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(Sir John Salmond Library)
The University of Adelaide
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AUSTRALIA
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Law Reports

Law reports are the reported (published) decisions of courts. Not all decisions are reported. Individual decisions are chosen to be published by editors, publishers and barristers, usually on grounds of their precedent value. The superior courts, particularly the highest appellate and constitutional courts may have all their decisions published.

Important Points to Note

It is common to have different law reports series, published by different publishers, covering decisions from the same jurisdictions, or the same courts.

Example: Decisions of the High Court of Australia are published in (amongst others) the Commonwealth Law Reports, the Australian Law Journal Reports, and the Australian Law Reports

Some reports are distinguished as being authorised. That means that the reports were reviewed by the judges prior to the decision being published.

Example: The Commonwealth Law Reports are the authorised reports of the High Court of Australia.

If a case is reported in an authorised report that is the citation which should be preferred.

Authorised Reports of Australian Superior Courts
High Court of Australia	Commonwealth Law Reports
Federal Court of Australia	Federal Court Reports
Family Court of Australia	Federal Law Reports
ACT Supreme Court	Australian Capital Territory Law Reports
New South Wales Supreme Court	New South Wales Law Reports
Northern Territory Supreme Court	Northern Territory Law Reports
Queensland Supreme Court	Queensland Reports
South Australian Supreme Court	South Australian State Reports
Victorian Supreme Court	Victorian Reports
Western Australian Supreme Court	Western Australian Reports

How do you find the law reports that cover a particular court of jurisdiction?

Check the Holdings List of Law Reports, Legislation, Treaties and Journals held in the Law Library. This lists law reports by jurisdiction so it is a quick way of ascertaining what the Law library holds for a particular country or court.
Search the Library catalogue with a subject search on 'law reports' and you will see a list of headings broken down by geographic region which will link to the relevant law report.
Or, refer to our Cases and Courts webpage.

Subject-based Law Reports

There are many law report series which are based on the subject matter of the cases, rather than by jurisdiction. Many of these reports are published as part of the commentary services on the law, for example, many of the CCH commentaries services also publish case decisions. See Commentary services for more information.