How to find judgments of the Family Court of Australia
Law reporting originated as a way of establishing which principles would apply in particular legal and factual circumstances, providing a means for greater consistency in the application of the law.
It began with the practice of barristers taking notes while sitting in court, and was then taken up by commercial publishers. Judgments were selected for their value in providing information about how the court interpreted and applied the law to similar fact circumstances. Cases were reported in printed volumes of law reports for dissemination to the legal profession.
With the advent of online databases, CD ROMs and the internet, much case law is now readily accessible. Judgments are widely disseminated in electronic format and many jurisdictions make all of their judgments available. However, only selected Family Court judgments are reported.
Australian family law judgments may be reported in print in two series of law reports - Family Law Cases (FLC) and Family Law Reports (Fam LR).
Family law cases
North Ryde, N.S.W., CCH Australia
Mode of citation: (Year) FLC paragraph number
Contains the full text, or sometimes the edited text, of selected Australian family law cases decided by the High Court of Australia, Family Court of Australia, Federal Magistrates Court, Family Court of Western Australia, and State and Territory Supreme Courts. Each volume includes tables of the cases reported, legislation referred to in the reported cases, and cases judicially considered, and a subject index.
Family law reports
Sydney, Butterworths
Mode of citation: Volume number Fam LR page number
Contains the full text of selected Australian family law cases decided by the High Court of Australia, Family Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia, Federal Magistrates Court, Family Court of Western Australia, and State and Territory Supreme Courts. Each volume includes tables of the cases reported, legislation referred to in the reported cases, and cases judicially considered, and a subject index.
Availability of judgments in electronic formats
Family Court judgments are published on the Court's website and on AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute). Only the most recent judgments are available on the Court's website. A more comprehensive and searchable database of Family Court judgments is available via AustlII.
Federal Magistrates Court judgments are available on the FMC website or AustLII.
High Court of Australia judgments are available on the High Court website or on AustLII.
Citation
Each Family Court judgment is allocated a medium neutral citation whic is a unique identifying code. The mode of citation is Parties [year] FamCA judgment number
For example
K & J [2004] FamCA 359
Catchwords
Catchwords are standardised indexing terms which describe the legal and factual subject matter of the case and assist with successful searching in electronic databases
For example
CHILDREN - Residence - Application to relocate interstate
Headnote
The headnote is a summary of the facts of the case and the legal principles which were applied.