LibGuides: Criminology: Legal

Statutes and Cases

Listed below are freely available sources to law.

Legislation New Zealand
This website provides Acts, Bills, Legislative Instruments, and Supplementary Order Papers, and links to Other Instruments.
NZLII legislation
Free. Includes legislation as enacted from 1841.

NZLII case law This link opens in a new window
Free. Includes most NZ courts and tribunals: selected content from District, Youth and Family Courts.

For advanced legal research try

Lexis Advance This link opens in a new window
Access to legislation, case law and commentary on a wide range of legal topics.

Library Search | Ketu This link opens in a new window
Use broad terms to find texts, e.g. criminal law zealand.
Use narrower terms to find articles, e.g. culpable homicide defences.
LegalTrac (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and selective full-text for all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals and legal newspapers. The database offers coverage of federal and state cases, laws and regulations, legal practice and taxation, as well as British Commonwealth, European Union, and international law.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window

For advanced legal research try

LinxPlus - journal articles
An index of journal articles collected by the Law Society.

Lexis Advance This link opens in a new window
Commentary: use the Big Red Search box to keyword search, then select Secondary Sources Tab. Then filter to commentary from the left-hand menu. Commentary is regularly updated expert interpretation of statutes as analysed in leading cases

Cardiff index to legal abbreviations This link opens in a new window
Decode abbreviations here.

Glossary of legal terms
Jargon-busting from the Ministry of Justice.
Laws of New Zealand: topic list
This is a legal encyclopedia published by Lexis, and is a good introduction to any area of New Zealand law.
Legal referencing using APA
The Law Librarians at AUT have created a guide for non-Law students, for citing the occasional Act or case. For Law students taking Law papers, use the NZLSG.
Research Strategies for Law
This help page includes a LOT of help. contact the Law Librarian if you need direction.

New Zealand Parliament
This is the Library's guide to the NZ Parliament
Parliamentary Debates (Hansards)
The official records of debates in parliament. Hansards can sometimes provide insight into why particular laws are produced, and what the parliamentarians really think. Data available from mid 2000s.

Courts of New Zealand
Everything you need to know about how the court system works and how to use it. Site includes links to selected judgments from the higher courts.

Court Hierarchy

Kate Thompson

Sir Robert Stout Law Library

8th Floor, Richardson Building

University of Otago