Important cases heard in courts of law may be reported (or published) in one or more case law report series. Generally, only legally significant decisions are reported; these mainly stem from appellate courts.
Before a case is published in a law report series it is described as unreported. A case will remain unreported if it's not selected for reporting.
Decisions from lower courts, such as the Queensland Magistrates Court, are generally not published. Case law reports are not available where the accused entered a guilty plea, or for trials involving a jury, as there are no reasons for judgment. Sentencing decisions may be available for those cases, where applicable, but these are often only accessible for a limited period.
Created with Canva. Images by sketchify, used under Canva Free Content License.
Certain law report series are recognised as authorised law reports. These are verified by judicial officers prior to publication and are the official report series for a court. Westlaw Australia contains current Australian authorised law report series.
Key Australian authorised and unauthorised law reports series are listed in section 2.2.3 of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation ('AGLC').
The AGLC Appendix uses an asterisk * to identify authorised Australian law reports eg the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) are the authorised series for the High Court of Australia. Where a case is reported in multiple law report series, an authorised version should be cited in preference to an unauthorised version. This is in line with AGLC and court rules. CaseBase case records in Lexis Advance [now Lexis+ Australia] display the most authoritative citation first in the listing of parallel citations.
Video: Consultative Council of Australasian Law Reporting, 'Why Authorised Reports Matter!' (YouTube, 2 June 2023) <https://youtu.be/-aza7NlEE2o?si=8std0_vexrgQ5GCF>.
Photo by UniSQ Photography.
Authorised Australian law reports are shown below. Most are available in the Westlaw Australia and/or Lexis+ Australia database.
| Court | Report Series Title | Abbreviation | Online Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Court of Australia | Commonwealth Law Reports, 1903– | CLR | Westlaw Australia |
| Federal Court of Australia | Federal Court Reports, 1984– | FCR | Westlaw Australia |
| Administrative Appeals Tribunal | Administrative Law Decisions, 1976– | ALD | Lexis+ Australia |
|
Fair Work Commission [Fair Work Australia, Australian Industrial Relations Commission] |
Industrial Reports, 2006– [also contain unauthorised decisions of other courts and tribunals] |
IR | Westlaw Australia |
| Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory | Australian Capital Territory Law Reports, 2007– | ACTLR | Westlaw Australia |
| Australian Capital Territory Reports, 1973–2008 | ACTR | Lexis+ Australia | |
| Supreme Court of New South Wales | New South Wales Law Reports 1971– | NSWLR |
Westlaw Australia |
| New South Wales Reports, 1960–70 | NSWR | New South Wales Law Reports website | |
| State Reports, New South Wales, 1901–59 | SR (NSW) |
Westlaw Australia |
|
| Supreme Court of the Northern Territory | Northern Territory Law Reports, 1991– | NTLR | Westlaw Australia |
| Northern Territory Reports, 1979–91 | NTR | Lexis+ Australia | |
| Supreme Court of Queensland | Queensland Reports, 1958– |
QR [2019–] Qd R [1958–2019] |
Westlaw Australia Lexis+ Australia |
| State Reports of Queensland, 1902–57 | St R Qd |
Westlaw Australia Lexis+ Australia |
|
| Supreme Court of South Australia |
South Australian State Reports, 1921– |
SASR |
Westlaw Australia [1951–] |
| South Australian Law Reports, 1899–1920 | SALR | AustLII | |
| Supreme Court of Tasmania | Tasmanian Reports, 1979– | Tas R |
Westlaw Australia [1992–] |
| Tasmanian State Reports, 1941–78 | Tas SR | AustLII | |
| Tasmanian Law Reports, 1904–40 | Tas LR | AustLII | |
| Supreme Court of Victoria | Victorian Reports, 1957– | VR |
WestLaw Australia |
| Victorian Law Reports, 1875–1956 | VLR | AustLII | |
| Supreme Court of Western Australia | Western Australian Reports, 1960– | WAR |
Westlaw Australia [1983–] UniSQ print copies 1960–2010 |
| Western Australian Law Reports, 1899–1959 | WALR | AustLII |
