By Type

Note: most databases listed below require authentication using your University username and password.

The following list is a selection of databases relevant to legal research. To find all databases subscribed to by the University of Melbourne Library use the  A–Z eJournals and Databases or Library catalogue.

Journal Articles

Refer to the Research Guide on Secondary Sources for more sources and detailed information.

AGIS Plus Text

The key resource for Australasian legal journal articles, conference papers and reports. Coverage: 143 law journals. Indexed articles from 1970. Full text articles from 1995 (See also Informit).

AustLII Legal Scholarship Library (Free Resource)

Australasian database of 60 full text law journals, including many not included in AGIS.

HeinOnline Full text

Retrospective legal periodicals.

Coverage: some titles from late 1800s. Generally does not hold material from the last 3 years.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals Abstracts

Multilingual index to 470 legal journals worldwide. Also covers some published collections of legal essays, Festschriften, Mélanges, and congress reports. Coverage: 1985–.

Index to Legal Periodicals Index with some full text

Indexes over 1025 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, institutes, statutes, bar association publications, university publications, and government publications. With nearly 300 law reviews, it provides international coverage including periodicals from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908–1981

Indexes articles from over 1025 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks and bar association publications, and over 1400 books per year. Includes full text coverage for over 320 periodicals from 1994.

Mostly US content, but includes major periodicals from Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. ILP combines 2 databases: ILP Full Text (Index from 1982–, some full text from 1994–) and ILP Retrospective (index only, vol 1 – 1981 for most titles).

Coverage: 1908–

LegalTrac Index with some full text

Key resource for legal journals, law reviews, newspapers, bar association journals, and international legal journals. Indexing for approximately 1700 journals.

Jurisdiction: US focus and some titles from other jurisdiction such as Europe, Canada, Australia and South Africa.
Coverage: 1980-

Lexis+ (Australia) Full text and article citator

(Previously Lexis Advance) Includes 12 Lexis journals in full text, as well as the ability to search for journal references to cases in Casebase.

Also inclcudes a number of bulletins, such as Australian Alternative Dispute Resolution Law Bulletin, Employment Law Bulletin, Internet Law Bulletin, Privacy Law Bulletin.

Coverage: 1990s–

Lexis Advance US Research Full text (formerly Lexis.com)

900 full-text journals, law reviews, bar journals and legal newspapers. Mainly US and Canadian titles.

Westlaw Full Text

Coverage includes over 700 US law journals and law reviews.

Westlaw Australia Full text

Includes the Australian Legal Journals Index, plus a number of key Australian law journals.

Westlaw UK Full Text

A selection of full text or abstracts of UK law journals , including Sweet and Maxwell titles. This platform also gives access to some journals with an International or regional focus, particularly EU issues.

Multi-disciplinary Journal Articles

For a more comprehensive list of inter-disciplinary databases for finding journal articles, see the Law Library's Interdisciplinary Databases page, which lists databases by topic.

Academic Search Complete Full Text

Multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for 4500+ journals, including more than 3600 peer-reviewed titles and 374 mostly full-text law titles. US focus, but includes some international. Coverage: Mainly from mid-1980s.

Cambridge Journals Full Text

Journals from Cambridge publishing. 230 journals, including 23 law titles.

Informit (Including AGIS)

The INFORMIT platform contains many multidisciplinary indexing and abstracting services, with predominantly Australasian and Asia/Pacific content. AGIS is the most comprehensive tool for finding Australasian legal articles. A number of other individual and collected databases are also pertinent to law, including SNIPER (intellectual property), CINCH (criminal justice), WORKLIT (employment and industrial relations), APA-FT (public affairs), the Indigenous Collection, Humanities & Social Sciences Collection and Family & Society Collection.

JSTOR Full Text

Full text archives of 1000+ leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes approx. 60 law titles. Coverage: Does not hold issues for the most recent 3–5 years.

ProQuest Central

Covering more than 160 subjects areas, ProQuest Central is the largest aggregated database of periodical content. This award-winning online reference resource features a highly-respected, diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.

Sage Journals

The SAGE Journals collection includes hundreds of journals spanning the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, Law and Medicine. Many of the journals are published on behalf of learned societies and institutions.

Scopus

Scopus is an abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, covering the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

SSRN (Social Science Research Network - includes Legal Scholarship Network) Full Text and Abstracts (Free Resource)

The SSRN eLibrary includes an abstract database containing abstracts from 260,000+ scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers, and an electronic paper collection currently containing 200,000+ full text papers.

Web of Science (includes Current Contents) Full Text

Multi-disciplinary database which covers agriculture, art, biology, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, environmental studies, humanities, life sciences, medicine, science, social sciences, and technology.

Newspapers

For a more detailed look at other Newspaper resources, including free resources please see the News and Newspapers Research Guide.

Factiva Full Text

25,000+ authoritative sources including 3000+ newspaper titles. Includes Dow Jones and Reuters newswires, the Associated Press, and D&B company profiles. May be unavailable at peak usage times.

Google News Archive Search Full Text (Free Resource)

The Google News Archive search function provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Many historical newspaper title holdings, some going back to the 19th century. All articles are digitised images of their original form.

NexisUni

Extensive coverage of Australian news titles, including regional and industry publications. Publishers include AAP, ABC, Fairfax (includes The Age, Australian Financial Review) and Nationwide News (Herald Sun, regional papers and bulletins). UK and US newspapers also available.

Fairfax papers – Full Text

Premium access to the websites of The Age, the Australian Financial Review, and the Sydney Morning Herald.  Access is also available to digital replica versions of the print editions. Fairfax newspapers are also available via NexisUni.

Commentary

CCH iKnowConnect Full Text

Australian CCH online commentary services covering topics such as corporations, trade practices, tax, health and medical law, industrial relations, torts and climate change.

Lexis+ (Australia) Full Text

Collection of Australian legal databases covering a large range of law areas. Includes the encyclopaedia Halsbury's Laws of Australia, plus commentary covering a range of topics such as civil procedure, contract law, corporations law, criminal law, intellectual property, evidence, and family law.

Lexis Advance US Research Full Text Commentary

Legal commentary covering a range of topics. To access this content select the link 'Secondary Legal' from the Lexis homepage.

Westlaw Cases, Legislation, Commentary & Journal Articles

Westlaw is a US-based collection of full text databases. Coverage includes US, UK and Canadian case law, US legislation, more than 700 law reviews, selected international materials and newspapers form most parts of the world including Australia.

Westlaw Australia Full Text

Includes the encyclopaedia Laws of Australia, plus commentary on a range of topics such as administrative law, bankruptcy law, civil procedure and dispute resolution, competition and consumer law, commercial arbitration, contract law, corporations law, evidence, intellectual property, media and internet law, and trusts.

Case and Case Citators

Australia

Westlaw Australia Full Text

Australian legal database. Coverage includes the following authorised reports: Commonwealth Law Reports, Federal Court Reports, and Industrial Reports. Also includes authorised reports and unreported judgments for all Australian states and territories.

Lexis+ (Australia)

Australian legal database. Contains the following authorised reports: Administrative Law Decisions, Victorian Reports, New South Wales Law Reports, and Queensland Reports.  Also includes unreported judgments. CaseBase is the case citator for Lexis+.

AustLII

Australasian Legal Information Institute contains Australian and New Zealand reported and unreported decisions, including most Australian courts, and many lower courts and tribunals.

LawCite is the case citator that is automatically generated, which gathers information from the free legal information institutes worldwide, including Australia.

CCH iKnowConnect

Australian law reports published by CCH, such as the Australian Torts Reports, Australian Company Law Cases, and the Australian Consumer Credit Law Reporter.

JADE (Free Resource)

JADE (Judgments and Decisions Enhanced) is a free legal database that contains decisions of selected Australian Courts and Tribunals.  JADE incorporates its case citator into the judgment text with pinpoint citation.  For example, when you view a judgment, JADE will let you know if a particular paragraph has been cited by other court cases.

A basic JADE account is free for anyone.  You need to register to use all of JADE's free features. Law students can also receive free access to the enhanced features of JADE Professional from their university email address, by sending an email to: editors@jade.io

Case Citator Comparison Table

Identifies the features of the following Australian case citators: CaseBase (Lexis+), KeyCite (Westlaw Australia), Jade, and LawCite (AustLII).

Canada

Westlaw Next Canada

Includes Canadian Criminal Cases (1898–), Dominion Law Reports (1912–), Labour Arbitration Cases (1948–), Land Compensation Reports (1971–), and Ontario Municipal Tribunal Reports.

CanLII (Free Resource)

Provides free access to court judgments from all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, federal courts, and the courts in all Canada’s provinces and territories. For a list coverage, see the CanLII Databases page.

United Kingdom

ICLR – Incorporated Council of Law Reporting

The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR) publish law reports of the judicial decisions of the Superior and Appellate Courts in England and Wales. ICLR Online contains the full text of the Law Reports and the Weekly Law Reports.

ICLR's Citator+ provides authoritative index information for each case, the appellate history and current status. It also includes Daily Law Notes which provide summaries of key cases within 24 hours of judgment.

JustisOne/vLex Justis

Full text of the Times Law Reports (1990–), the English Reports (1220–1873), the Daily Law Reports (1999+) and the International Law Reports (1919–).

Westlaw UK UK Flag Cases, Legislation, Commentary & Journal Articles

This database covers the United Kingdom (UK) and includes:

  • Cases from some of the UK's most renowned reporting series, including Weekly Law Reports, Fleet Street Reports and Session Cases from the SCLR
  • Consolidated legislation, going back to 1267, updated daily
  • Legal Journals Index – a comprehensive research tool for finding UK and EU legal journal articles
  • More than 110 full text journals
  • National, regional and international news and business updates
  • Selected Sweet & Maxwell eBook subscription titles

BAILII (Free Resource)

British and Irish case law and legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material. LawCite is the case citator that is automatically generated, which gathers information from the free legal information institutes worldwide.

United States

Lexis Advance US Research (International)

US case law, but also material from Australia, Canada, UK, the United Nations, and other international organizations. Includes Shephard's Citator service. Some users experience problems when using Internet Explorer. If this occurs, you should try using an alternative browser such as Mozilla.

Westlaw

Westlaw is a US based collection of full text databases. Coverage includes US, UK & Canadian case law, US legislation, more than 700 law reviews, selected international materials and newspapers form most parts of the world including Australia.

International and Global

Oxford Reports on International Law

Oxford Reports on International Law brings together decisions on public international law from international law courts, domestic courts, and ad hoc tribunals.

The database includes decisions from international courts of general jurisdiction, international human rights courts and international criminal courts, as well as international decisions in domestic courts, and EU Courts. Modules for trade law decisions and investment claims are also included in ORIL.

The decisions are accompanied by expert analysis and cross-case navigation via the Oxford Law Citator. New cases are added daily. Resources include:

Cambridge Law Reports

Cambridge Law Reports offers access to some key report series, including the content of the International Law Reports and the ICSID Reports series.

WorldLII (Free Resource)

World Legal Information Institute. Links to case material and legal resources worldwide. Browsable by country name. LawCite is the case citator that is automatically generated, which gathers information from the free legal information institutes worldwide.

E Books

Brill Nijhoff

Brill publications for international law and human rights are available in this database. Books are written by a wide range of international authors.

Cambridge

Close to 1200 law titles. International and comparative law, but also covers human rights law, corporate law, legal history and intellectual property. The collection includes monographs, handbooks, textbooks and reference titles as well as publications with key global organisations, such as the WTO and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

CCH iKnowConnect

Has full-text titles in the following areas: accounting, bankruptcy, insolvency, business law, industrial relations, tax and trade practices.

Edward Elgar – Law eBook collection

Over 700 titles on intellectual property, international economic law, commercial law, human rights, environment and energy law, public international law and EU law. Coverage commences from 1999 onward.

Hart Publishing eBooks (Bloomsbury)

Major UK law publisher, provides access to eBooks covering a wide range of law subject areas from 2016. UK law, and some international law coverage and includes some key texts for certain areas of the law.

Kluwer Arbitration

Arbitration titles including Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration (2009), Yearbook Commercial Arbitration (1976–), International Commercial Arbitration, Born, 2009.

IBFD – international tax

IBFD (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation) has 142 eBooks on topics including comparative tax law, European and EU tax law, international tax planning, tax treaties and transfer pricing.

Making of Modern Law:

Trials 1600–1926 This collection describes the courtroom dramas in America, the British Empire and the world. It includes unofficially published accounts of trials; official trial documents, briefs and arguments; and official records of legislative proceedings, administrative proceedings and arbitration.

Foreign, Comparative and International Law 1600–1926
This collection is an invaluable collection of legal treatises, historical records and works from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Providing broad coverage, the collection enables detailed research on centuries of major events of legal history, from public policy and taxation to contract law, sustainable development concerns, and issues of war and peace.

Legal Treatises 1800–1926 Provides digital images on every page of 22,000 legal treatises on US and British law published from 1800 to 1926.

Oxford Handbooks Online

Oxford Handbooks Online brings together the world's leading scholars to write/review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, and make an original argument about the future direction of the debate. Includes 13 law titles that offer over 600 articles authored by leading legal scholars.

Oxford Legal Research Library

Oxford Legal Research Library (OLRL) provides integrated access across collections of key law titles covering international commercial arbitration and international commercial law.

Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law (OSAIL)

Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law contains full-text online editions of market-leading reference works and treatises published by Oxford University Press. The books are fully searchable and linked by the Oxford Law Citator.

Oxford Scholarship Online

Oxford Scholarship Online is a vast and rapidly expanding cross-searchable library which offers quick and easy access to the full text Oxford books covering many areas.

ProQuest eBook Central

The University Library has access to over 5000 titles supplied by ProQuest eBook Central. ProQuest eBook Central provides titles from academic publishers in multiple subject areas including law. Simultaneous full-text searching across all titles is possible. Titles are continually added to the collection.

Springer

A package of eBooks across all disciplines and that includes a variety of law eBooks across the years.

Legislation

Australian

Refer to the Australian Legislation Research Guide for further information.

Australian Parliament House Website (Free Resource)

Includes Commonwealth Bills and Bills Digests, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), Explanatory Memoranda, Committee Reports.

Federal Register of Legislation (Free Resource)

Full text Commonwealth Acts, legislative instruments, and gazettes.

JADE (Free Resource)

Jade (Judgments and Decisions Enhanced) is a free case research service that collects recent decisions of selected Australian Courts and Tribunals. It also has some legislation content.

A basic JADE account is free for anyone. You need to register to use all of JADE's free features. Law students can also receive free access to the enhanced features of JADE Professional from their university email address, by sending an email to editors@jade.io.

Lawlex Premium

Access to Full Text Australian legislation, with associated Bill tracking, amendment & commencement information and links to related extrinsic materials.

Lexis+ (Australia) – LawNow Legislation Citator

The LawNow Legislation Citator on Lexis+ covers Acts and subordinate legislation for all Australian jurisdictions. This database allows you to do a range of legislative research tasks such as tracking legislative history and historical versions of an Act / subordinate legislation, and research related to Bills. The Legislation Citator provides an overview of an Act / subordinate legislation, references in secondary sources (such as Halsbury's Laws of Australia, journals and commentary), and related cases.

Legify (Free Resource)

Free search aggregator linking to authoritative sources for current Acts and Regulations. Coverage is Australian (federal, states and territories) and Norfolk Island.

TimeBase

Searchable legislation for all Australian jurisdictions. It also includes alerting service on legislation developments, bills, EMs and repealed legislation. Point-in-time for some law subjects.

Victorian Legislation website (Free Resource)

Includes full text, up-to-date legislation, and historical versions of legislation.

United Kingdom

JustisOne (now called vLex Justis)

Online legal library with UK legislation. Includes historical UK legislation.

Westlaw UK

This database contains the fully consolidated full text of Acts since 1267 and Statutory Instruments since 1948 and selected Westminster Parliamentary Bills from session 2015–16 onwards.

United States

Lexis Advance US Research

Includes federal public laws and the United States Code Service, as well as state codes, Federal and state registers, and state constitutions.

Westlaw

Westlaw is a US-based collection of full-text databases. Coverage includes US, UK and Canadian case law, US legislation, more than 700 law reviews, selected international materials and newspapers from most parts of the world including Australia.

Parliament

Australian

Australian Parliament House website (Free Resource)

Includes Commonwealth Bills and Bills Digests, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), Explanatory Memoranda, Committee Reports.

Capital Monitor

Capital Monitor provides legal news, press releases, ministerial announcements and information services from Parliament, Government and the Courts. Up to date Bills Monitors, Acts Proclamations and Assent sections and lists and links to all Acts during the current year are available for Federal and Victorian jurisdictions.

Victorian Legislation (Free Resource)

Primary source for Victorian legislation. Includes full text, current and historical Acts of Parliament, Bills considered by Parliament, and statutory rules.

Parliament of Victoria website (Free Resource)

Gateway to parliamentary activity, including the status of Bills, documents tabled and Parliamentary Committees.

UK

UK Parliamentary Papers

This database includes:

  • Commons and Lords sessional papers from the 18th through to the 21st centuries, with supplementary material back to 1688
  • Hansard from 1803 to 2005
  • Peter Cockton's Subject Catalogue of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801–1900
  • Diplomatic and consular reports 1887–1916
  • Public Petitions to Parliament, 1833–1918. Includes every petition accepted by parliament during this time, and enables the analysis of issues important to both the UK populace and Parliament.

Reference & Encyclopedias

Australian Law Dictionary

This dictionary is a key reference for those who need familiarity with - and knowledge of - Australian legal terms. Designed for students in response to research, it is structured to ensure comprehensive coverage of core legal content. Clear, relevant, and well-pitched definitions explain the meaning of Australian legal terms and detailed cross referencing is provided.

Australian Legal Words and Phrases (Lexis+)

Provides over 100,000 words and phrases defined in legislation or judicially interpreted in the Australian superior courts and selected tribunals. Click Search Publication from the landing page of Lexis+ and search for the publication.

Black's Law Dictionary

The leading legal dictionary in the United States. To access, search for Black's Law Dictionary from the Westlaw homepage.

Canadian Legal Words and Phrases (Lexis)

Contains over 13,000 words and phrases judicially defined in Canadian court and tribunal decisions. Click Browse in the top banner of Lexis and search for the publication.

Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary (Lexis+)

Lexis's Australian Legal dictionary, with over 25,000 definitions covering all areas of the law. Includes legislation and case references for defined terms. Click Search Publication from the landing page of Lexis+ and search for the publication.

Halsbury's Laws of Australia

Large online encyclopaedia covering a wide variety of Australian legal subjects, mostly at an intermediate level. 89 titles cover both mainstream and more specific subject areas. Commentary on the law includes references to Australian legislative and judicial authority.

Halsbury's Laws of Canada

Large Canadian online encyclopaedia covering a wide variety of legal subjects, mostly at an intermediate level.

Halsbury's Laws of England

Large online encyclopaedia covering a wide spectrum of UK legal subjects. Useful for researching a new area of law and finding the most important cases, legislation and commentary in that area.

Halsbury's Laws of India

A comprehensive online encyclopaedia of the Law in India, arranged alphabetically by topic. It contains commentary, and cites relevant legislation and significant cases. Click Search Publication from the landing page of Lexis+ and search for the publication.

Kluwer Law Online

Online access to the following titles in the International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Constitutional Law; Contracts;  Energy Law; Environmental Law; Intellectual Property; Labour Law; Privacy and Technology Law (formerly known as Cyber Law) Medical Law: Property and Trust Law, Sports Law; and Tort Law.

Laws of Australia

Large online encyclopaedia covering wide variety of Australian legal principles. Covers 320+ topics and every Australian jurisdiction.

Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law

Contains analytical coverage of constitutional law topics in a comparative context, arranged alphabetically by topic. The encyclopedia articles provide analysis of key cases that have contributed to or advanced constitutional law concepts on a global scale, and key instruments in constitutional law history such as the Magna Carta, the Charter of Medina, and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. The Encyclopedia can be browsed by subject and searched by keywords. It provides navigation between encyclopedia articles and commentaries and instruments from the Oxford Constitutions of the World and the Oxford Law Citator.

Max Planck Encyclopedias of Public International Law

The updated online edition of the reference work, Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Also includes the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law.

Parry & Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law

The leading English language international law dictionary.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Oxford Bibliographies combines the features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia to provide authoritative research guides on a range of subject areas such as criminology, international law and international relations.

Oxford Reference

Oxford Reference provides quality, up-to-date reference content on a range of subject areas such as law. It contains reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, guide books, and includes reference material such as the Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia.