Subject guides: Business Law: Legal commentary

Legal commentary

It can be helpful to start your research with legal commentary services as they:

Provide an overview/summary of the law.
Can help you to identify key cases and legislation on a given subject.

Legal databases - search operators chart
Use these search operators to connect your keywords when searching across legal databases.

Legal commentary (looseleaf services)

Commentary services are regularly used by legal practitioners as they provide a comprehensive overview of a particular area of law e.g. contracts, consumer law etc.

Australian commentary services are primarily published online via the following legal databases:

Lexis Advance
Enter your search terms (keywords) into the main search box at the top of the page.

To limit your search results to commentary, click on the AU Secondary Materials tab at the top of your search results page.

You can then use the left-hand menu to further limit your results by Content type e.g. journals, commentary, etc.
Westlaw Australia
How to search - Enter your search terms into the main search box to search across legal commentary services, journal articles, and The Laws of Australia legal encyclopaedia. Use the left-hand menu to filter your search results.
CCH IntelliConnect
How to search - Enter your search terms into the main search box. To limit your results, select by Document Type > CCH Commentary via the left-hand menu.

How to browse - click on the subject areas via the left-hand menu to view a list of available titles.

Legal Encyclopaedias

Legal encyclopaedias generally provide a succinct overview and summary of the law across an extensive range of subject areas.

Halsbury's Laws of Australia
Available via Lexis Advance.
The Laws of Australia
Available via Westlaw Australia.

Australian legal dictionaries

Legal dictionaries provide the meaning of select words and phrases in a legal context. They may also refer to key cases and legislation that deal with the meaning of a particular legal term.

Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary
Available via Lexis Advance. Includes 25,000+ definitions.
Australian Legal Words and Phrases
Available via Lexis Advance. Includes 100,000+ words and phrases that have either been defined in legislation or interpreted in a court judgment.
Australian Law Dictionary (3rd ed)
Published by Oxford University Press. Includes 3,500+ entries.