Office of Teaching &
Learning
Melbourne Law School
Advanced Legal Research - Refugee Law
Legal Research Skills Adviser
August 2013
Where do I start?
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Secondary sources!!!!!!!!
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Catalogue
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Use the keywords to obtain an
understanding of the books in the area
Secondary sources
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Text books – they are critical to obtain an
understanding of the area of law
Secondary sources
Find articles, periodical and journals in
area of law
Australia
AGIS
 Text books
 Austlii
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Relevant journals – all in research
guide
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Refugee Survey Quarterly - a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed
journal.
Refugees Magazine - published by the UNHCR: the UN Refugee
Agency.
International Journal of Refugee Law - a quarterly publication on
refugee law from Oxford University Press.
Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies - a multidisciplinary
quarterly journal.
Journal of Refugee Studies - a multidisciplinary quarterly journal
from Oxford University Press.
European Journal of Migration and Law - a quarterly journal of
migration and law.
Australian overview
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Halsburys – LexisNexisAu ( search
commentary headings)
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Laws of Australia - WestlawAu
International law resources
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Max Planck Encyclopedia of International
Law
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The updated online edition of the reference work,
Encyclopedia of Public International Law.
International law resources
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The Hague Academy Collected Courses
Online The Collected Courses Online is an encyclopedic collection on
international law - it covers more than 330 volumes, containing over 1200 lectures
given by prominent legal specialists over a period of 85 years
Secondary sources
International
Full text databases, Lexis , Westlaw and
HeinOnline
 Indexes with some full text, LegalTrac
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Obtain understanding of the local
jurisdiction
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Foreign Law Guide
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Selected primary and secondary sources of law for over 170 countries,
including short explanations of their legal systems. Browse by country or
search using keywords.
Cases - Australian
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Australian Year Book of International
Law (annual summaries of refugee law cases in the HCA involving
international issues (Hein Online up to 2007)
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Use: CaseBase, Firstpoint, LawCite and
Austlii
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Remember you need to find
The authorised version
 The cases it referred to
 The cases that have subsequently referred to it
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Legislation
 TimeBase
 For
example
 Commonwealth
Migration Act 1958, s
36
 Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)
 For
more detail go to Capital
Monitor
UN Documents
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UN websites
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Hein Online
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UN documents and links to commentary
Eg. 26 UNTS 299
Finding refugee cases
Refugee Case Law
 http://www.refugeecaselaw.org/National
Sites.aspx
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Eg. False travel documents
Finding international cases
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International
Lexis
 Westlaw
 LawCite (found through Austlii)
 Justis - UK
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Canada
Legislation
Eg. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,
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Lexis- Consolidated Statutes of Canada
Cases
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Immigration Law Reporter (Westlaw - Directory) - contains the full text of
leading decisions of the Immigration Appeal Board since 1986
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Canadian Immigration Case Law (Westlaw) Canadian federal and provincial
court decisions relating to immigration, citizenship, and the status of aliens
The earliest reported case is from 1840.
Secondary
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Westlaw – Canadian encyclopedic digest – Vol 15, Title 75 Immigration and
refugees – includes a table of statutes and regulations
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Index to Canadian Legal Literature - Westlaw
Canada
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http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca (Immigration
Review Board)
Some decisions
 Policy
 Process
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United Kingdom
Legislation
Eg. Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (UK)
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Justis; Lexis; Westlaw
Cases
 Westlaw case locator
 BAILII – Immigration and Asylum case law
Secondary
 Westlaw – Legal Journal Index
United Kingdom
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http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/immig
ration-asylum (The Asylum Immigration
Tribunal)
Cases
 Statistics
 forms and legislation
 process
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USA International comparative
law
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Restatement of Foreign Relations Law of
the United States, Third; - the black letter
law and then comments and reporters
notes. The reporters notes are only
opinion (Westlaw)
Cf. refugee vs aliens
USA
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http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/intdec/lib_i
ndecitnet.html (Board of Immigration
Appeals)
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http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir Can use DOJ
search engine
Indonesia
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HukumOnline - Website featuring news
and articles about law in Indonesia
Law reform, policy etc
Check Law Reform Commission
websites and LawCite (Austlii)
 Capital Monitor
 News
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International law tools
http://untreaty.un.org – good place to start to see
if a treaty on a subject or involving a state exists
 http://www.eisil.org – created by the American
law Society of International Law. It is an open
database of authenticated international law
materials
 http://catalogue.ppl.nl/
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http://untreaty.un.org
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The United Nations Treaty Series
(U.N.T.S) has more than 150,000
international agreements and related
documents – use quick links
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Type in refugee
Status of Multilateral Treaties
Deposited with the Secretary-General
(need to use to check status of a treaty –
only 522 available)
References
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Next some useful sites are provided to
assist in gathering material.
Eisil
EISIL has been designed as an open
database of authenticated primary and
other materials across the breadth of
international law (www.eisil.org)
 Good place to start
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Refugees, Asylum, Nationality, Displaced, &
Freedom of Movement
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Refugee Case Law Site
Peace Palace Library
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The Peace Palace Library has been
collecting books and materials in the field
of international law since 1913. A large
part of the collection is searchable
through our online catalogue
(http://catalogue.ppl.nl/)

Eg. Refugee and women
Australia
Refugee Review Tribunal
 http://www.mrt-rrt.gov.au/ (decisions via
Austlii)
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Eg. Women and refugee
- Check CaseBase for Australian cases and
subsequent history
References
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Lib Guides for Refugee Law and Human
Rights
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GlobaLex - Researching the Legal
Aspects of Asylum Seekers and
Refugees in Australia, Canada, and the
United Kingdom
http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Legal_aspects_asylum_refugees_Australia_Canada_UK1.htm