Macquarie Street building temporarily closed for refurbishment. Read more
Legal Studies - HSC
- State Library of NSW
- Research Guides
- HSC & Tertiary Students
- Legal Studies - HSC
- Begin your HSC legal studies research
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ACCESS THE COLLECTION
Temporary closure of the Macquarie Street building
The Macquarie Street building, including the Bashir Reading Room, is temporarily closed for a major refurbishment until late 2025.
During the building work, all reading room services (except study rooms and the Children’s Library), along with a temporary bookshop and cafe, are available in the Mitchell building.
To access collection material please visit the temporary Bashir Reading Room in the Mitchell building or visit the Special Collections area in the Mitchell Library Reading Room to request original material.
For more information and FAQs, visit Transforming the Macquarie Street building.
Begin your HSC legal studies research
Getting started
The law is constantly changing and finding current information is vital. Use newspapers, journals, legislation, cases and government reports to find the latest information.
Use the resources here to find information to support your Preliminary and HSC Legal Studies research.
No matter which topic you're studying, you can find current, relevant information from encyclopaedias, journals, newspapers, books, government websites and statistics.
Law books at the Library
Browse the Politics, Economics & Law shelves (at location number 340s) in the Governor Marie Bashir Reading Room to find books that cover all areas of the law.
We also have law books in the Library's stack storage. If you have a Library card, you can access these books by searching the Library's catalogue and requesting them.
Please note: Temporary closure of the Macquarie Street building. During the building work, all reading room services are available in the Mitchell building.
General resources for legal studies research
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Issues in society (2000-2022) [ebooks]
Find ebooks on a range of legal topics, including online safety, crime and violence, young drivers and road safety, surrogacy, child sexual abuse, animal rights, and many more – check for your topic. You'll find information from fact sheets, journals, magazines, government reports, statistics (including tables and graphs), newspapers, cartoons, illustrations, diagrams and photographs.
You will need Adobe Digital Editions before you can download an ebook. -
Analysis & Policy Observatory [external website]
APO (formerly ‘Australian Policy Online’) is an searchable digital public policy repository, covering Australasia and international. Documents on the site are sourced from organizations involving in policy such as government, agencies, regulators, research institutes, non-for-profits and think tanks. -
NSW Parliamentary Research Papers [external website]
These research papers are an excellent source of information about NSW law, and are particularly useful for researching law reform in action. They cover new legislation being considered by Parliament as well as a broad range of subject areas, including law, politics and government, the environment, economics and social issues.
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Parliamentary Library Research Publications [external website]
These research papers are an excellent source of information about Commonwealth law. Some publications provide an in-depth evaluation of an issue while others provide a factual overview. A broad range of topics are covered, including employment, domestic violence, refugees and same-sex marriage.
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Australian Institute of Criminology [external website]
Find reports and statistics on a wide range of crime-related topics, such as arson, corporate crime and fraud, corrections, courts, crime prevention, cybercrime, drugs, organised/transnational crime, policing, property crime, sex crimes, social groups and crime, and violence.
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Find Legal Answers [Library website]
Find links to legal information, including pamphlets and fact sheets, full text books and legislation. The information is arranged under 12 subject areas, including family, neighbours, wills, police and crime, money, debt and fines, and courts and the legal system. Find Legal Answers is a State Library of New South Wales website.
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Hot Topics [Library website | ebooks]
Use the Hot Topics to find plain English information about the law. You'll find overviews, timelines, case studies and sources of further information. Issues covered include the Australian legal system, courts and tribunals, and voting and elections.
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The Law handbook: your practical guide to the law in NSW [Library website | ebook]
Find information on all areas of the law relevant to NSW, including the legal system, Aboriginal people and the law, criminal law, dispute resolution, domestic violence, and drug offences. The Law handbook is also available in NSW public libraries.
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ABC The Law Report [external website]
Listen and read jargon-free stories about law reform, education, test cases, miscarriages of justice and legal culture.
Legal cases
- AustLII [external website]Find cases from NSW and Commonwealth courts and tribunals, including the Supreme Court of NSW and the High Court. You can also find cases from the other states and territories.
- New South Wales CaseLaw [external website]Courts and tribunals including the Supreme Court, District Court
- High Court Judgments Database [external website]This database provides a searchable collection of:
- High Court judgments from 2000 to the present.
- High Court judgments from 1948 to 1999.
- Scanned copies of the judgments comprised in the first 100 Commonwealth Law Reports.
ebooks
A New Constitution for Australia
Ethics and Accountability in Criminal Justice : Towards a Universal Standard
How Parliament makes laws
Where do laws come from?
Discover in 10 minutes how a Bill becomes an Act, how legislation changes over time, and why some laws are made by the Commonwealth and others by the states.
Captioned version also available.
Developed by LIAC, State Library of NSW
How courts make laws
Legislation is a major source of law. Courts are the other source.
In this 10 minutes video you'll also find out about the court hierarchy, and the courts' and tribunals' jurisdictions.
Developed by LIAC, State Library of NSW
Captioned version also available.
Australian and NSW Constitution
- The Australian Constitution [external website]Learn about the history and key features of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act including a link to the Constitution.
- Constitution Act 1902 (NSW)View the full text of the NSW Constitution.
Find legal answers
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Find Legal Answers
Visit Find Legal Answers to find current and easy to understand information about the law in NSW.