The State Reports (New South Wales), cited as the SR(NSW), was the series of authorised law reports for the courts of NSW from 1901 to 1970. As such, it applied the rigorous quality standards and reporting principles that are applied in the NSWLR and other authorised law reports today:
• judgments selected for their enduring legal value
• headnotes written to highlight the key legal points of interest to the profession
• judgments verified with care and styled consistently for publication.

However, due to the limitations of technology at the time, the SR(NSW) series - unlike the NSWLR - was never indexed as a whole. To make the intellectual elegance and legal wisdom expressed in all SR(NSW) volumes accessible to contemporary practitioners, the Council of Law Reporting for NSW has therefore published a State Reports (New South Wales) Consolidated Index and Tables.

The Editor of the SR(NSW) Consolidated Index and Tables, Beatrice Gray BA LLM, is an Assistant Editor with the NSWLR and a highly regarded Legal Editor with extensive professional experience. Over a period of three years Gray reviewed all cases in all SR(NSW) volumes and prepared index material using the methods and terminology applied in the NSWLR.

For example:

• For the SR(NSW) subject matter index, NSWLR-style catchwords were written for each SR(NSW) case of continuing relevance to the legal profession.
• Key words and phrases defined in SR(NSW) reports were highlighted for extraction, sorting and listing.
• Lists of cases cited and statutes judicially considered in the SR(NSW) reports were prepared in a format that will be familiar to users of the NSWLR.

The process of developing the SR(NSW) consolidated index and tables prompted a detailed analysis of change and continuity in the expression of legal concepts over time. University of Sydney researchers, with whom the Council has partnered on a legal ontology project, have assisted with the management of the SR(NSW) data. The knowledge they have gained through this experience feeds into their research into sophisticated ways of managing legal information efficiently in the future.

For further information, please contact the NSWLR Editorial Office on (02) 9266 0768.

Availability

The State Reports (New South Wales) Consolidated Index and Tables
Editor: Beatrice Gray BA LLM
Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales, 2009
576 pages, hard cover, $220 (inc GST, p&h)

Limited edition

Available from NSWLR Customer Service, ph: 02 9584 7684

or download an order form here.