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Case law
Research Guide for finding cases and law reports at the State Library of NSW and freely available online
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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
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Bench of Magistrates Proceedings 1788-1820 [external website]
NSW State Records -
Quarter Sessions Cases, 1824-1837 [external website]
NSW State Records
Publications in the Library:
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Photoprints of Supreme Court records, Court of Civil Jurisdiction proceedings 1788-1809 byCall Number: CY 1092-CY 1099 - Bound copies in Mitchell Library Reading RoomPublication Date: 1788-1809Open access in the Mitchell Library Reading Room
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A selection of Supreme Court cases in New South Wales from 1825 to 1862 / compiled by J. Gordon Legge. byCall Number: T0232627 , T0232626 , T0105501 , T0105500Publication Date: 1896Request from offsite storage - Collect after 4pm next weekday (onsite use only)
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A Digest of the reported cases decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, 1825-1904 / by H.M. Cockshott ... [et al.]. byCall Number: 346.915/NPublication Date: 1905
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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 byCall Number: 346.915/NPublication Date: 1919
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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 byCall Number: T0222895 , T0222894 , 346.915/NPublication Date: 1919 - 1922
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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 byCall Number: 346.915/NPublication Date: 1925
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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 byCall Number: 346.915/NPublication Date: 1928
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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 byCall Number: 346.915/NPublication Date: 1929Contains Cumulative supplement.
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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 byCall Number: 340.09901/8A1Publication Date: 1932
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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. byCall Number: 340.09944/5A , N340.09944/6A , 340.09944/5 , N340.09944/ 6Publication Date: 2005
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Reserved and equity judgments of the Supreme Court of New South Wales delivered during the year 1845. byCall Number: MF 2 S 16 , ME 19 Q 3 , Q347.04/NPublication Date: 1846
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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. byCall Number: 346.924/A , DSM/042/P184Publication Date: 1848
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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. byCall Number: 346.924/PPublication Date: 1847Digitised
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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. byCall Number: DSM/346.924/APublication Date: 1847Digitised
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Supreme Court reports.Call Number: Q346.914/NPublication Date: 1861 -1882Collection of article cuttings from the Sydney Morning Herald between 1861-1882. Hand written index of cases.
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Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales / by W.H. Wilkinson and William Owen. byCall Number: T0105933Publication Date: 1863Request from offsite storage - Collect after 4pm next weekday (onsite use only)
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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 ... ... byCall Number: N346.914/9 , 346.914/NPublication Date: 1863 -1893
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Cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in its common law jurisdiction in the year 1877. byCall Number: 346.914/NPublication Date: 1878
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Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. New series. 1879 - 1880 byCall Number: 346.914/NPublication Date: 1879-1880
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The New South Wales law reports. Vol. 1 (1880) - v. 21 (1900) byCall Number: 346.914/N , N346.914/9Publication Date: 1881 - 1900
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The term reports : reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. 1st term (1881) - 4th term (1883) byCall Number: Q346.915/NPublication Date: [188-]
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The New South Wales weekly notes. 1884-1963. byCall Number: Q346.915/N , N346.914/11Publication Date: 1884-1963.
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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 byCall Number: 346.915/N, T0018078Publication Date: 1897
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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 byCall Number: 346.944043/4 , 346.944043/4A , T0008251Publication Date: 1901
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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 byCall Number: T0018583Publication Date: 1895 - 1908Request from offsite storage - Collect after 4pm next weekday (onsite use only)
Other states and territories
United Kingdom
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English Reports, 1220-1873 [external website]
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.
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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 LibraryLaw 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 catalogueIf 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 courtsUse this sheet to identify the titles of major Australian courts and tribunals.