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Australian Legislation

A guide to researching Australian legislation.

Legislation Judicially Considered

We recommend you use more than one database to find out how legislation has been interpreted by the courts. In Lexis+ Australia, Westlaw, BarNet Jade and Austlii's LawCite you can use advanced search forms (Case Law) to find cases that have referred to a piece of legislation, usually in the Legislation cited, Legislation considered or Legislation title fields.  You can also navigate to a piece of legislation and use the databases citation tool to see what has referred to the section. In Austlii this is the note-up function, but other databases such as Lexis link directly to a legislation citator.  In Westlaw, look for the Citing References link.

Use these citators to find additional material (such as journal articles, commentary and encylopaedia entries), that have cited the legislation.

Discussion of legislative provisions in journal articles

Journals are useful in finding discussion of legislation and can help you get an understanding of the context of legislation, how it has evolved over time and been interpreted by the courts. Following is a list of databases that allow you to target your search to journal articles that cite your legislation.


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