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Reported vs unreported cases

Reported vs unreported cases

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.

 

Infographic of the case law reporting process

Created with Canva. Images by sketchify, used under Canva Free Content License. 

A case with unreported and reported versions has multiple/parallel citations. Cite the most authoritative version in line with AGLC 2.2.2 and 2.2.7. Law report series are published in print format and online in law databases.
 
  1. Case heard in court. Reasons for judgment delivered on judgment date. Many lower court cases deliver reasons verbally and do not progress to written judgments. Cases involving guilty pleas or jury trials do not have reasons for judgment. Large volume of cases at this level.
  2. Unreported judgment. Court's written reasons for judgment. Available shortly after judgment date via court websites, AustLII and law databases. Medium neutral citation format with court abbreviation e.g. [2013] QSC 226. Most cases from superior courts available in this format. May be reported in due course.
  3. Reported judgment. Certain cases are selected for publication in law report series. There are many law report series. A case may be reported in more than one. Format includes headnote, catchwords and argument summary. Normally published within several months of judgment date.
  4. Authorised report. Significant cases are published in an authorised law report series. This is the official law report series for a court e.g. CLR. See AGLC 2.2.3. Reports are verified by judicial officers before publication. Takes longer to be published. Cite this version if available.

 

Authorised vs unauthorised law reports

Authorised vs unauthorised law reports

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 the full collection of Australian authorised law report series.Photo of hardcopy commonwealth law reports volumes

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.