Guides: Legal Research: How to find legislation

How to find legislation

There are three main ways to find legislation:

Tip #1: many Acts are amended multiple times. Ask yourself: Is this the current version of the Act? Do I have the version of the Act that was effective and in force at the time of the offense or act?

Tip #2: secondary sources (such as legal dictionaries and encyclopedias, texts, legal commentaries, and journal articles) are useful for identifying legislation to research and provide useful commentary and context.

Find legislation by topic

Federal Register of Legislation
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The Federal Register of Legislation is managed by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and provides access to the official authorised version of Commonwealth legislation - indicated with an authoritative logo. Content includes Bills, Acts, Regulations, and Legislative Instruments. You can browse legislation 'In force', 'As made', and 'No longer in force'.
To search:
Click Search, then Advanced Search from the top tool bar.
Enter keywords > Choose content(s) > Choose type(s) > refine dates etc if needed > Search
Lawlex Premium
Lawlex Premium is a single point of entry for conducting Australian legislative research. It contains Acts, Bills, second reading speeches, explanatory memoranda, and legislative history, such as historical versions of legislation, commencement information, and amendments, and more.
Tutorial: How to find legislation in Lawlex Premium

LawNow (Lexis Advance Research)
Lexis Advance provides access to legislation from all Australian jurisdictions. Lexis Advance's legislative citator LawNow connects you to further research material about the Act or section of an Act, including current, repealed and historical versions of Australian legislation, amendments, and links to explanatory memorandum and second reading speeches, where available.
To search:
Select jurisdiction > Under "Acts" select "Current Acts by Subject"
OR
Advanced Search > Enter keywords into "Search Terms" or "Legislation Title" > Select Jurisdiction > Select Legislation Type > Search

Westlaw AU
Westlaw AU provides access to Australian legislation. Westlaw AU's citator FirstPoint contains legislative history including amendments, currency status, and citing references.
To search:
Select "Legislation and Commentary" from the left hand menu, enter keywords into "Free Text" or "Legislation (Title)", tick "Legislation Only", select your jurisdiction from the Legislation Jurisdiction drop down menu, and then click "Search".

Find legislation by jurisdiction

Lawlex Premium
To search by jurisdiction:
Browse Legislation > Select a jurisdiction > Select a category > Select a subcategory
or
Advance Search > Enter Keywords > Select either "Title search" or "Full-text search" > select jurisdiction required

LawNow (Lexis Advance Research)
Select jurisdiction > Under "Acts" select "Current Acts by Subject"
OR
To search by jurisdiction:
Advanced Search > Enter keywords into "Search Terms"
OR
"Legislation Title" > Select Jurisdiction > Select Legislation Type > Search

Westlaw AU
To search by jurisdiction:
Select "Legislation and Commentary" from the left hand menu, enter keywords into "Free Text" or "Legislation (Title)", tick "Legislation Only", select your jurisdiction from the Legislation Jurisdiction drop down menu, and then click "Search".

Find judicially considered legislation

Judicial consideration of legislation is where the legislation has been applied, discussed or interpreted in court.

Legislation citators (eg: FirstPoint, CaseBase, and LawCite) are useful research tools that help you locate cases which have referred to an Act or section thereof.

Lexis Advance Research & US Research
To search:
Search for legislation on your topic > From within the legislation document, select "View Legislation Citator" > Cases > click on the hyperlinked case title (this takes you to the CaseBase platform which contains the case annotations and links to full text).
OR
Select CaseBase Cases - Advance Search > Search by keyword or enter the title of the Act into "Legislation Title" and section title (if required) into "Provision Numbers".
Westlaw AU
To search:
Select "FirstPoint" > type the title of the Act into "Legislation (Title)" and the section title (if required) into "Legislation Cited (Provision)" and select the Jurisdiction
Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)
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LawCite is an automated compilation unlike the case citators in Lexis and Westlaw which have been edited and complied by experts.
To search:
In LawCite, type title of Act and section number (if required) into Legislation Considered
OR
Click the 'Noteup' link from within an Act or section of an Act to search for references to that document.
TIP: Once you have located a relevant judgment you will need to search and use the most authoritative version.