Historic release of the NSW law reports online
The State Reports (NSW) were the authorised reports of the Supreme Court of NSW from 1901-70. The Chief Justice of NSW, the Hon Tom Bathurst AC, officially launched the online collection during an event held at the Supreme Court of NSW on 28 June 2017.
In bringing the decisions of the State Reports into greater circulation, this project has the real capacity to influence and enhance our common law. The doctrine of precedent that characterises Common Law relies on knowledge of, and access to, those precedents. This project has the important role of bringing forgotten judgments back into the light.
Thomson Reuters published the State Reports (NSW) from volumes 1 through to 63, with the Council of Law Reporting for NSW becoming the official publisher for volumes 64 to 72. The new publications feature electronic full text linked to high-quality PDF images. Volumes after 1950 have not previously been available in any online form.
Speaking at the launch event, the Chairperson of the Council of Law Reporting for NSW, Mark Brabazon SC, said:
We are grateful to our friends at Thomson Reuters for joining with us to make this important series of reports available to the public in a convenient, high-quality and inexpensive form. … The reports [on the Council’s website] are searchable and readable without charge, and may be downloaded for printing or storage on a modest pay-per-view basis.
Thomson Reuters ANZ Product Management Director, Carl Olson, also spoke at the launch event.
We’re very pleased to collaborate with the Council of Law Reporting for NSW on making this State Reports archive available to practitioners and the wider public. Apart from the ease of online research, and being able to access PDF law reports for court, the addition of the online State Reports will create almost 45,000 new internal links on the Thomson Reuters platform, Westlaw.
The full archive of the State Reports (NSW) is now live on Thomson Reuters’ Westlaw AU and the Council of Law Reporting for NSW’s website.
For the full speech from Chief Justice of NSW, the Hon Tom Bathurst AC, click here.
As publishers of the largest collection of authorised and specialist law reports in Australia, our customers will be able to seamlessly complete their authorised case law research on Westlaw AU. For more info on all our authorised reports click here.
