law [n.]

1. a rule or system of rules recognized by a country or community as regulating the actions of its members and enforced by the imposition of penalties. 2. such rules as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession. 3. statute law and the common law. 4. a statement of fact to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. 5. a rule defining correct procedure or behaviour in a sport. 6. something having binding force or effect : his word was law. 7. [the law] informal the police. PHRASES be a law unto oneself, behave in an unconventional or unpredictable manner; lay down the law, issue ORIGIN Old Norse ‘something laid down or fixed’; related to LAY.

Oxford Dictionaries

This page looks at topics A to L covering Australian legal information, some legal history, journals, Intellectual Property information and other general material.

The Second Page looks at topics beginning M to Z and covers areas such as Other Legal Systems including the US and China, research information, legal search engines, texts & documents and information on famous trials - Australian & International.

Information is aimed at undergraduate level and is listed in alphabetical groupings. Some information may be useful at a higher level.

Be aware some units/topics have different titles at different universities, even though content may be the same or similar. Australian information is supplied wherever possible.

Additional unit material will be included as time permits.

If you are aware of any worthwhile information which is not included, suggestions or additions are welcome and will be given every consideration.

A - F

Australian Sites

• Australasian Legal Information Institute
  One of the largest legal document collections on the net - 1.5 million articles. Community information pages. Check their Databases.
• Australia Legal Information Centre
  Dictionary, links to US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, fun, kids, museum, Police Station, more.
• Australian High Tech Crime Centre
  ‘Provide a national coordinated approach to combating serious, complex and multi-jurisdictional high tech crimes, especially those beyond the capability of single jurisdictions; assist in improving the capacity of all jurisdictions to deal with high tech crime’.
• Australian Law - Bills & Legislation
  Link collection compiled by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library.
• Attorney-General’s Department
  Third source of information along with ComLaw and Family Relationships Online. These all replace the previous Australian Law Online site which was decommissioned early in 2011.
• Australian Law Portal
• Australian Law Reform Commission
  ‘Inquires into and reviews specific areas of the law and legal practice’. Attorney General’s office.
• Australian Legislation
  Information on acts, other legislation. From Wikipedia. From the 1850s but most in the twentieth century
• ComLaw
  ‘Initiative to bring low or no-cost access to the law for the community and is maintained by the Australian Attorney-General’s Department. Incorporates the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments established under section 20 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003’.
• Court Cases in Australia
  ‘Find information about court cases, including law reports and newspaper articles’. State Library of Victoria.
• Family Relationships Online
  ‘Provides all families [whether together or separated] with access to information about family relationship issues, ranging from building better relationships to dispute resolution’.
• Find Law [Australia]
  Recent cases. Full text, links, searchable directory. Channels target groups such as students, lawyers.
• High Court of Australia
  Business list, case summaries, history, database of all judgements. Also consider The Highest Court, a series of film clips about the judges of the High Court, done in 1998.
• Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission
  ‘Independent statutory government body, established in 1986 by an Act of the Federal Parliament, … it has responsibilities for inquiring into alleged infringements under five anti-discrimination laws … as well as inquiring into alleged infringements of human rights’.
• Law and Legislation
  A Subject Starter Guide from the Swinburne University of Technology Library, covering databases, ebooks, publications, legislation, subject gateways and portals, courts & tribunals, other sources of information.
• Lawform
  For practising legal people. Access existing legal services from precedents to Land Title Office records and staff search facility.
• Law For You
  Plain English information about the law in each state & territory.
• Law Foundation
  New South Wales Law & Justice Foundation. Research, publications, advice, information & research, research activities, grants, judgements, courts.
• LawNow LexisNexis Australia
  Consolidated Acts and Regulations from the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victorian, Queensland jurisdictions. Try their Bookstore for law textbooks and their Academic Solutions.Fee-based.
• LawRunner Australia : A Legal Research Tool
  Law in Australia and overseas - facts, articles, primary sources, etc.. Research tool available.
• Law Society of New South Wales
  Their For Law Students section can be found here.
• List of Australian Federal Legislation
  ‘Some notable Australian federal legislation’. From Wikipedia.
• Monash University Law Library
• National Library
  Legal research guide, research sources, journals, other services. Australian Law on the Internet.
• Open Source Law
  One lawyer’s efforts to inform about open source IT in the legal system and wider community. Articles, information.
• OzNet Law
  Internet law information in Australia.
• Queensland Criminal Justice Centre
  ‘This is a resource based website for Queensland’s criminal lawyers. However, other professionals such as social workers, police officers, health practitioners and anyone who works within the disability and/or criminal justice systems will find this information useful’.
• Rural Law Online
  ‘Designed to give rural Victorians access to plain language information on areas of law which affect you. The national online forums run by Rural Law Online, provide all Australians with an opportunity to ask legal questions and get a response from a lawyer in your state or territory’.
• Search Law
  ‘Search Law is a Free legal search engine that searches through all pages from websites provided by Australian lawyers. All non legal sites are excluded, giving you a clean law based search result’.
• Short Guide to Australian Legal Research
  Document, links. Either HTML or PDF. Llinks, libraries, texts, more.
• Useful Links
  Compiled by the Redfern Legal Centre, NSW. Covers Tenancy, general links and Legal Aid.
• Welcome to the Federal Court of Australia

Top of Page

G - L

General Sites

• 12 Fascinating and Mysterious Criminal Cases
  Entry from The Blotter - A Criminal Justic Blog.
• AIPD - Links
  Includes police services, law enforcement, Australian Law Sites, International Sites, Other Useful Links.
• Business Law Lounge
  Links to legal assistance. US oriented.
• Case Law
  Provides links to information sources [databases, etc.] on case law. Vanadian emphasis but also covers a range of other countries including Australia.
• Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide
  15 directories of links. Covers Law and Business.
• History of Law
  ‘Legal History, History of legal systems, legal institutions, … ’. Select by subject area, systems of law, legal history, world courts [courts, commissions & tribunals].
• International Law Student’s Association
  Moot Court Competitions. Operate worldwide.
• Law
  International site. Advice/services for establishing and maintaining legal practices.
• Lawyer Jokes and Legal Humour
  You should be able to laugh !
• Restorative Justice, Real Justice Conferencing
  ‘Also called family group conferences, restorative justice conferences and community accountability conferences, originated as a response to juvenile crime. Conferencing is a new victim-sensitive approach to addressing wrongdoing in various settings in a variety of ways’. Check the What is Real Justice ? page.
• The Australian Network for Japanese Law [ANJeL]
  ‘Initiative of the law faculties at the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney. The core aim of ANJeL is to promote scholarly engagement with Japanese law, especially in Australia’. People, events, research, teaching.

Intellectual Property

Includes copyright, fair usage and associated aspects.

Australian

• About Copyright
  Ownership of copyright, infringement, copying overseas, legislation, links. ‘Administers the copying of print material by educational institutions, government agencies, corporations, associations, places of worship and other organisations’. The FAQ Page is worth visiting.
• Australian Copyright Council
  ‘Information, advice and training about copyright in Australia. You’ll find information about copyright in Australia, including many information sheets’. News, information, publications, training , education. Check Copyright Basics.
• Australian Digital Alliance
  ‘Members include schools, universities, consumer groups, major cultural institutions, IT companies, scientific and other research organisations, libraries and individuals, united by the common theme that intellectual property laws must strike a balance between providing appropriate incentives for creativity against reasonable and equitable access to knowledge’.
• Business Software Association of Australia
  ‘Dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world’.
• Copyright
  ‘Copyright is a type of legal protection for people who express ideas and information in certain forms. The most common forms are: writing, visual images, music and moving images. Copyright protects the form or way an idea or information is expressed, not the idea or information itself’. Attorney-General’s Department. Multiple sections, Fact Sheets, related websites, more.
• Copyright Agency Limited^®
  Information Sheets on aspects of copyright including what it is, moral rights, agreements, licenses, etc..
• Copyright & Intellectual Property
  Council of Australian University Librarians. Articles, papers, documents, reports, etc.. Looks particularly at the Free Trade Agreement with the US and its impact.
• Copyright Law
  Information from Picture Australia.
• Copyright Law Review Committee
• Copyright Society of Australia
• Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre
  ‘Research, public interest advocacy and education on issues of law and policy concerning digital transactions in cyberspace. Centre of the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales’.
• Intellectual Property Law
  Compilations of searched links from the Australia Parliament House Library.
• Internet Resource Guide : Intellectual Property Law Library
  databases, Catalog and Websearches. AustLii.
• Intellectual Property Research Institute Of Australia
  Research, resources, people, education, publications, international & Australian developments, events.
• What Is Intellectual Property ? What is Copyright ?
  IP [Intellectual Property] Australia. For Intellectual Property, this is a more specific site.
• Rights Management & Copyright
  Links to information. Includes papers, more.

International Information

• Berkman Centre for Internet & Society
  Harvard Law School. Material on general law and law related to intellectual property, etc..
• Business Software Alliance
  ‘Dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world’s commercial software industry’.
• Copyright & Fair Use
  Extensive overview. Stanford University [US].
  Excellent !
• Copyright, Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing Issues
  ‘Current Awareness, Reference, Organisations, Initiatives & Projects, Articles, Papers & Reports, Laws, Policies & Court Opinions’.
• Copyright Law of the United States of America
  Legal aspects, bills.
• Creative Commons
  ‘Flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. We have built upon the all rights reserved of traditional copyright to create a voluntary some rights reserved copyright’. Interesting, worthwhile approach.
• Digital Consumer.org
  Activities, aims, news, Q & A, information for the press, more. ‘Protecting fair-use rights in the digital world’.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
  ‘Defending Freedom in the Digital World’. News, victories, cases, topics of interest, links. For specific information on Intellectual Property Online go here.
• Intellectual Property and Digital Rights
  ‘There is a need to identify different types of policies for intellectual property, digital rights and licensing issues, to identify best practices and assist different entities [organisations/institutions] to develop policies that are equitable for all the parts involved’. For those in the secondary sector you might wish to access the Intellectual Property & Digital Rights [VCE] unit available here.
• International Intellectual Property Alliance
  News, resources, what is happening around the world, copyright & trade issues.
• IPWatchdog - Copyright Basics
  The basics, links to pages on associated topics.
• Lawrence Lessig
  Professor from Stanford Law School. For a sample article, The People Own Ideas from Technology Review is worth reading.
• Open Letter on Copyrights
  Discussion on a claim that Unix code has been included in Linux without permission.
• Respect Copyright
  Sections on what is piracy ?, what is copyright ?, Parent Files, what can I do ?, more. Directed at movies particularly.
• Transparency International
  ‘Leading global non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption. Its mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption’.
• Which Countries Protect Intellectual Property ?
  The Case Of Software Piracy. From Economic Review, a study which uses ‘data on software piracy. We examine how protection of intellectual property varies across countries’. Available in PDF format.
• World Intellectual Property Organisation
  In several languages. News, information, the basics about intellectual property, activities, services.

Top of Page

Journals & Magazines

• AllLaw
  Listing of online law journals.
• E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law
  ‘A general journal of law and legal issues. Articles in four categories’.
• Jurist Legal News & Research
  News, documents, video, commentary, research, legal education, more.
• The Law and Politics Book Review
  ‘The electronic medium enables us to review almost every book about the legal process and politics, to do longer reviews than are usually published, and to make the reviews available within six months of our receipt of the book’. Books by author’s name.
• University Law Review
  Abstract email service and full text search of law journals on the internet.
  Excellent !

Legal History

Databases, documents, legal history from particular countries.

Australian Legal History

• Aboriginal Colonial Court Cases, 1788-1838
  These records are from New South Wales.
• Court Judgments and Police Records
  ‘Many judgments are available online. A list of these resources is provided below’. Compiled by the State Library of Victoria.
• Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts
  ‘Created to publish many of the hidden nineteenth century records of the superior courts of Tasmania. The site begins with the first decisions of the newly established Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land, which first sat in 1824’.
• Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899
  Effectively begins in 1824.
• Unreported Judicial Decisions of the Privy Council, on Appeal from the Australian Colonies before 1850
  ‘Reproduce[s] the surviving records held in London of all the unreported appeals from the Australian colonies to the appeals committees or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council before 1850. This site is designed to work in partnership with similar sites for the colonial decisions of New South Wales and Tasmania’.

British Legal History

• British Legal History
  Links collated by Cambridge University Faculty of Law. From Anglo Saxon to 20th Century and additional general grouping.
• Commentaries on the Laws of England [1765-1769]
  Sir William Blackstone. Full text.
• English Legal History
  Bibliography including links, research guides, more.
• English Legal History Materials
  Links from the period prior to common law through to Edward 1.
• Legal Resources : Legal History
  Annotated links to sources for British Legal History [and others] from Roman times to the present.
• Laws of William the Conqueror
• The History of Crime and the Law in England
  ‘The unpublished sources noted in the National Register of Archives, the Manorial Documents Register, the principal relevant repositories with strong collections relating to criminal and legal history’.

Other Legal History

• Australian Journal of Legal History
  ‘Committed to the belief that scholars from different disciplines and different jurisdictions can and should engage in a fruitful dialogue. Encourages scholarship from a wide diversity of periods and jurisdictions’.
• Bernard Hibbits
  American and British Legal History, electronic law, Ancient Law. Links to Jurist : The Law Professors’ Network, other aspects, people.
• British Legal History
  See the separate section above.
• Legal History
  University of Adelaide Law Library. Sites, publications & journals. Mostly Australian information.
• Legal History [2]
  Deakin University School of Law. Legal history from ancient times, country specific and documentation.
  Brilliant listing!
• The Cengage Learning Site - Infotrac
  ‘The world’s most comprehensive full-text database of 22 000 British and American legal treatises, 1800-1926’. Check your university is an institution that has access.

Top of Page

© D & B Mann Webmasters. All rights reserved. Last updated - 31 March 2012.
Best viewed at a resolution of 1280 x 800 or greater. We use and recommend Mozilla Firefox as the preferred browser.