying law and in the profession. This law dictionary is specifically designed to build legal knowledge and continues the tradition of accurate, authoritative and quality dictionaries published by Oxford University Press Australia.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780190304737.001.0001
Publication Date: 2017 [ebook] -
LexisNexis Concise Australian Legal Dictionary
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Publication Date: (LexisNexis Butterworths, 6th ed, 2021) [ebook] -
Osborn's Concise Law Dictionary (12th ed.)
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Call Number: 340.03 OSBPublication Date: 2013 [print] -
Macquarie dictionary : Australia's national dictionary online
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Publication Date: Continually Updated Resource, 2003 -
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Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
Federal and state law reports, cases, legislation, commentaries, forms and precedents, journals, and dictionaries. -
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Westlaw gives you access to legislation, case law, commentary, journals, news and precedents that are easy to find and apply. Includes access to international materials. -
AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute) This link opens in a new window
Over 125 law journals covering Australia and New Zealand - Commentaries and Summaries on the Law. -
APAFT (Australian Public Affairs Full Text) This link opens in a new windowAccess a range of information covering Australia's social sphere.
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HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowIncludes international legal journals and Australian journals.
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Law Journal Library This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline - contains more than 2,700 law and law-related periodicals. Covers Criminal Justice, Political Science, Technology, Human Rights, and more. About 90% of journals are available through the current issue or volume.
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CCH iKnowConnect (previously CCH IntelliConnect) This link opens in a new window
Mainly newsletters - 'trackers' - current awareness
The following multidisciplinary journal article databases may also be helpful in your research:
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ProQuest Central (Current ECU Students & Staff) This link opens in a new window
International multidisciplinary database indexing a selection of journals in all subject disciplines. It is useful for a broad cross-disciplinary search, rather than in-depth in a subject. -
Emerald Insight This link opens in a new window
Covers Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business, Management, Education, Engineering (ICE Virtual Library), Health & Social Care, Library Studies, Marketing, Sociology, Tourism & Hospitality, and Transport.
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Taylor & Francis Online Journals This link opens in a new window
Publishes more than 2,500 journals and over 5,000 new books each year, with a books backlist in excess of 120,000 specialist titles. As well as scholarly journals and books, they also publish eBooks, text books and reference works. -
Oxford Journals This link opens in a new window
Oxford publish over 300 journals in the humanities, social sciences, law, science, and medicine, two-thirds of which are published in partnership with learned and professional societies. -
Cambridge Core - Journals & eBooks This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database, coverage includes: Art, Chemistry, Computer Science, Drama and Theatre, Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Music, Psychology, and more...
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains a wide range of journals, ebooks, and research reports in the field of Art, Business and Economics, History, Humanities, Law, Medicine and Allied Health, Science and Mathematics, and Social Sciences.
The Law Topic Resources pages provide details of ebooks/books related to specific areas of law.
You can also search for ebooks / books about the law in ECU's Library catalogue.
- Filter your search results to ebooks by selecting ebook under the 'Format' filters.
Other useful ebook collections, include:
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Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new windowAn online library, providing easy access to ebooks on Law.
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Lawyers’ Professional Responsibility (6th ed.)
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Publication Date: 2016 [ebook]
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Lexis+ This link opens in a new windowOnline legal research platform covering Australian and international case law, legislation, commentary, journals, news and precedents. Results are comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date. Includes the CaseBase legal citator and Halsbury's Laws of Australia encyclopaedia.
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CCH iKnowConnect (previously CCH IntelliConnect) This link opens in a new windowCoverage includes: Accounting, Business Law, Employment and HR, Family Law, Industrial Relations, Intellectual Property, Sports & Medical Law, Workplace Health and Safety and more...
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Westlaw This link opens in a new windowOnline legal research platform covering Australian and international case law, legislation, commentary, journals, news and precedents. Results are comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date. Includes the Laws of Australia encyclopaedia, the KeyCite (previously FirstPoint) legal citator, and a KeyNumber legal topic classification system. See Westlaw - International Materials for international legal sources.
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Lawyers Practice Manual WA (on Westlaw)The Lawyers Practice Manual WA is a practical guide to everyday questions of legal practice in Western Australia on 21 diverse topics including criminal law, wills and estates, family law and employment, with procedural tasks illustrated through forms and precedents in each chapter.
Extrinsic materials assist with understanding the intent and interpretation of legislation, and include:
- Explanatory Memoranda (EM) - provided with a Bill when it is 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)
- Second Reading Speeches (Hansard)
- Parliament of Australia
- Historic Hansard - Commonwealth of Australia Hansards (1901-1980)
- Parliament of Western Australia
- Law Reform Commission Reports and Publications
- Parliamentary Committee Reports
- 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
- Australian Parliamentary Library - Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry
includes all Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry (the nomenclature varies) appointed by the Australian Government from 1902 (not States or Territories).
- AustLII
- Law Reform Commissions reports
- 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.
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Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC)The Australian Law Reform Commission is an independent Australian Government agency that provides recommendations for law reform to Government on issues referred to it by the Attorney-General of Australia.
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Law Reform Commission of Western AustraliaThe Commission is an independent statutory authority established under the Act that assists in keeping the law up-to-date and relevant to the needs of the Western Australian community by making recommendations for the reform of areas of law referred to it by the Attorney General.