An Act has a name and a date, for example, Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The name indicates the contents of the Act while the date specifies the year the Act was made in Parliament (but not necessarily when it came into force; for this you might have to read the Act). Both pieces of information are needed to find an Act in a library since Acts will be organised in alphabetical order by year.

Reading an Act is made easier if the Act has a contents list at the front with sections, Parts and Divisions, each with its given title. There is usually a definition section at the front of each Act that explains what is meant by some of the words used in the Act. The definitions are crucial to understanding the Act. Sometimes, at the back of an Act there are Schedules, which may contain tables, forms or court documents and various other pieces of information relating to the operation of the Act.

The period within which changes (called amendments) to the Acts, Regulations and Ordinances have occurred will sometimes be indicated in the date part of the title, e.g. The Family Law Act 1975–1977. To find an up-to-date Act, Regulation or Ordinance you can either search the Parliamentary statute books for the various amendments, or use reprints. Reprints are usually produced more rapidly by private publishers, e.g. CCH, than by government printers. Obviously, it is very important to make sure that the copy of an Act is as up to date as possible.

A copy of any Act, Regulation, or local law can be bought from the appropriate government bookshop, or over the internet. Subscription services for internet or "online" access are one way of making sure the document you are relying on is totally up to date. However, these services are expensive for the occasional user. Government sites may not be updated as quickly as subscription sites, but they are free and extremely useful for most purposes. If you do not have internet access at home, your local library will assist with getting access.

The following websites provide information and legislation:

The Australasian Legal Information Institute(AustLII): www.austlii.edu.au. This site provides access to a broad range of legislation and cases from across Australia. It is an excellent starting point.

Commonwealth information: www.australia.gov.au. This site also provides a great deal of interesting and useful information about government services and policies, not just legislation, and is a useful starting point for links to government agencies of every description.

Commonwealth legislation and parliamentary documents: For access to current and historical Commonwealth Bills, Acts and Regulations, go to www.australia.gov.au/publications/commonwealth-legislation.

ComLaw: www.comlaw.gov.au/ brings low or no-cost access to the law for the community and is maintained by the Australian Attorney-General's Department.

Victoria Online: www.vic.gov.au. This site assists in finding local, state and federal government information and services.

Victorian legislation and parliamentary documents: For access to current and historical Victorian Bills, Acts and Regulations, go to www.legislation.vic.gov.au.

Local councils: Most councils also have their own websites. A good place to start your search is at www.dvc.vic.gov.au in order to find your own local council's site.

Australian Commonwealth Government: www.publications.gov.au. This site provides access to a wide range of Australian Government publications.

Alternatively, if you wish to find an Act or other parliament-made law without buying it from a government printer or downloading it from a website, go to one of the libraries listed at "Libraries", below.

Information Victoria is also a useful resource:

Law reports contain the more important cases decided by the courts. There are many different series of law reports, each one reporting decisions of different courts in different states and countries.

When a reported case is referred to in this book, a traditionally accepted shorthand reference will be used: for example, Commonwealth v Anderson (1960) 105 CLR 303; [1961] ALR 354. This case has been reported in two law report series: the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) and the Australian Law Reports (ALR). In the above example, the person commencing the action is the Commonwealth government and the person defending the action is Anderson. In the first series of reports, "(1960)" is the year in which the decision was handed down and "105" is the volume reference. In the second, "[1961]" is the volume reference. The final figure in both cases is the number of the page where the judgement starts at in that volume.

Most law reports contain the names of the parties to the dispute, a summary at the front of the case which lists the facts involved and the court's decisions (called the "headnote"), written judgements, word for word, of the Judges, including their reasons for deciding as they did, and the order of the court.

If you are looking for cases on a particular topic, as opposed to a particular case, you can use the Australian Legal Monthly Digest or Australian Current Law (both available online). These books are arranged under topics and list relevant cases and where to find them. Comprehensive databases are also becoming increasingly available. Most of the courts now also have websites and you are often able to access recent decisions there. For example:

High Court: www.hcourt.gov.au

Federal Court: www.fedcourt.gov.au

Supreme Court: www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au

Family Court: www.familycourt.gov.au

There are now many internet sites offering general or more specific legal information, apart from the ones mentioned above.

To access a range of plain English publications on legal issues visit www.legalaid.vic.gov.au. This is Victoria Legal Aid's website; it also explains VLA guidelines and policies. The Victorian government has a legal online service where laws are explained in plain English. Go to www.legalonline.vic.gov.au.

There are also several sites that provide free legal information and offer advertising for law firms at the same time; one such website is at www.law4u.com.au.

New sites are being created all the time (a search engine such as Google offers literally hundreds of websites). However, as with any information found on the internet, you need to check that the site you are accessing is a reliable and authoritative source of legal information, and not just a forum for expression of an individual (and perhaps inaccurate) view of the law.

Local libraries do not carry extensive law collections, although most municipal and shire libraries will hold some basic law books. Some libraries have good inter-library loan arrangements and can often borrow a book from another library. They also tend to respond well to demand. The following law libraries may be consulted by the public. Apart from these, all law courts will have at least basic collections that may, with permission from the court staff, be consulted.

All libraries now offer internet access, and trained staff can assist even the total novice to find almost anything online. Costs and charges vary from library to library, but it is astonishing what can be located for little or no cost. If you need help, it is best to make prior arrangements with library staff to ensure someone is available to assist you.