Unreported Judgments

Unreported judgments are essentially decisions of courts that have not been published. A case can be cited as authority even if it is unreported although it is less persuasive. There are two main reasons why a decision is not published.

1. The case is too recent to have been published.
2. The case is not considered of sufficient importance to be published.

Where do we find Commonwealth and State unreported judgments?

• AustLII
  Decisions from Australian courts and tribunals are loaded onto AustLII on a daily basis. Most of these files do not alert you to the fact that a case has been subsequently reported.
• LawBook Online unreported judgments.
• LexisNexis Unreported Judgments database file (for ACT, NSW, Tasmanian and Victorian Supreme Court decisions, High Court and Federal Court decisions since 1975). The unreported judgments file on LexisNexis is AUST;UNRPT
• Unreported judgments file on Westlaw, named AU-UNR
• Court websites (recent years only).
• Court Registries to obtain the 'pamphlet' copy of the decision. There is usually a charge for these decisions.