Secondary sources of law describe, summarise, explain, analyse or critique the law and are collectively referred to as legal commentary. They can assist in locating and understanding the relevant primary sources of law by providing references to leading cases and key legislation.
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
Finding legal definitions is a key part of legal research because:
Use a legal dictionary to:
Use a legal encyclopaedia to:
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
Legal abbreviations are used extensively in law to identify legal publications and courts. Abbreviations are used for law reports, law journals, law courts and commonly used legal terms. Examples include CLR for the Commonwealth Law Reports or ALJR for the Australian Law Journal Reports. Use the tools below to decipher legal abbreviations.
Subject specific legal commentary was previously published in printed format as looseleaf services. It provides up to date information on specialised areas of law, may link directly to relevant case law and legislation, and provides a practical focus as they are published for the professional practitioner market. They are not academic textbooks but are useful to understand how the law is applied in practice. Titles are updated regularly to reflect the latest developments in case law and legislation making them more up to date than textbooks and legal encyclopaedias.
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
Media resources are useful for legal research as proposed changes to legislation and court cases often attract media attention. They are often discussed in media resources before they appear in law related databases.
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
Case citators are legal research tools that can be used to Identify secondary materials which discuss a case.
Key Australian case citators
Case citator and annotator covering Australian and overseas law reports and unreported decisions in Australian jurisdictions.
Key international case citators
An annotator is a secondary source containing critical commentary and explanatory notes on legislation and/or cases.
What is a statutes annotator?
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
Parliamentary papers are extrinsic materials which may used to assist in the interpretation of legislation. They include:
Explanatory memoranda (EM)
Second Reading Speech (2RS)
Hansard
Parliamentary Committee Reports
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
A Law Reform Commission discussion paper or report provides a comprehensive analysis of the present laws as well as coverage of its historical development and an extensive examination of proposed reforms. Key case law, legislation and journal articles will be referenced allowing further insight into the topic.
Key Australian resources
Key international resources
The Newcastle Law School requires work to be cited using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation 4th edition (AGLC4). For information on how to cite secondary source please use our library guide.
Is there anything more you would like us to include in this guide? Let us know by going to our Feedback page and we will do our very best to add the resources you want.
You may need to find resources from a variety of subject areas to research your topic. The following databases cover a range of disciplines and include Australian and international content:
Try using the following Subject Resource Guides to find resources that may not be held within legal databases:
Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Religion
Politics and International Relations
All other Subject Resource Guides can be found here.
This guide has been created by University of Newcastle Librarians who work with your schools to make sure you have access to the resources you need. The Librarians supporting the School of Law and Justice are:
