Research Guides: Case law: Cases Pre 1900

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Cases Pre 1900

Finding cases from before 1900

You can find cases on the following websites. You will need to know the name of court or tribunal, the year of decision and the names of the parties.

New South Wales

Bench of Magistrates Proceedings 1788-1820
NSW State Records
Quarter Sessions Cases, 1824-1837
NSW State Records
Superior Courts of NSW 1788 - 1899 - decisions of the Supreme Court of NSW
AustLII
Law Reports (New South Wales) 1856-1900
AustLII
Legge's Supreme Court Cases (NSW) 1830-1863
AustLII

Publications in the Library:

Photoprints of Supreme Court records, Court of Civil Jurisdiction proceedings 1788-1809 by New South Wales Supreme Court
Call Number: CY 1092-CY 1099 - Bound copies in Mitchell Library Reading Room
Publication Date: 1788-1809
Open access in Mitchell Library Reading Room
A selection of Supreme Court cases in New South Wales from 1825 to 1862 / compiled by J. Gordon Legge. by A selection of Supreme Court cases in New South Wales from 1825 to 1862 / compiled by J. Gordon Legge.
Call Number: T0232627 , T0232626 , T0105501 , T0105500
Publication Date: 1896
Request from offsite storage - Collect after 4pm next weekday (onsite use only)
A Digest of the reported cases decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1825-1904 / by H.M. Cockshott ... [et al.]. by Sydney : Law Book Co., 1905.
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1905
New South Wales statute law decisions 1825-1918 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation, with alphabetical table of c by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1919.
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1919
New South Wales statute law decisions 1825-1922 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation, with alphabetical table of c by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1919-1922.
Call Number: T0222895 , T0222894 , 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1919 - 1922
New South Wales statute law decisions 1825-1924 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation, with alphabetical table of c by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1925.
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1925
New South Wales statute law decisions 1825-1927 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation, with alphabetical table of c by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1928.
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1928
New South Wales statute law decisions 1825-1929 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation, with alphabetical table of c by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1929.
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1929
Contains Cumulative supplement.
Butterworth's summary digest of statute law cases (New South Wales) 1825-1931 : cases decided by the courts of N.S.W., the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council, in which sections of N.S.W. Statutes have been the subject of judicial interpretation by Sydney : Butterworth & Co. (Australia), 1932.
Call Number: 340.09901/8A1
Publication Date: 1932
Dowling's Select cases, 1828 to 1844 : decisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales / edited by T.D. Castle, Bruce Kercher ; with a foreword by J.J. Spigelman. by Sydney : Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History, 2005.
Call Number: 340.09944/5A , N340.09944/6A , 340.09944/5 , N340.09944/ 6
Publication Date: 2005
Reserved and equity judgments of the Supreme Court of New South Wales delivered during the year 1845. by Sydney : Printed by Kemp and Fairfax, 1846.
Call Number: MF 2 S 16 , ME 19 Q 3 , Q347.04/N
Publication Date: 1846
Reserved judgements of the Supreme Court of New South Wales : for the District of Port Phillip, delivered during the year 1847 / by the Honorable William A'Beckett, Esquire, resident judge. by New South Wales. Supreme Court (District of Port Phillip)
Call Number: 346.924/A , DSM/042/P184
Publication Date: 1848
Reports of practice cases : argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, for the District of Port Phillip during the year 1846, with notes / by Edward Eyre Williams. by Williams, Edward Eyre
Call Number: 346.924/P
Publication Date: 1847
Digitised
Judgements of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, for the District of Port Phillip delivered during the year 1846 / by the Honorable William A'Beckett, Esquire, resident judge. by New South Wales. Supreme Court (District of Port Phillip)
Call Number: DSM/346.924/A
Publication Date: 1847
Digitised
Digest of reported cases : decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1860 to 1884 inclusive with references to the principal colonial statutes / John Leo Watkins ... [et al.]. by Sydney : Charles F. Maxwell
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1885
Supreme Court reports.
Call Number: Q346.914/N
Publication Date: 1861 -1882
Collection of article cuttings from the Sydney Morning Herald between 1861-1882. Hand written index of cases.
Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales / by W.H. Wilkinson and William Owen. by Sydney : J.J. Moore, 1863.
Call Number: T0105933
Publication Date: 1863
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Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales : with tables of the cases and principal matters ... ... by Sydney : J.J. Moore, 1863-1893.
Call Number: N346.914/9 , 346.914/N
Publication Date: 1863 -1893
Cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in its common law jurisdiction in the year 1877. by Sydney : Joseph Cook, 1878.
Call Number: 346.914/N
Publication Date: 1878
Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. New series. 1879 - 1880 by Sydney : Foster and Fairfax, 1879-1880.
Call Number: 346.914/N
Publication Date: 1879-1880
The New South Wales law reports. Vol. 1 (1880) - v. 21 (1900) by New South Wales. Supreme Court
Call Number: 346.914/N , N346.914/9
Publication Date: 1881 - 1900
The term reports : reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. 1st term (1881) - 4th term (1883) by Lingen, J. T. (John Taylor)
Call Number: Q346.915/N
Publication Date: [188-]
The New South Wales weekly notes. 1884-1963. by Sydney : C.F. Maxwell, 1884-1963.
Call Number: Q346.915/N , N346.914/11
Publication Date: 1884-1963.
A digest of cases decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1884 to 1891 inclusive , and reported in the N.S.W. law reports, vols. V to XII and the N.S.W. weekly notes, vols. I to VIII. by Cockshott, H. M. (Harold Murray)
Call Number: 346.915/N
Publication Date: 1892
A digest of cases decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales : in its common law, equity, bankruptcy, probate and divorce jurisdictions and in the Vice-Admiralty court, from 1892 to 1896 inclusive, and reported in the N.S.W. law reports, vols. XIII t by Cockshott, H. M. (Harold Murray)
Call Number: 346.915/N, T0018078
Publication Date: 1897
A digest of all cases determined in the Land Appeal Court of New South Wales and of appeals therefrom to the Supreme Court from 1895 to 1900 inclusive, and reported in Law Court Cases, vols. V to X; and also, Notation of cases with regard to the sections by Pike, G. Herbert (George Herbert), 1866-1947
Call Number: 346.944043/4 , 346.944043/4A , T0008251
Publication Date: 1901
Digest of criminal and magistrates cases decided in New South Wales from 1840 to 30th June 1894 : with app. of cases decided between 1st Jy. and 31st Dec. 1894 : (supp. ... containing cases decided during 1895-1899 ... cases decided during 1825-1862 ... a by Addison, G. C. (George Campbell), 1862-1931
Call Number: T0018583
Publication Date: 1895 - 1908
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Other states and territories

Historic Australian Cases
WorldLII
Australasian Colonial Legal History Library
AustLII

United Kingdom

English Reports, 1220-1873
CommonLII
Vols. 1-11 House of Lords (1694-1865); Vols. 12-20 Privy Council (including Indian Appeals) (1809-1865); Vols. 21-47 Chancery (including Collateral reports) (1557-1865); Vols. 48-55 Rolls Court (1829-1865); Vols. 56-71 Vice Chancellors' Courts (1815-1865); Vols. 72-122 King's Bench (1378-1865); Vols. 123-144 Common Pleas (1486-1865); Vols. 145-160 Exchequer (1200-1865); Vols. 161-167 Ecclesiastical (1752-1857), Admiralty 1776-1840), and Probate and Divorce (1858-1865); Vols. 168-169 Crown cases (1743-1865); Vols. 170-176 Nisi Prius (1688-1867)

Legal information at the Library

This Guide has been developed by staff of the Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC), State Library of NSW. The State Library holds an extensive collection of case law, legislation and looseleaf publications.

Find legal answers
LIAC provides quality legal information to NSW communities through the public library network, the dedicated Find Legal Answers website and by working collaboratively with key agencies.

Defining cases and law reports

A decision of a court or a tribunal is often called a 'judgment', 'case', 'determination' or 'finding'. In this guide we use the term case.

Finding cases - Law research guide by Macquarie University Library
Law reports are published cases. Each court has one series of law reports that is authorised. To find out more about using an authorised version of a case, see this Research Guide produced by Macquarie University.

Finding law reports using the Catalogue

Search the library's catalogue
If you can't find your law report on this list, you can search the library catalogue.

Tip! Type in exact name of law report - for example Motor Vehicle Reports

Why can't I find a case?

Not all cases are available.

Courts select and provide decisions for publication, usually on the grounds of legal significance.

Just because a case is well known doesn't mean it has been published in print, or on the internet.

Abbreviations - law reports

If the title of the law report or journal is abbreviated, you will need to find the full title before searching the Library Catalogue.

Legal abbreviations (Monash University Library)
Use this legal abbreviation guide to locate the full title of Australian and international law reports, law journals, legal organisations, courts, etc
Abbreviations for Australian courts
Use this sheet to identify the titles of major Australian courts and tribunals.