Law Subject Guide

Legal encyclopedias are a useful starting point when researching an unfamiliar area of law. They contain brief overviews of legal concepts and references to leading case law and key legislative provisions.

Australian legal encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias are typically divided into:

• titles (subject areas)
  • chapters
    • sub headings
      • paragraphs.

The notes beneath each paragraph include references to primary sources, including legislative provisions for each Australian jurisdiction. Two online Australian legal encyclopedias are available:

The Halsbury's Laws of Australia table of contents displays the encyclopedia 'titles' or subject areas. From here:

• use + symbols to drill down and browse through the information
• enter key terms into the search box above the table of contents and select either:
  • 'Search All Documents in this source' (full-text search) or
  • 'Table of Contents only' to limit the search to headings only
• select one or more checkboxes to restrict a search to a specific title/subject area.

Alternatively, enter key terms into the search box on the Lexis+ Australia homepage and apply the Publication > Halsbury's Laws of Australia filter in the results list.

Using the Laws of Australia - Westlaw Australia (Thomson Reuters, 2024) <https://support.thomsonreuters.com.au/product/new-westlaw-australia/video/using-laws-australia-westlaw-australia-327-min>.

Overseas legal encyclopedias

Lexis+ Australia includes Halsbury's Laws of England.

Use Thomson Reuters Westlaw to access other legal encyclopedias from overseas jurisdictions such as:

• American Jurisprudence 2d
• Canadian Encyclopedic Digest
• Corpus Juris Secundum (USA)