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NetWatch: March 2007
Author:
Anne Greenshields
Law Liaison Librarian, Murdoch UniversitySubjects:
Legal research (Other articles)
Issue:
Category:
- Primary Legal Materials on the Internet - Case Law, Statutes and Extrinsic Material
- Australian legal sites and developments
- Commonwealth of Australia: Government Publications relevant to legal researchers
Primary Legal Materials on the Internet
ALEX (Austrian historical laws online - Historische Rechts- und Gesetzestexte)
AsianLII
"AsianLII provides free access to 101 databases from 22 of the 27 Asian countries, from Mongolia in the north to Timor Leste
in the south, Japan in the east to Pakistan in the west. It includes about 150,000 full text cases, and over 15,000 items of legislation,
plus law reform reports, law journals, and other materials. Some of the larger collections are from the Philippines, India, and (for
legislation) Timor-Leste and Vietnam. AsianLII also includes 14 Hong Kong databases from HKLII, and 9 Papua New Guinea databases
from PacLII."
The LII "family" are members of and are supported by the free access to law movement. The "LII" focus is access to primary legal materials. These should always be used with caution in relation to
the currency of the information provided: Western Australian legislation on AustLII was last updated on 28 May 2004.
| Australasian Legal Information Institute AustLII | Droit francophone | New Zealand Legal Information Institute NZLII |
| British and Irish Legal Information Institute BAILLI | Hong Kong Legal Information Institute HongKongLII | Pacific Legal Information Institute PacLII |
| Canandian Legal Information Institute CanLII | Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques (Italy) ITTIG | South African Legal Information Institute SAFLII |
| Commonwealth Legal Information Institute CommonLII | Burkina Faso Legal Information (West Africa) JuriBurkina |
World Legal Information Institute WorldLII |
| The Cyprus Source of Legal Information CyLaw | Legal Information Institute (USA) LII |
High Court of New Zealand Decisions 2005+
Subject Index to South Australian Legislation
Talking Privacy Website - Young People & Privacy (Australian Law Reform Commission)
Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946
United Kingdom Statute Law Database "the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom made available online."
Australian sites and developments
Just Search "searches the full text of 16 Law and Justice Foundation reports into the legal needs of disadvantaged groups in NSW".
LAWLEX: a new address for the free/non-premium service. LawLex is a gateway to legislative materials from all Australian jurisdictions.
Judicial Commission of New South Wales -Publications
- Sentencing Bench Book
- Criminal Trial Courts Bench Book
- Equality before the Law Bench Book
- Sentencing Trends & Issues
- Research Monographs
MusicAustralia - "Australia's Music: Online, in Time". "MusicAustralia is an online service developed by the National Library of
Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive (a division of the Australian Film Commission) and other cultural institutions
across the nation."
Samples, scores and links to purchase: "You can locate 89164 sound recordings in MusicAustralia, 44947 of which have online
content. Most of these have links to sound files, but in some cases the link is a link to a performer or group website which contains
sound files."
Subject Index to South Australian Legislation
Supreme Court of Western Australia : Subscribe to the daily Court list, Practice Directions, Practitioners' Circulars and 'What's New' court updates. Available as emails or RSS feeds.
The Australia Institute "is an independent public policy research centre funded by grants from philanthropic trusts, memberships and commissioned research." The site includes substantial discussion papers and media releases.
Write Better English An excellent free resource with some excellent hints and ideas for improving written English.
Commonwealth of Australia: Government Publications
- Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-For-Food Programme [AWB inquiry] (10 November 2005–24 November 2006)
House of Representatives Committees
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs
- Inquiry into harmonisation of legal systems - tabled 4 December 2006
Senate Committees of the Current Parliament
- Community Affairs
- Report: Inquiry into the Legislative responses to Recommendations of the Lockhart Review (30 October 2006)
(Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research)
- Report: Inquiry into the Legislative responses to Recommendations of the Lockhart Review (30 October 2006)
- Legal and Constitutional
Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages (December 2006)
- Procedure
Restructuring the committee system (August 2006)
- Scrutiny of Bills
Inquiry into Entry, Search and Seizure Provisions in Commonwealth Legislation (4 December 2006)
Joint Committees Administered by the Senate
- Australian Crime Commission (Formerly National Crime Authority)
Amphetamines and Other Synthetic Drugs (AOSD) (28 February 2007)
Joint Committees Administered by the House
- Joint Standing Committee on Treaties
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jsct/reports.htm- Report 83: Review of treaties tabled on 20 June (2), 17 October, 28 November (2) 2006 and CO2 Sequestration in Sub-Seabed Formations
- Agreement with the United Mexican States on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments and Protocol
- Amendments, done at St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean on 20 June 2006, to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
- Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia concerning Transfer of Sentenced Persons
- Amendment to Annex 1 to the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
- Report 82: Review of treaty with Cambodia Concerning Transfer of Sentenced Persons
- Report 81: Review of treaties tabled on 8 August 2006
- Agreement with the People’s Republic of China on the Transfer of Nuclear Material
- Agreement with the People’s Republic of China for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy
- Report 80: Review of treaties tabled on 28 March (4) and 5 September (2) 2006
- Exchange of Letters constituting an Agreement with New Zealand to amend Article 3 of the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement
- Mutual Assistance Treaty with China
- Report 79. Treaties with Malaysia and China on mutual assistance in criminal matters
- Report 78: Treaty Scrutiny: A Ten Year Review
- Report 77: Review on Treaties tabled on 20 June and 8 August 2006
- Agreement relating to Scientific and Technical Cooperation with the United States of America
- Amendments to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material
- Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement between Australia and Japan to replace the Delineated and Recorded Japanese Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program
- Amendments to the Singapore-Australia and the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreements to ensure compliance with changes to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
- International Health Regulations
- Report 83: Review of treaties tabled on 20 June (2), 17 October, 28 November (2) 2006 and CO2 Sequestration in Sub-Seabed Formations
Attorney Generals Department: Publications
Parliamentary Library Publications
- Chronologies online
- Chronology of Australian federalism (3 May 2007)
- Workplace relations reforms: a chronology of business, community and Government responses (24 January 2007)
- E-Briefs & Hot Issues
- Refugees and asylum seekers: a guide to key resources and recent developments - E-Brief - updated 1 May 2007
- Special Broadcasting Service (SBS): Operations and funding - E-Brief - issued 28 March 2007
- Muslim Australians - E-Brief - issued 6 March 2007
- Identity Cards - E-Brief issued 10 February 2006, updated 7 February 2007
- The East Asia Summit, Cebu, 2007: issues and prospects - E-Brief - issued 1 December 2006, updated 20 December 2006
- Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women: a review of the literature and statistics - E-Brief - issued 6 December 2004, updated 12 December 2006
- Funding of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation E-Brief - August 2003; updated November 2006
- Research Notes
- 18 Australia's uranium
- 17 Victorian election 2006
- 16 Temporary (long stay) business visas: subclass 457
- 15 Timetable for the next Australian elections as at 8 December 2006
- 14 Daylight saving time
- 13 Water requirements of nuclear power stations
- 12 Commonwealth child care support—what do families get?
- 11 Timetable for the next Australian elections
- 10 Government assistance to alternative transport fuels
- 9 Home loan affordability—measurement and trends
- 8 House prices
- 7 A North Korean nuclear test: possible or probable?
- 6 Preference flows at the 2004 House of Representatives election
- 5 North Korea: diplomatic efforts
- 4 Queensland and New South Wales proposed redistributions, 2006
- 3 Federal government advertising 2004–05
Business, Corporations & Securities
FDI.net "free, on-demand country analysis and information on all things related to foreign direct investment in 175 countries. The site combines business and public resources with World Bank Group analysis to provide users with a single entry point for the full-spectrum of information needed to make a decision about investing in a foreign country." Part of the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
POCLAD: Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy
Censorship & Privacy
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (USA)
Talking Privacy Website - Young People & Privacy (Australian Law Reform Commission)
Children and Young People
Child Welfare Information Gateway: "Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families." (US government agencies.)
Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center Online (USA) "The goal is to enhance the capacity of states and local program personnel to conduct and/or participate in the evaluation of juvenile justice programs or juvenile justice system(s)."
National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (USA)
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (USA)
National Youth Gang Center "The purpose of the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) is to assist policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in their efforts to reduce youth gang involvement through the implementation of effective gang prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies." (USA)
Citizenship & Migration
Refugees and asylum seekers: a guide to key resources and recent developments - E-Brief - updated 1 May 2007. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Temporary (long stay) business visas: subclass 457 Research Note 15, 2006-07. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Civil Rights
iAbolish is the website of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), "a U.S.-based non-profit dedicated to the abolition of modern day slavery. While many believe that the slave trade ended some time ago, there are still over 27 million people held in bondage today." Research and reports from around the world.
Identity Cards - E-Brief issued 10 February 2006, updated 7 February 2007. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Religion & the Law The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life runs several online forums dealing with issues such as abortion, gay relationships, and holiday displays in public space. Publications published here "provide users with detailed background and public opinion information on Forum topics." The site describes it self as "a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates or legislation."
Constitutional Law
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace includes a program Democracy and Rule of Law Journals, discussion, and reports make this an informative and important resource for researchers.
Chronology of Australian federalism (3 May 2007) Australia. Parliamentary Library
Inquiry into harmonisation of legal systems Parliament of Australia. Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Crime
Amphetamines and Other Synthetic Drugs (AOSD) (28 February 2007) Australian Crime Commission
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) is a research program of the Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The site includes:
- Violence Literature Database (VioLit) as well as reports, publications and discussion.
- Blueprints for Violence Prevention is a national violence prevention initiative created to identify effective violence prevention programs. So far, the initiative has selected 11 model programs that have been effective in reducing adolescent violent crime, aggression, delinquency, and substance abuse.
Cybercrime Law "The emerging global legal framework based on the Council of Europe Convention of Cybercrime as a model law, promotes the harmonization of national legal approaches on cybercrime. This comprehensive survey of current legislations from around the world includes the laws of 78 countries." Unofficial English translations of relevant legislation, also papers and essays.
Inquiry into Entry, Search and Seizure Provisions in Commonwealth Legislation (4 December 2006) (Australia. Senate. Scrutiny of Bills Committee)
Judicial Commission of New South Wales -Publications
Sentencing Bench Book
Criminal Trial Courts Bench Book
Equality before the Law Bench Book
Sentencing Trends & Issues
Research Monographs (abstracts)
Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center Online (USA) "The goal is to enhance the capacity of states and local program personnel to conduct and/or participate in the evaluation of juvenile justice programs or juvenile justice system(s)."
Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women: a review of the literature and statistics - E-Brief - issued 6 December 2004, updated 12 December 2006. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (USA)
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (USA)
National Youth Gang Center "The purpose of the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) is to assist policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in their efforts to reduce youth gang involvement through the implementation of effective gang prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies." (USA)
Report: 55% of defendants could have mental illness (09/05/07) LawLink (NSW)
" A pilot study of 189 defendants in the Blacktown and Newcastle Local Courts by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research
(BOCSAR) has found that 55 per cent reported one or more signs of psychiatric disorder. Of those who reported a psychiatric disorder,
three-quarters also met the criteria for dependent or disordered substance use."
Directories, Guides and Search Engines
FLARE (Foreign Law Research) "is a collaboration between the major libraries collecting law in the United Kingdom: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Bodleian Law Library, Squire Law Library, British Library, and School of Oriental and African Studies. It is working to improve the coverage and accessibility of foreign legal materials at the national level and to raise expertise in their use.'
Globalex: Directory of legal research resources for International, Comparative, and Foreign (ie. non-US) Law (NYU, US). Also available is the International Human Rights Research Guide
LAWLEX: a new address for the free/non-premium service. LawLex is a gateway to legislative materials from all Australian jurisdictions.
Legal Research Engine their boast is to provide “easy access to authoritative legal research guides on every subject.”
Peace Palace Library a bibliographic database compiled by the Peace Palace Library. It includes books, chapters in books, and journal articles on the philosophy of law generally, by world region and regional topics, by special topics, and especially the philosophy of international law / international legal theory. The Peace Palace Library catalogue is a great resource for finding books, chapters of books/essays in collections, and journal articles on an international law topic as it indexes all publications.
Dispute Resolution
odr.info Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution (CITDR). Online Dispute Resolution Information site: "at the intersection of technology and dispute resolution".
Education
Write Better English An excellent free resource with some excellent hints and ideas for improving written English.
Employment
Labour Web "Documentation centre on the evolution of labour law, industrial relations and the welfare state within the context of European integration." The site includes legislation from European Union member countries, ECJ judgments, and research resources."
Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages (December 2006) Australia. Senate, Legal and Constitutional Committee
Workplace relations reforms: a chronology of business, community and Government responses (24 January 2007) Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Environment
Environmental Law Net Environmental Law Net is considered a leading resource for environmental law research and news for US and non-US researchers.
Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (UK)
World Water Council: "An International Multi-Stakeholder Platform for a Water Secure World".
European Union
Labour Web "Documentation centre on the evolution of labour law, industrial relations and the welfare state within the context of European integration." The site includes legislation from European Union member countries, ECJ judgments, and research resources.
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) European based
Family Law
Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women: a review of the literature and statistics - E-Brief - issued 6 December 2004, updated 12 December 2006. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (USA)
Religion & the Law The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life runs several online forums dealing with issues such as abortion, gay relationships, and holiday displays in public space. Publications published here "provide users with detailed background and public opinion information on Forum topics." The site describes it self as "a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates or legislation." (USA)
Gender
Measuring domestic violence and sexual assault against women: a review of the literature and statistics - E-Brief - issued 6 December 2004, updated 12 December 2006. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Religion & the Law The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life runs several online forums dealing with issues such as abortion, gay relationships, and holiday displays in public space. Publications published here "provide users with detailed background and public opinion information on Forum topics." The site describes it self as "a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates or legislation." (USA)
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage & Sexuality in the U.S. & U.K., 1815-1914 "Studies in Scarlet presents the images of over 420 separately published trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library's extensive trial collections".
The World Bank: An Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals "The World Bank established a set of Millennium Development Goals as both a challenge to poor countries to demonstrate “good governance” and to wealthy nations as a spur that would hopefully encourage them to support economic and social development.... these include include the promotion of gender equality, combating disease, and reducing child mortality. Visitors can click on any of these eight goals and they will be able to view maps of the world that document the progress that has been made in each nation."
Health
Amphetamines and Other Synthetic Drugs (AOSD) (28 February 2007) Australian Crime Commission
National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (USA)
Religion & the Law The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life runs several online forums dealing with issues such as abortion, gay relationships, and holiday displays in public space. Publications published here "provide users with detailed background and public opinion information on Forum topics." The site describes it self as "a non-partisan, non-advocacy organization, the Forum does not take positions on policy debates or legislation." (USA)
Report: Inquiry into the Legislative responses to Recommendations of the Lockhart Review (30 October 2006) (Parliament of Australia, Senate Commitee on Community Affairs) (Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research)
Housing, Property and Development
The World Bank: An Online Atlas of the Millennium Development Goals "The World Bank established a set of Millennium Development Goals as both a challenge to poor countries to demonstrate “good governance” and to wealthy nations as a spur that would hopefully encourage them to support economic and social development.... these include include the promotion of gender equality, combating disease, and reducing child mortality. Visitors can click on any of these eight goals and they will be able to view maps of the world that document the progress that has been made in each nation."
Human Rights
Globalex: Directory of legal research resources for International, Comparative, and Foreign (ie. non-US) Law (NYU, US). Also available is the International Human Rights Research Guide
iAbolish is the website of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), "a U.S.-based non-profit dedicated to the abolition of modern day slavery. While many believe that the slave trade ended some time ago, there are still over 27 million people held in bondage today." Research and reports from around the world.
International Commission of Jurists "dedicated to the primacy, coherence, and implementation of international law and principles that advance human rights."
International Human Rights Law Video Library "The Library has video holdings of interviews with leading commentators and practitioners in the field of international human rights. Further, the Library has video clips of visits to various sites which provide insights into the manner in which international human rights law functions." (Queen's University, Belfast.)
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) European based
Refugees and asylum seekers: a guide to key resources and recent developments - E-Brief - updated 1 May 2007. Australia. Parliamentary Library.
Indigenous Peoples
Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
NCAI: National Congress of American Indians
Office of Tribal Justice (USA) "The Office of Tribal Justice is the primary channel of communication for Native Americans with the Department of Justice, and facilitates the coordination of a broad range of Native American issues to help unify the federal response".
IWGIA: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs "founded in 1968 by human rights activists and anthropologists and was a response to genocide of Indians occurring in the Amazon".
Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages (December 2006) Australia. Senate, Legal and Constitutional Committee
Intellectual Property
Digital Law Online "Initially, this site provided supplementary material to Professor Hollaar's treatise "Legal Protection of Digital Information." It now contains an online version of that book and in the future will contain other online texts, as well as links to other sites useful in understanding law in the digital age."
International Law
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace includes a program Democracy and Rule of Law Journals, discussion, and reports make this an informative and important resource for researchers.
FLARE (Foreign Law Research) "is a collaboration between the major libraries collecting law in the United Kingdom: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Bodleian Law Library, Squire Law Library, British Library, and School of Oriental and African Studies. It is working to improve the coverage and accessibility of foreign legal materials at the national level and to raise expertise in their use.'
Globalex: Directory of legal research resources for International, Comparative, and Foreign (ie. non-US) Law (NYU, US).
iAbolish is the website of the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), "a U.S.-based non-profit dedicated to the abolition of modern day slavery. While many believe that the slave trade ended some time ago, there are still over 27 million people held in bondage today." Research and reports from around the world.
International Association of Law Libraries
International Commission of Jurists "dedicated to the primacy, coherence, and implementation of international law and principles that advance human rights."
International Human Rights Law Video Library "The Library has video holdings of interviews with leading commentators and practitioners in the field of international human rights. Further, the Library has video clips of visits to various sites which provide insights into the manner in which international human rights law functions." (Queen's University, Belfast.)
International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative "The IHL Research Initiative Portal offers unique access to academic and policy oriented research materials related to IHL. It provides access to one of the most comprehensive databases of online materials related to International Humanitarian Law."
International Law Video Library "an interactive library of material for students interested in seeing video clips of well-known persons in the field of international law as well as visiting sites of importance to the study of international law." (Queen's University, Belfast.)
MIT Center for International Studies Publications include "audits of the conventional wisdom", Journal of Middle East Studies (international relations and law), and book chapters and more.
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) European based
Peace Palace Library a bibliographic database compiled by the Peace Palace Library. It includes books, chapters in books, and journal articles on the philosophy of law generally, by world region and regional topics, by special topics, and especially the philosophy of international law / international legal theory. The Peace Palace Library catalogue is a great resource for finding books, chapters of books/essays in collections, and journal articles on an international law topic as it indexes all publications. Use this to identify relevant resources, consult with your own library service to access the materials.
Journals, Essays and Newspapers
Arab Reform Bulletin English and Arabic editions. Vol 1, 2003+
China Leadership Monitor "offers authoritative assessments of trends in Chinese leadership politics and policy", from the Hoover Institution
James Cook University Law Review Vol 9, 2002+
Journal of Middle East Studies (MIT, USA) Vol 1, 2001+
Peace Palace Library a bibliographic database compiled by the Peace Palace Library. It includes books, chapters in books, and journal articles on the philosophy of law generally, by world region and regional topics, by special topics, and especially the philosophy of international law / international legal theory. The Peace Palace Library catalogue is a great resource for finding books, chapters of books/essays in collections, and journal articles on an international law topic as it indexes all publications. Use this to identify relevant resources, consult with your own library service to access the materials. A extensive Bibliography Philosophy of Law with categories are an invaluable resource for researchers
Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion Vol 1, 1999+
Legal History
An Index and Paraphrase of Printed Year Book Reports, 1268 - 1535 (UK) compiled by David J. Seipp (Seipp's Abridgement)
History of the Supreme Court (USA)
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage & Sexuality in the U.S. & U.K., 1815-1914 "Studies in Scarlet presents the images of over 420 separately published trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library's extensive trial collections".
Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946
Legal System
Inquiry into harmonisation of legal systems Parliament of Australia. Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
International Commission of Jurists "dedicated to the primacy, coherence, and implementation of international law and principles that advance human rights."
Media and Communication
odr.info Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution (CITDR). Online Dispute Resolution Information site: "at the intersection of technology and dispute resolution".