Secondary Material
Legal material is divided into two main types:
Primary, which consists of legislation and cases law; and
Secondary, which covers everything else, including journals, texts, reports and reference material such as encyclopaedia and dictionaries.
Books
Finding Books
The library has collection of print books and ebooks. Many books (both print and ebook) can be located using Library Search and the Library Catalogue.
Specialist databases which contain law ebook collections of various sizes:
- iG Publishing eBooks: American Society for Microbiology, Hart and Karnac This link opens in a new windowHart books for Law are included in this collection
- Oxford Scholarship Online: Law This link opens in a new window
- CCH New Zealand and Australia This link opens in a new windowA small number of texts are included in the content
- Lexis Advance This link opens in a new windowA number of texts are available directly via the Lexis Advance database. Also search the Library catalogue for additional texts both ebooks and print published by Lexis.
Thomson Reuters Westlaw / Brookers ebooks and print texts
Search the Library Catalogue to access all the ebook and print texts available.
Browse the Shelves
Most print books for Law, can be found on level 5 in the City Campus Library.
There are also collections of law books in both the South and North Campus Libraries.
The books are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. Many law books can be found at 340 - 349.99.
You can browse these areas:
Law in general 340
Criminal law 345
Tax 336 & 343
International law 341
Property law 346.93
Help Finding Books
To find and borrow books in the library: How to use the library
If the AUT Library does not have a book, article, case etc which you need, the Interlibrary loan / document delivery services are available to obtain items from other libraries.
Journal Citation
A citation for a journal article using the New Zealand Law Style Guide 3rd ed. (Rule 6.4):
| Author | Article Title | Year | Vol | Journal Abbreviation | Starting Page | Pinpoint Reference |
Peter Watts "Birks' Unjust Enrichment" (2005) 121 LQR 163 at 165.
Journals
Finding Journals and Articles
Some legal journals and articles can be found by searching Library Search or Library Catalogue. However, many will be found within the specialist law databases (see Databases tab above).
Use the Finding Legal Journals Articles flowchart steps below to ensure you check all the right places:
Step 1 – try the article title in Library Search (we may have it online via a non-law database)
Step 2 – check the abbreviation and jurisdiction for the Journal that the article comes from on Common Legal Abbreviations and AUT Database Locations and/or Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviation (also see the Law Quick Links box)
Step 3 – now you have the Journal Title, search for it in the Library Catalogue (we have it in print or a link to the appropriate online database)
Step 4 – if it is not in the Library Catalogue or Library Search, use the Where to Search Legal Information at AUT document (also see the Law Quick Links box) to see where you can locate journal articles for that jurisdiction.
Law Journals
The following journals are a small selection of titles available. Please refer to the Law Databases as well as the Library Catalogue and Library Search to access many more.
Help Finding Journals
Do you only have the abstract and /or citation of an article in a database, but not the full text?
Click on the database's 
button to link through to any available full text
Take note that many Law databases do not have this option.
If the AUT Library does not have a book, article, case etc which you need, the Interlibrary loan / document delivery services are available to obtain items from other libraries.