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Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR)
Selected volumes of the CLRs.
EditorsPaul Vout KC and Peter Willis SC
Country Australia
Subject Law Report
PublisherLawbook Co., a division of Thomson Reuters
Publication date
April 1903–
Media typePrint / Online

The Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) ( ISSN  0069-7133) are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. [1] The Commonwealth Law Reports are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters. James Merralls AM QC was the editor of the Reports from 1969 until his death in 2016. [2] The current editors are Paul Vout KC and Peter Willis SC.

Each reported judgment includes a headnote written by an expert reporter (by convention, a practising barrister) which, as an authorised report, has been approved by the High Court. The current reporters are as follows:

  • Hannah Canham
  • Roshan Chaile
  • Ella Delany
  • Bora Kaplan
  • James McComish
  • William Newland
  • Jakub Patela
  • Alistair Pound SC
  • Stephen Puttick
  • Daniel Reynolds
  • Marcus Roberts
  • Alexander Solomon-Bridge
  • Ahmed Terzic
  • Julia Wang
  • Michael Wells
  • Jillian Williams
  • Radhika Withana

The headnotes include a summary of counsel's legal arguments. The Reports also include tables of cases reported, affirmed, reversed, overruled, applied or judicially commented on and cited.

The Reports are available in PDF format from Westlaw AU. [3] Scans of the first 100 volumes of the Reports, covering cases from 1903 to 1959, were freely published on the High Court's website and on BarNet JADE as part of the One-100 project. [4] [5]

Editors and reporters

The editors of the Commonwealth Law Reports from time to time have been as follows:

Editors of the Commonwealth Law Reports
# Editor Volumes Years
1 James C Anderson 1–18 1903–1914
2 Alfred H Hayball 19–50 1914–1934
3 E F Healy 49–64 1933–1941
4 H Headen Cuthbert (Assistant Editor) 51–58 1934–1937
5 B Sugerman KC 64–70 1940–1945
6 B P Macfarlan QC 70–99 1945–1958
7 R A Howell 99–120 1957–1970
8 A J Leslie (Assistant Editor) 114 1965
9 M G Morley (Assistant Editor) 117–122 1967–1970
10 J D Merralls AM QC 118–257 1968–2016
11 C J Horan KC 256– 2016–2024
12 P T Vout KC 256– 2016–
13 P G Willis SC 276– 2024–

The reporters of the Commonwealth Law Reports from time to time have been as follows:

Reporters of the Commonwealth Law Reports
# Reporter Volumes Years
1 W A Barton 1 1903–1904
2 Bennet Langton 1–41 1903–1929
3 H E Manning 1–3 1903–1906
4 C A White 1–10 1903–1910
5 N G Pilcher 3–4 1905–1907
6 H V Jaques 5–12 1908–1911
7 C E Weigall 9–12 1910–1911
8 Norman McGhie 16–19 1912–1915
9 D Gavan Duffy 17–20 1913–1915
10 A L Campbell 18–19 1914–1915
11 R T Gore 20–22 1915–1917
12 C A Weston 21–26 1915–1919
13 Neil McTague 25–38 1918–1927
14 J L Wassell 30–39 1921–1927
15 P V Feltham 38–39 1926–1927
16 E F Healy 39–42, 66–86 1926–1930, 1942–1953
17 G S Reed 39–40 1926–1928
18 B J Jeffries 39–90 1926–1954
19 Joseph Bales 40–104 1927–1961
20 H Dallas Wiseman 41–66 1928–1943
21 C C Brebner 41–83 1928–1951
22 R C Wright 44–79 1930–1949
23 Oliver J Gillard 62–68 1939–1944
24 B Buller Murphy 66 1942–1943
25 F T P Burt QC 78–102 1948–1960
26 J R Rex 79–87 1949–1953
27 Brian Hunter 83–125 1950–1971
28 Russell D Barton 86–102 1952–1960
29 G D Needham 88–93 1953–1956
30 M G Everett 88–95 1953–1957
31 R A Howell 90–98 1953–1958
32 W J Cuthbert 91–92 1954–1955
33 J M Macrossan 93–95 1954–1957
34 T J Lehane 96–111 1956–1964
35 G H Smith 99–105 1957–1961
36 Richard H Searby 99–103 1957–1960
37 C S C Sheller 101–114 1959–1966
38 J D Merralls 103–117 1959–1968
39 G A Kennedy 103–139 1959–1978
40 R K Todd 103–104 1959–1961
41 J D Phillips 104–109 1960–1964
42 R C Tadgell 105–108 1960–1963
43 R L Hunter 106–111 1961–1964
44 B M Debelle QC 106–154 1961–1984
45 C Brettingham-Moore 106–120 1961–1970
46 I C F Spry 109–134 1963–1976
47 R Smart 112–114 1964–1966
48 Rodney Parker 112–115 1964–1966
49 M G Morley 112–127 1964–1972
50 Michael Lazar 115–116 1965–1967
51 Peter R Graham 116–119 1966–1970
52 Naida Haxton 116–123 1966–1971
53 R A Sundberg QC 118–183 1968–1995
54 G K Downes 120–140 1969–1978
54 H G Fryberg QC 120–154 1969–1984
55 R M Webster 121–140 1969–1978
56 A C Archibald 129–136 1972–1977
57 R C Macaw 133–144 1974–1980
58 M W D White 133–152 1974–1983
59 C J S M Carr 137–177 1976–1993
60 J H Karkar 141–159 1978–1985
61 J G Santamaria 141–168 1978–1990
62 J M Bennett 155–182 1983–1995
63 M Sloss 166–182 1988–1995
64 J D Elliott 173–197 1991–1999
65 K H Bell QC 183–189 1994–1997
66 G S Clarke SC 183–252 1994–2014
67 S G E McLeish 183–221 1994–2005
68 D S Mortimer 183–190 1994–1997
69 C M Caleo 188–208 1996–2002
70 G B Johnston 188–195 1996–1999
71 M K Moshinsky SC 189–231 1997–2007
72 W A Harris 190 1997
73 D J Batt 193–223 1998–2005
74 M Y Bearman 193–250 1998–2013
75 P D Crutchfield 194–220 1998–2005
76 J E Richards 194–228 1998–2006
77 P G Willis SC 200–256 1999–2016
78 D W Bennett 202–208 2000–2002
79 L G De Ferrari 209–242 2001–2011
80 C J Horan KC 209–256 2001–2016
81 P T Vout 209–256 2001–2016
82 S P Donaghue 210–220 2003–2005
83 G J Ahern 221–242 2006–2011
84 M I Borsky 222–257 2006–2016
85 E M Kingston 223–235 2005–2008
86 C K M Lye 224–250 2005–2013
87 J A Redwood 224–258 2005–2016
88 C G Button 227–256 2005–2016
89 D F C Thomas 227–240 2005–2010
90 A D Pound SC 232– 2008–
91 C P Young 235–256 2007–2016
92 P D Herzfeld 240–257 2009–2016
93 N M Wood 243–263 2011–2014
94 B W Jellis 244–254 2011–2015
95 A M Dinelli 246–267 2012–2020
96 A F Solomon-Bridge 248– 2012–
97 C J Tran 253–270 2013–2021
98 H A Tiplady 255–263 2014–2018
99 R Chaile 258– 2015–
100 M A Hosking 258–268 2015–2020
101 J A G McComish 258– 2015–
102 S Zeleznikow 258–270 2015–2021
103 O M Ciolek 259–272 2016–2022
104 R W Kruse 259– 2016–
105 M J Wells 259– 2016–
106 R Withana 260– 2016–
107 J Anthony-Shaw 261–262 2016–2018
108 E J Delany 268– 2019–
109 J D Williams 269– 2020–
110 D J Reynolds 271– 2020–
111 B D Kaplan 270– 2021–
112 W Newland 270– 2021–
113 J R Wang 271– 2021–
114 S D Puttick 273– 2023–
115 H Canham 2024–
116 M Roberts 2024–
117 A Terzic 2024–

Citation

For lawyers, the Commonwealth Law Reports are the preferred source for decisions of the High Court of Australia. An example of proper citation is:

Coleman v Power (2004) 220 CLR 1

This citation indicates that the decision of the Court in the case entitled Coleman v Power, decided in 2004, can be found beginning at page 1 of volume 220 of the Commonwealth Law Reports.

An alternative citation, which is medium neutral, is:

Coleman v Power [2004] HCA 39

This citation refers to the case entitled Coleman v Power, which was the 39th decision published by the High Court of Australia in 2004.

Both forms of citation (parallel citations) may be used so that users can access the case from different sources: [6]

Coleman v Power [2004] HCA 39; (2004) 220 CLR 1

See also

References

  1. ^ "Commonwealth Law Reports". Thomson Reuters Australia. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  2. ^ French, Robert (29 May 2009). James Merralls' AM QC 40 Years as Commonwealth Law Reports Editor (PDF) (Speech). Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Westlaw AU". Thomson Reuters Australia. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  4. ^ "One-100 Project". High Court of Australia e-Resources. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  5. ^ "One-100". openlaw.org.au. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Vendor and Medium Neutral Citations". AustLII. 15 October 2002. Retrieved 1 September 2016.