AustLII's fifth lunchtime Research Seminar will be presented jointly by Dr Lisa Ford of UNSW and Professor Bruce Kercher of Macquarie University, on the topic 'Recovering Cases from Before Australian Law Reporting'. Details of the Seminar Topic are below.
Date: Tuesday 11 September 2012
Time: 12:00 - 1:00
Venue: AustLII office, Level 12, Building 10 235-253 Jones Street
Ultimo - see map at http://www.uts.edu.au/about/mapsdirections/bway.html
Seminar Details: Recovering Cases from Before Australian Law Reporting
SpeakerS: Dr Lisa Ford of UNSW and Professor Bruce Kercher of Macquarie University
Abstract: AustLII's Colonial Legal HIstory LIbrary is starting to include all of the cases included in series of Law Reports published in each colony from various points in the nineteenth century. But there is a rich history of case law in each colony from before the start of law reporting, captured primarily in the newspaper reports of the time, but also in various types of official reports. This seminar discusses the importance of 'recovering' these 'lost cases' and the means by which this can be done. Bruce Kercher has pioneered this approach in Australia. Both of the presenters are involved in
the current project involving AustLII, which uses the National Library's TROVE newspaper collection as the source from which new series of law reports can be created, and developed as a basis for future exploration by legal historians.
