Pathfinder main page

1. Introduction
2. Legislation
3. Interpreting legislation: extrinsic materials
4. Cases
5. Using the catalogue
6. Some recent texts
7. Looseleaf services
8. Conference/seminar proceedings
9. Family law journals held in the Law Library
10. Journal indexes
11. Web and online resources
12. Fellow travellers
13. Legal dictionaries
14. Dictionaries of abbreviations
15. Not held, try

1	Introduction

This document is a guide to key University of Sydney Law Library resources in the area of Australian Family Law

2	Legislation

Legislation consists of acts and statutory rules or regulations and comes in many formats.

• Sessional (as passed by houses of parliament)

Australian legislation is in Bays 6-10 of the Reference Collection on Level 8
• Reprints (as reprinted by government printers and commercial publishers)

Australian legislation is in Bays 6-10 of the Reference Collection on Level 8
• Looseleaf (as published in services by CCH etc)
see the yellow list of Looseleaf services by subject,
held at the Information Desk on Level 8
• Electronic (as available on CD ROM or via the Web)
• see under Legislation on the Electronic databases list
  on the Law Library homepage
• the subject database Australian Family Law Library contains Family Court and related State legislation.
  See the Electronic databases list for access infomation
• Legislation (sessional or numbered acts, and consolidations) is available free on the web
  at either:

AustLII (http://www.austlii.edu.au) OR
ScalePlus (http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/)

see also the list under Legislation on the
Law Library Legal Web sites page

Sometimes legislation in Looseleaf services
is more up to date than the electronic versions, as the services are often updated weekly whereas the electronic databases may only be updated monthly (and sometimes quarterly)

• Digested (ie summarised) in Australian Current Law Legislation or Australian Legal Monthly Digest
located in Bay 1 of the Reference collection on Level 8

Bills (draft legislation) are collected in print by the Library for Commonwealth and NSW only. the Library collects Commonwealth and NSW Bills (and EMs), these are located with the Journals on Level 10 under
Australia. Laws, Statutes etc. Bills or New South Wales.
Laws, Statutes etc. Bills. Recent Bills and EMs (ie since 1996)
are held with the Legislation in Bays 6 and 7 on Level 8) some recent federal bills are available see the full list under
[Bills] on the Law Library Legal Web sites page
(http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/webresources.html)

3	Interpreting legislation:
	extrinsic materials

Since 1984, the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AB allowed for the use of extrinsic materials in the interpretation of legislation. The extrinsic material includes:

• Explanatory memoranda (known as E.M's)

the Library collects Commonwealth and NSW Bills and EMs, which are bound together. They are shelved
with the Journals on Level 10 under Australia. Laws,
Statutes etc. Bills or New South Wales. Laws, Statutes etc. Bills. Recent Bills and EMs (ie since 1996 are held with the Legislation in Bays 6 and 7 on Level 8 (in alphabetical order)

Some recent federal bills and em's, are available on the web. See the full list under [Bills] on the
Law Library Legal Web sites page

• the Library has Commonwealth and NSW Hansard on
  Level 10
• for web access to Hansards see under [Hansard / Parliamentary Debates] on the
  Law Library Legal Web sites page

Search the Library Catalogue under the name of the Commission as an author.

Some examples:

Australia. Law Reform Commission. Review of the adversarial system of litigation : rethinking family law proceedings.
Sydney, N.S.W. : Australian Law Reform Commission, c1997.

Australia. Law Reform Commission. For the sake of the kids : complex contact cases and the Family Court . Canberra : Australian Govt. Pub. Service, c1995.

4

Cases

Cases are published in various formats. Some good places to look are:

• Law reports
• Family Law Reports,
• Australian Family law cases
• CLR, ALJR NSWLR,
• all Australian reports are located on Level 8. Current parts on Law Reserve

• Looseleaf services (such as Australian Family law and Practice) see section 7 below for more

• Electronic Databases (such as NSWLR or Unreported Judgments)
• Australian Family Law Library contains the Family Law Reports
• for access and other report series see the full list of
  caselaw databases available on the Law Library homepage at
(http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/databases.html#cases)

• Some unreported judgments from the Family Court High Court of Australia and the High Court are on the Web at
• AustLII  (http://www.austlii.edu.au) or
• ScalePlus (http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/)
• Digested in either Australian Current Law Reporter, the Australian Digest, Australian Legal Monthly Digest or The Legal Reporter.
• located in Bay 1 of the Reference Collection on Level 8

• Court registry. To get a case here, it helps to have the Plaintiff number.

• Casebase is available as an electronic database on the Law Library Network (access in Library only) under Case Citators or in print as Australasian Case Annotator in bay 2 of Reference collection on Level 8

• Australian Case Citator is available as an electronic database on the Law Library Network (access in Library only) under Case Citators or in print in Bay 1 of the Reference collection on Level 8

5	Using the catalogue

Where are the books on family law?

The main Library of Congress subject heading for Family Law is Domestic Relations
Here are some related headings:

• Child support
• Desertion and non-support
• Divorce
• Domicile in domestic relations
• Family law
• family
• Guardian and ward
• Husband and wife
• Married women -- legal status, laws etc
• Joint family
• Kinship (Law)
• Parent and Child (Law)
• Separation law
• Unmarried couples -- legal status, laws etc

6	Some recent texts

Australia

• Parker, Stephen, Patrick Parkinson and Juliet Behrens Australian family law in context : commentary and materials. Sydney ; Law Book Co., 1994-1997.

Law Undergraduate 346.94015 96
• Finlay, Henry Alan, Rebecca Bailey-Harris, Margaret F.A. Family law in Australia . Otlowski. Sydney : Butterworths, 1997.

Law Undergraduate 346.94015 7 C
• Dickey, Anthony, 1943- Family law. Sydney : LBC Information Services, 1997.

Law Undergraduate 346.94015 44 C

• Australian de facto relationships law.

Law Loose-leaf 346.94016 11
• Australian Family Court legislation.

Law Loose-leaf 346.94015 52A
• Australian family law

Law Loose-leaf 346.94015 48
• Australian family law & practice

Law Reserve 346.94015 124
• Australian family law court handbook.

Law Reserve 346.94015 66 1

8	Conference/seminar
	proceedings

Conference papers are notoriously difficult to find on a catalogue. If you do not have the exact title of the conference or seminar (do not search under the title of the paper in the catalogue) you can use a keyword search. Alternatively, try under the broad subject heading and the sub-heading "congresses" e.g. family law australia congresses in the subject field.

First World Conference on Family Law and Children's Rights. Congress Papers, 4 - 9 July 1993, Sydney.
Law Research 346.015 12

If you are aware of a recent major conference or seminar, it is also worthwhile searching the web as papers or other information is often available. We recommend using Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com/) for that type of search, or try to find a web page for a host organisation.

9	Family law journals
	held in the Law Library

All journals in the Law Library are filed alphabetically by title. Recents parts on Level 8 and older, bound volumes on Level 10

Australia

• Australian journal of family law
• Australian Family Lawyer
• Family Law Council news
• Family Matters

• Child and family law quarterly
• Family law (Chichester)
• International journal of law, policy, and the family
• previous title: International journal of law and the family
• Journal of Social welfare and family law

United States /Canada

• American journal of family law.
• Canadian family law quarterly.
• Canadian journal of family law
• Family advocate : a practical journal by the ABA Family Law Section
• Family and conciliation courts review
• Family law quarterly.
• Journal of family law (University of Louisville School of Law)

Europe

• The international survey of family law

Asia

• Lawasia family law series

10	Journal indexes

The Law Library subscribes to the following journal indexes. Some are availabe via the Web and some within the Law Library only. For the most part access is electronic, either on the Law Library network or via the web. For links to these and many other indexes and for access information see the Law Library Electronic database page 
(http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/databases.html).

• AGIS: generalist Australian legal index
• FAMILY: Australian Family and Society Abstracts
• APAIS: social sciences and public affairs
• LegalTrac A major general law index. It is produced in the U.S. but indexes journals from other jurisdictions (inc Canada, UK and Australia) and has the widest coverage of any of our indexes.
• Wilson's Index to Legal Periodicals This is a major law index. It has an American focus and includes a wide coverage of other jurisdictions.
• Legal Journals Index This is a British publication and its coverage is Britain and Europe.


• Recent articles on family law. Produced by the Library, Family Court of Australia. Covers 1981 -1996.

Location Law Ref RR 048
• Family Studies Database. Abstracts research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, and Human Development. International coverage.
• Child Abuse and Neglect U.S. based index of resources on the maltreatment of children

11	Web and Online Resources

Web Resources

There are some useful family law resources available on the Web. For an up to date list, see the Weblaw Family Law Subject Guide at http://www3.lawfoundation.net.au/links/weblaw_family.html

Some key web sites are:

• Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) (http://www.austlii.edu.au) This contains federal and state legislation and cases, as well as materials supplied by various organisations. There are useful links to a large number of local and international legal sites.

Lexis

The LEXIS (http://lexis.com) US database contains a wealth of primary legal material on mainly U.S, but including some Australian, UK, Asian, Canadian, NZ, South African and European law and some full text journals . Please contact the Law Library for a password.

Further reading:
If you need a primer in using electronic databases and the web the following is a excellent book with detailed instructions and exercises

• Dayal, S & Davey, S LDL Online 1998: laying down the law: computer assisted legal research, Sydney, Butterworths, 1998.

Law Undergraduate 025.0634994 6A

12	Fellow travellers

The following directories of legal academics contain those whose interests cover family law:

• Edwards, G & Sullivan, T (eds) Australian directory of academics, 4th ed, Kenmore, Universal Consultancy Services, 1995.

Law Reference 378.111025 1.


Using the Index suggested subdivisions are:
Family law, Child welfare, Children and family law, Children and the Law

13	Legal dictionaries

• Butterworths concise Australian legal dictionary. Sydney : Butterworths, 1997.

Law Reserve
• Butterworths Australian legal dictionary. Sydney : Butterworths, 1997.

Law reserve (also electronic database as part of Australian Legal Research Library under Reference Tools on Law Library network)

14	Dictionaries of abbreviations

There are many places to look for the meanings of legal abbreviations. The ones frequently used in the Law Library and held on Law Reserve are:

• Fong, C & Edwards, A Australian and New Zealand legal abbreviations, 2nd ed, Sydney, Australian Law Librarians' Group NSW Division, 1995.
• Kavass, II & Prince, MM World dictionary of legal abbreviations, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1991- .(Looseleaf)
• Prince, MM Bieber's Dictionary of legal abbreviations, 4th ed, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1993.
• Raistrick, D Index to legal citations and abbreviations, 2nd ed, London, Bowker-Saur, 1993.

For non-legal abbreviations:
Jones, DJ Australian dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations, 4th ed, Canberra, ALIA Press, 1995.
Law Reference 423.1 80A.

15	Not held, try ...

There are some resources which the University of Sydney Library does not hold.

Finding Journals:

you can find out which Australian library holds a title by looking up the electronic database called SIAL (Serials in Australian Libraries)
http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/Databases/sial.html

Finding Books

try the University of New South Wales or Macquarie Library Catalogues (links available from the Library Catalogue page http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/catalogue/othercat.html ) or library staff can access a database called Kinetica to see which library holds the title needed (ask at the Library Information desk)

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library@law.usyd.edu.au
Last modified: 26/02/01