The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) is an institution operated jointly by the Faculties of Law of the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

. Its

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

purpose is to improve access to justice through access to legal information.

Inception and aims

AustLII was established in 1995. Founded as joint program of the University of Technology Sydney and the University of New South Wales

law school A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

s, its initial funding was provided by the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

. Its

purpose is to improve access to justice through access to legal information.

Content

AustLII content is publicly available legal information. Its

primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

information includes

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

treaties A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

and decisions of

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

s and tribunals. It also hosts secondary legal materials, including

law reform Law reform or legal reform is the process of examining existing laws, and advocating and implementing change in a legal system, usually with the aim of enhancing justice or efficiency. Intimately related are law reform bodies or law commissions, ...

and royal commission reports, as well as legal journals. The AustLII databases include the complete text of all of the decisions of the High Court, decisions of the Federal Court from 1977 onwards (the decisions between 1977 and 1996 were selected by the Federal Court), and decisions of the

Family Court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plainti ...

from 1988 onwards (as selected by the Family Court), as well as a number of other federal and state courts and tribunals.

References

External links

Australasian Legal Information Institute
Free Access to Law Movement Law of Australia Universities in Australia 1995 establishments in Australia {{Australia-law-stub

Inception and aims

Content

See also

References

External links